For many, a career in healthcare is an opportunity to provide compassionate support for their community. Due to the increasing demand in the industry, many healthcare assistants (HCAs) choose to enter hospice work and serve clients in need of intimate, quality care.

Although it is one of the more demanding positions in a healthcare career, hospice care provides a significant amount of personal and professional reward and fulfillment. Read on to see if hospice care is a good fit for you.

Create a Meaningful, Significant Connection with Clients

Hospice care, which is sometimes called palliative or end of life care, is usually provided to terminally ill patients. While it can be available in clinical facilities, it is often offered in a client’s home in order to allow them to spend their remaining time in familiar surroundings. HCA training prepares hospice workers to create a welcoming and supportive environment of care for their clients that also addresses their medical needs.

A client’s decision to undergo palliative care often signifies their choice to focus on enjoying and utilizing their time as best they can. Hospice workers not only help with medication scheduling, regular check-ups, and pain management, but they also offer what, for the client, may be one of their only connections with the world at large outside of visitors and family. Healthcare workers can provide quality care on an emotional as well as a physical level, and can support their clients simply by giving them peace of mind and a regular presence they can rely on and trust.

HCA Training Prepares Students to Provide Respectful, Comfortable Care

HCAs working in hospice care have the distinct privilege of entering a client’s life during a period of particular vulnerability. Prolonged and serious illnesses are difficult to endure and accept, and many clients simply want to feel less alone, better cared for, and supported. Hospice care focuses on qualitative care instead of curative, and places emphasis on comfort.

Healthcare assistant training can prepare students for the reality of their client’s situation, and enable them to offer a compassionate and understanding presence who can be relied on to provide the proper care that’s needed.

Hospice Care Offers Essential Resources to Client’s Families

In hospice care, compassion and sympathy are not only reserved for clients. Family members acting as caregivers are often not equipped to address a client’s needs, and the stress of an unpredictable health condition can wear on even the most dedicated individuals.

With this in mind, hospice workers also consider a client’s family and any other caregivers. Families seek outside care because they feel overwhelmed or unable to provide appropriate care for their loved one, and require a professional service to help them. In order to lessen their frustration and stress, HCAs can use their unique position to reassure and navigate these families through a difficult period.

Healthcare providers can offer resources and tools the family can consult and use should they want to, and empower them to feel more in control of the situation they find themselves in. By providing context, understanding, and guidance, they can improve the family’s confidence and assurance, which can ultimately leave them with a more fulfilling and complete sense of closure.

Are you interested in enrolling at an accredited HCA school?

Contact Discovery Community College for more information!