This COVID-19 Pandemic has put an incredible strain on individuals at their end-of-life and their families. As if being sick and frail weren’t enough, patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, or are untested but feared to be positive, are being denied entry to long-term care facilities. Many hospice providers are also denying these patients service in their own homes.
As we enter another month of the COVID-19 pandemic, this frightening virus continues to be in the forefront of all daily newscasts, social media, and talk shows. Most of us have adopted new phrases in our day-to-day conversations with family and friends such as “flattening the curve,” “social distancing,” “N95 masks,” and “clusters” to name a few.
Chronic kidney disease refers to lasting kidney damage that worsens over time. Over 30 million people in the United States are currently living with chronic kidney disease. They often ask, “what are the stages of kidney disease?”
When you think about a hospital emergency room, the first thing you might picture are ambulances racing up to deliver a patient who is facing death, while emergency room doctors and nurses work frantically to keep them alive.
Too often, congestive heart failure (CHF) patients wait until their final days before bringing in the support of hospice care, despite the discomfort of their symptoms. Little do they know that they don’t need an immediate terminal diagnosis to get extra help. Palliative care for CHF can begin managing symptoms at the time of diagnosis, bringing comfort and support to the patient and their family.
Nausea is unfortunately a very common symptom in palliative care patients. It’s a frequent complaint in cancer patients, but can also affect patients with kidney failure and heart disease.
