Transitioning hospice-eligible patients to home can reduce length of stay, free up critical ED resources and reduce re-hospitalizations.
Get the Guide: Should I Admit, or Should I Call Hospice?
Every day, emergency departments face the challenge of caring for patients with advanced illness who cycle through repeated hospitalizations.
VITAS® Healthcare can help.
As a national leader, we have the resources and expertise to initiate or continue complex modalities for aggressive symptom management wherever a patient calls home.
In consultation with the ED physician, the patient and family agreed to a discharge plan for hospice care in the patient’s nursing home.
The interdisciplinary hospice care team created an individualized care plan and supported facility staff in managing the patient’s cardiac symptoms. Over the next five weeks, the patient received routine visits from a hospice aide for personal care, and a hospice nurse and respiratory therapist for symptom management. Symptom exacerbation required one instance of continuous care (24-hour Intensive Comfort Care®) at the patient’s bedside. A social worker and chaplain provided support to the patient’s family with funeral arrangements and anticipatory grief.
If you're ready to schedule a hospice evaluation for your patient, you can refer securely online to VITAS Healthcare. Discover why we’re the nation’s leader.
Refer Your Patient“We wanted to move my wife home from the hospital. We turned to the VITAS organization associated with the Sentra Hospital, Woodbridge, Va. The contacts were in the hospital, so discussing the services VITAS provides was very easy. Once the decision to move my wife from the hospital, VITAS literally took it from there. The hospital contacts keep me informed. Transportation, the bed in our home, home health aides and nurses were all arranged.”
- Bing H., Virginia
“VITAS hospice staff took care of my Dad in his final hours. From the first coordinator who met us at the hospital, to the last nurse that was with him... everyone was wonderful. They addressed every concern and took care of everything for us, so we could concentrate on our remaining time with my Dad. I highly recommend their hospice service, in the unfortunate instance you would ever need them.”
- Christine L., Florida
Our hospice care experts are available 24/7 to help answer questions, provide support, and make sure all of your needs are met.