I think they are right. Hospice has moved from the list with acupuncture and leaches to being a part of mainstream medicine. That's not an easy jump to make, and must say something about how good or helpful hospice care really is. (Now if we could just get doctors who graduated Medical School before 1975 to give it a chance.)Another explanation for the growth in hospice is the transformation it has experienced in the eyes of both the public and the medical community. Once considered an ineffectual, touchy-feely approach to terminal care, it's now accepted as a legitimate and valuable form of specialized health care.
"In the '70s and '80s, people thought it was out of the mainstream, that it was new age and against traditional medicine," said Roberta Van Dusen, executive director of Hospice of Health First. "There has been a growing consensus in the medical community that hospice care is the preferred way to deal with end-of-life issues."
Friday, January 07, 2005
Is hospice mainstream?
Here's an article from the newspaper Florida Today about hospice care, what it is, how it's paid for, and a bit of history. It includes these two paragraphs:
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2 comments:
I am new to the medical community and didn't realize that hospice had ever been viewed as veering from mainstream in that sense. I had thought the struggle was more about the difficulties doctors have shifting from cure towards comfort - fearing a sense of failure if they haven't tried to cure till the end. Interesting background info. Thanks.
As an acupuncturist who treats Hospice patients, I have issues with the leaches comment. Acupunctures efficacy for nausea, dyspnea, pain-control and anxiety and depression make it the perfect adjunct to traditional Hospice care. My patients get hands on care that deals with both their physical and psychospiritual issues concerning death and dying. If staying within mainstream medicine means limiting end-of-life patients to at-home morphine and pills, then Hospice really has a limited view of patient care.
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