Taipei City Hospital

      Mr. Chen, a 71-year-old patient with chronic renal failure, has been undergoing peritoneal dialysis for more than 20 years and was hospitalized due to a coma caused by intracranial hemorrhage. He suffered from septic shock during hospitalization, which was diagnosed as having been caused by peritonitis. The surgical team has performed surgery to drain and remove the abscess in the abdomen and prescribed dopamine and antibiotics, but the patient was still in a coma and suffering from shock. Due to poor prognosis, the surgical team convened a hospice palliative care and family consultation meeting and decided on the patient receiving hospice care, with the approval of his family members.

      Li Zhiqing, Attending Doctor of the Gastroenterology Department at the Zhongxiao Branch of Taipei City Hospital, says that concerning terminally ill patients, such as patients with terminal cancer, severe brain diseases, trauma or organ failure who are close to dying, the attending doctor and related medical team can provide palliative care for the patient and consultation for family members.

      For many families, it may be the first time that they have experienced the death of a loved one and do not know how to handle the situation and face the pain, and are even more vulnerable than the patient. At this time, having the medical team help patients and their families to deal with death together is an important aspects of hospice care.

      Hospice care includes: hospice hospitalization, hospice homecare and shared hospice care. Dr. Li further explains:
Hospice hospitalization aims to provide comprehensive care through doctors, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, nutritionists, chaplains and volunteers. Besides actively removing the discomfort of the patient, the care provided should also meet the physical, mental and social requirements, as well as the requirements of family members, by assisting the patient to fulfill his/her wishes, arranging for unfinished business to be completed and helping family members deal with the fear and pressure caused by the death of a loved one in order to overcome grief and return to normality.

      Hospice homecare is performed together by the discharge planning team and the homecare nurse who will formulate a discharge plan to provide patients and their family members with complete and continuous care.

      In shared hospice care, the medical staff of the original medical team notifies the hospice team to provide hospice care for the patient, with the original medical team continuing to provide hospitalization services so that the patient can receive hospice care without relocating to a hospice care room.