What are some key moments in the historical development of hospice care in the United States?

In the 1960s, Cicely Saunders used the idea of hospice to create a program at St. Christopher’s, London. Saunders was invited to Yale University to present the idea which regarded peaceful dying of patients and inspired the Dean Florence Wald, who in 1974 collaborated in the development of the Branford’s Connecticut Hospice. It was the first in the United States. This led to the creation of other hospices for instance, in Montreal and New York (Connor, 2008).

One in Marin, California and at VA Palo Alto Health Care System began as inpatient facilities. Home Hospice in 1983, came up with the introduction of the Medicare Hospice Benefit (Connor, 2008). The benefit stressed the importance of care in these homes. Today, a few of the hospices still operate in the United States.

Principles that dictate the nature of palliative care in the Western world

Palliative care targets to respect patients’ ethnic backgrounds, provide effective treatment and care, while relieving pain. The principles of palliative care include the provision of therapeutic support utilizing hospice care, relieving pain and offer continuous care even in cases where curative practices have failed so that patients do not feel abandoned (Meghani, 2004).

Palliative care strives at relieving pain during any surgical or medical event in a patients’ life. Therapeutic care is often used in case of terminal cancer patients. It helps them access needed psychological and physical comfort as they undergo treatment (Meghani, 2004). Care given to such patients could be supportive services to prolong their lives and even feel easy talking about dying and the process itself.

References

Connor, S. R. (2008). Development of hospice and palliative care in the United States. OMEGA-

Journal of Death and Dying, 56(1), 89-99.

Meghani, S. H. (2004). A concept analysis of palliative care in the United States. Journal of

Advanced Nursing, 46(2), 152-161.

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