Providing a Peaceful Passage through Care, Comfort, and Compassion

Advocating for hospice care for your loved one sooner than later can help provide a peaceful passage. When faced with the need to address end of life patients, families and loved ones this will require a multidisciplinary approach of care and support. Nurses, particularly novice nurses and newer graduates are not comfortable addressing the need to discuss or explore planning for end of life care options. In today’s high-tech society, from my observations the basic needs of nursing care are somewhat lacking. Therefore, the development of the 3 C’s which include: caring, comfort and compassion should be utilized in all patient care situations but particularly in end-of-life hospice care. My theory is that the nurse who embraces the 3 C’s who provides direct care and coordinates the members of the interdisciplinary team to augment part or all of the 3 C’s will thus assist the individual and family to both a peaceful and meaningful death.

As a nurse educator for prelicensure nursing students, I have expanded this care approach to end-of-life hospice care during the Community Health Nursing course using case studies. These case studies have been used in pre and post clinical conference discussions and during class to augment theory presentation to prepare the nursing student for the hospice experience. One common theme that continues to surface in my practice is that often clients referred to hospice services stated they do not regret it, but rather wish they had started sooner. Hospice provides care, comfort, and compassion to everyone; thus supporting a peaceful passage and death with dignity.