Mental status changes in hospice patients are extremely common. Yet are they always due to disease progression?

If a patient suddenly gets confused or sleeps all day, what should you do? Should you counsel the family that this is normal? Order testing? Assess the medication list?

Family members sometimes worry that sending their loved one with advanced cancer, dementia, or other serious illness to hospice will mean that they'll just get morphine but no medical attention. Let's make sure that this stereotype isn't accurate.

Look out for premature closure and keep the patient/family goals in mind.

Delia
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com
Whole person care for people with serious illness using all the tools that work

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

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