Palliative & Hospice Care: An Occupational Therapy Perspective

This essay provides an overview of occupational therapy's role in palliative and hospice care, emphasizing the importance of care for individuals facing serious illnesses. It differentiates between palliative and hospice care, highlighting that palliative care begins at diagnosis and focuses on symptom management and holistic support, while hospice care is for terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or less. The essay discusses factors influencing care quality in both settings, such as facility type and patient condition, and details the diverse roles of occupational therapist assistants, including aiding in Activities of Daily Living (ADL), facilitating rest and sleep, and providing emotional support. Essential skills for therapists, such as communication, teamwork, and cultural sensitivity, are also outlined, referencing the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) guidelines and relevant research to support the analysis.

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Occupational therapy
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Question ONE
Deaths and serious ailments of a particular family member come with great psychological
and/or emotional side effects to the family members and to the person suffering as well. As a
result, effective care needs to be provided to the affected person with the aim of making them
feel even better.
According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), care must be
provided to these people (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2018). For instance, it
lays down several types of these care programs including the palliative care and hospice. In
definition, the palliative care focuses on aiding the ailing persons by preventing and/or treating
the side effects and the symptoms of the said disease. It, also, focuses on the support of a
person’s spiritual, emotional, practical, and social discomforts that arise out of the existence of
the ailment. This kind of care can be administered at the same time the treatment of the ailment
is being done. On the other hand, the hospice care is the care that is administered to a person
when there is a clear sign that the person will not benefit from the medical support and is going
to die any time soon. Thus, hospice care is, basically, care provided to the terminally ill people to
live a quality life until they die. In summary, the palliative care starts at diagnosis as well as the
treatment while hospice care starts after the treatment of the ailment has stopped and the ill
expected not to live past 6 months.
Question TWO
There are several factors that determine both care and quality of life in both the palliative
and hospice care for the sick people. Starting with the palliative care, factors such as the type of
palliative care facility, the age of the patient, admission to the hospital, and the screening of pain

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are determined (Gidwani, et al., 2016). If the patient is admitted sooner in the hospital, the
chances of surviving are abundant and may receive the palliative care. The type of the facility
matters as well as facilities with better amenities, caregivers, and medicine will deliver better
palliative care than those that lack. On the other hand, the hospice factors include the samples
like advanced pain, documented spiritual concerns, the presence of serious ailments, and the
length of stay in the Progressive Care Unit (PCU). For instance, the longer they stay in the PCU
may determine if the person may or may not make it and the need to be taken to the ICU. If the
ailment is serious, such as incurable trauma and/or cancer, the person may be subjected to the
hospice care.
Question THREE
The occupational therapist assistants have diverse roles to play while in the care facility.
However, they have a crucial role when it comes to both the hospice and palliative care for the ill
patients.
The occupational therapists have the role to play in the palliative care including the
following categories. In the Activities of Daily Living (ADL), they are supposed to dress, bath,
and operate as functional mobility where they can implement the strategies against falls
prevention (Conno, 2017). In the resting and sleeping category, they are supposed to facilitate
activities that maximize the patient’s sleep and issue strategies that will relax the patient. In the
hospice care, the therapists are supposed to engage their patients, as well as their families, in the
discussion of their feelings, anxieties, and fears as there are no curative measures available. They
are, in addition, supposed to encourage the patient and his/her family to communicate more
through supporting the patient’s wishes. Finally, the occupational therapy practitioners are

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encouraged to offer the patients a role in effective that lays out the realistic expectations and the
educating them, and the family members, of the best techniques for their bodies that decrease
burnout through their daily actions such as management and transfers.
Question FOUR
The skills that are necessary for any person to work in this position, as either a palliative
care and/or hospice include the best communication skills, ability to operate at personal
initiative, strong attribute towards teamwork, and effective ability to work effectively with
people from different backgrounds (Wancata, Hinshaw, & Suwanabol, 2017). These skills are
recommended as the caregiver and the patient may be of different races or residential
backgrounds, and it is a must for the two to communicate and relate effectively. Teamwork is
needed as a different nursing professionals may be required to administer different kind of
therapy on a single patient, for instance, a medical nurse giving medicine to a palliative patient
while a massage therapists working on muscles.

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References
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2018). End-of-Life Resources. Retrieved 2018,
from AOTA:
https://www.aota.org/About-Occupational-Therapy/Patients-Clients/Caregivers/end-of-
life.aspx
Conno, S. R. (2017). Hospice and palliative care: The essential guide. Routledge.
Gidwani, R., Joyce, N., Kinosian, B., Faricy-Anderson, K., Levy, C., Miller, S. C., et al. (2016).
Gap between recommendations and practice of palliative care and hospice in cancer
patients. Journal of palliative medicine, 19(9), 957-963.
Wancata, L. M., Hinshaw, D. B., & Suwanabol, P. A. (2017). Palliative care and surgical
training: Are we being trained to be unprepared? Annals of surgery, 265(1), 32-33.