Dignity And Personalization In End-Of-Life Care
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the subject of caring for individuals at the end of their lives. The final stages of terminal illness are a very difficult time for both the individual and their loved ones, but hospice care aims to ease the stress and discomfort as much as possible. At the heart of hospice care is the belief that each person has the right to die pain-free and with dignity. In many cases, care is provided in the individual’s home with a loved one serving as their primary caregiver.
Along with physician services to attend to the individual’s medical needs, the skills and caring of our knowledgeable compounding pharmacists may be necessary to provide symptom control and pain relief in an end-of-life situation. Pharmacists play a major role in the hospice environment, as caring for the hospice patient generally centers around providing comfort by using pharmaceuticals to relieve and manage symptoms. Pharmacy compounding can offer a practical and compassionate way to meet these needs.
Compounding is the art and science of preparing customized medications, and it is especially suited to the concept of providing personalized, individual care to a dying individual.
Hospice Compounding – Custom-Prepared Compassion:
Each and every person is unique, so experiences during the end of life can vary from person to person. However, common symptoms experienced include:
- Pain
- Nausea/Vomiting
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Bedsores
- Anxiety
Personalized, compounded medications may be the best way to deal with these symptoms. By working closely with our compounding pharmacists, a healthcare provider can prescribe a regimen of care which is tailored to meet each person’s individual needs.
Ordinarily, the first symptom requiring relief is pain, and managing it often requires medication around the clock. TruCare’s Compounding pharmacists can provide specialized medications for individuals who suffer from acute and chronic pain. To keep the administration of medicine to a minimum, unique drug combinations can be prepared to allow individuals to live more comfortably within their pain threshold while potentially minimizing sedation or other adverse side effects.