Hospice Physical Therapy In Pleasanton City, California
Care for patients who are seriously sick or reaching the end of life is constantly evolving. With it comes a greater respect for the roles that physical therapists and physical therapist assistants may play during these critical moments.
Palliative care is available to everyone suffering from a serious disease and provides additional assistance to the patient and family on top of the ongoing hospice or hospital care. In the early stages of a serious disease, a person may work with a palliative care team to facilitate access to specialists, prepare a life care plan and get emotional and psychological support. Palliative treatment is available to patients of any age and at any stage of a serious illness. Palliative care is not predictive and can be offered in conjunction with curative treatment. Such patients would be ineligible for hospice care when a patient’s life expectancy is less than six months and no longer seeking curative measures, the palliative care team can assist a comfortable transition to a hospice program.
An interdisciplinary team provides hospice care. As specified under Melodia Care Hospice benefits, the core team consists of physicians, nurses, social workers and bereavement counselors. These team members are responsible for the treatment of each patient. The broader team includes therapists (e.g., physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists), home health aides, chaplains, volunteers, dieticians, pharmacists and others who assist in tailoring appropriate treatment for each client. Each hospice agency takes a distinct approach, delivering individualized care. While members of hospice and palliative care teams may seem similar, their concentration is quite different.
The Therapeutic Relationship In Hospice & Palliative Care
Therapy is not limited to in-home care. While physical, occupational and speech therapy services are typically focused on rehabilitation or recovery following an illness, accident or surgery, there is an opportunity for therapists to play a little bit critical role on a hospice and palliative care team. It is understood that patients receiving hospice or palliative care will not improve at the same rate as home health patients. However, with these patients, careful utilization of therapy services can assist the halt of deterioration of functional ability and maintain the patient’s self-worth.
Utilizing Therapist Competences
Therapists from all disciplines may be uniquely qualified to contribute to their problem-solving abilities to create a safe environment for the patient who is deteriorating medically. For instance, the speech therapist may be essential in teaching proper posture and eating techniques to avoid aspiration and optimizing communication abilities. The occupational therapist may be the ideal team member to recommend and train on adapted equipment for dressing, bathing and self-care for the patient who wishes to maintain independence and minimize dependency on caregivers for as long as possible. Physical therapists are likely to address balance, positioning, transfer, safety equipment and sometimes even home modification issues.
At each stage of the patient’s deterioration, new hurdles and concerns will arise. Engaging therapy services to assist patients and caregivers in resolving these challenges benefits the patient and family and alleviates the burden on the entire care team.
Enhancing Life Quality
The seemingly little chore of situating can have a profound effect on hospice and palliative care patients. Positioning a patient in a chair, wheelchair or bed and adjusting them frequently, can significantly reduce the risk of pressure ulcers and contractures. Positioning efforts can also help people with pain relief, swallowing, breathing, digestion and edema. Ignoring any of these areas will have a detrimental effect on one’s quality of life.
Therapists can assist the hospice and palliative care team with strengthening, balance/fall prevention and transfer training duties. Additionally, they can assist patients and caregivers in understanding the anticipated course of the disease and mobility progression.
Although skilled therapy services will never be the major focus of care for a hospice or palliative care patient, keeping them in mind and implementing them appropriately can help both the patient, family and caregivers. By utilizing therapists, we can ensure the safety of everyone and maintain the highest possible quality of life for as long as possible.
Medicare's Physical Therapy Policies
You may have heard that Medicare will discontinue covering physical therapy if the patient does not make progress. Previously, it was believed that if a patient reached a “plateau,” additional therapy was ineffective.
However, assisting someone in maintaining their current level of ability is a worthwhile objective in and of itself. For instance, your relative may have difficulty getting up from a chair. They may never become significantly more stable. However, continued physical treatment can assist your relative in remaining at their personal best. Without it, your loved one may be more prone to fall. And with each fall, the probability of surgery increases. Or the incapacity to live alone.
Patients must not deteriorate! In light of this, Medicare will now cover the cost of continuous physical treatment. However, it must be demonstrated that the treatment will improve, maintain, or prevent deterioration in the condition of your loved one.
Physical Therapists (PTs) and Physical Therapy Assistants (PTAs) perform services under the supervision of a Physical Therapist Supervisor. Our therapists are experts in neurologic, geriatric and orthopedic treatment and they maximize performance by adhering to a customized rehabilitation plan approved by the attending physician. Therapy services are beneficial in the following ways:
- Pain relief
- Bringing one’s equilibrium or range of motion back
- Strengthening and endurance
- Creating workout regimens for the home
- Training in transfer
Hospice Physical Therapy
Patients who have chosen hospice and palliative care for their remaining months, weeks and days are given the option to “Live until they Leave.” Rather than spending that time in hospital beds surrounded by others, they can live with dignity and serenity. They can attend special events with their friends and families or host guests in their own houses. They can participate in outings and events or silently carry out their personal care routines, which provide a sense of success.
Whatever defines daily living should be within hospice patients’ reach and grasp. Fear of falling, fear of damage and fear of confinement frequently have the same underlying cause: restricted range of motion accompanied by discomfort and poor physical coordination. Physical therapy (PT) in hospice addresses these fear-inducing issues by emphasizing how the body moves.
Compassion and personalized workouts assist patients in regaining control and confidence in their movements. Physical therapy is also critical for pain treatment. Ease of movement relieves stress and strain on joints and tendons, which reduces inflammation and pain — the less discomfort associated with movement, the greater the desire to move.
Melodia Care’s nursing staff provides physical therapy to hospice patients in the comfort of their own home. The hospice nurses perform and teach many therapeutic exercises to the caregivers who assist with ongoing and frequent therapy during ordinary home care.
PT focuses on the following areas:
- Balance
- Flexibility
- Strength
- Synchronization of the eyes and hands
- Abilities to perform fine motor tasks
- Gross motor capabilities
- Endurance
- Motion range
- Massage
Each movement-intensive task — sitting, standing, walking, eating and writing — requires more than determination. Conditioning and training are required. Physical therapy assists in honing the specialized abilities required to do these duties.
Patients receiving hospice or palliative care may choose to achieve their daily activity goals through physical therapy and achieving daily goals is critical to maintaining a high quality of life. Physical therapy in hospice can assist terminally ill patients in “Living with Dignity, Positivity and Purpose” until they die.
You can reach us at any time by contacting us through our 24/7 online customer support chat or by calling 1-888 635-6347 (MELODI-7) & Melodia Care Hospice.