Caregiver Trauma

Hospice reduces stress on caregivers too

 Hospice care doesn’t only benefit the dying. It also improves outcomes for their survivors as well, a recent study of cancer patients found.

Researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found that patients who died in the hospital or intensive care unit experienced more physical and emotional distress and worse quality of life in the final months of their life than patients who died at home.

In addition, caregivers of patients who died in the intensive care unit were five times more likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome than those of patients who died at home in hospice care (21 percent compared to 4 percent).

The study is based on interviews with 342 terminally-ill cancer patients and their caregivers. It was published last year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

This quote, from a Sun Times article, shows that hospice care is not only more beneficial for patients, but their caregivers as well. The intensive medical procedures taken in the hospital are costly and extremely stressful to all involved, evidenced by the fact that even caregivers are developing PTSD, a disorder often attribuited to those returning from war or surviving extreme accidents.