One of the most important aspects of hospice is its nurses. For a nurse to join hospice no special training is needed, but a good frame of mind helps. Though hospice nurses have to be comfortable with death and the dying process, it does not mean losing a patient ever comes easily. Hospice offers support for both its patients and its employees in time of stress. Most long-term hospice nurses do learn to look on the brighter side of things. For example, it could be said that a hospice nurse gets to treat their patients completely. In the final stages of life hospice nurses address the physical, emotional and spiritual concerns of the patient. A hospice patient gets a chance to form a bond with his/her nurse over sometimes long periods of time and care. The patient is not the only person who gets treated, however. The hospice nurse is also there for the patient's family and friends to help them through their times of stress and grief. In general, hospice nurses are there to empower their patients by adhering to their final wishes and helping them along on their final journey.

Another very important aspect of hospice is the patient. A hospice patient must have six months or less to live. Once a person has become a hospice patient, he or she has most likely accepted the idea of death. Patients receive a regular visit from their assigned hospice nurse at a minimum of once a week, but in the case of an emergency arises they can get help 24 hours a day seven days a week. Medication may be provided to hospice patients during final moments to offer a smooth transfer from life to death, but no recitation will occur. They do not have to leave their homes to go to the hospital or be hooked up to any new machine. Some hospice patients are surprised to find out they can be released from the program if they continually show improvement; of course on the decline they are always welcome back in.

Tune in again next month for a more personal look at both the hospice nurse and patient.