Download or read book Improving Wound Care in Hospice written by Joseph J. Tartaglione and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There were between 1.5 and 1.6 million patients on hospice in 2012 according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO 2013). Of these patients many will either be admitted with or develop wounds while under hospice care. These can have debilitating effects beyond the obvious tissue breakdown and pain most nurses associate with wounds, they can also bring psycho-social issues such as malodor and require over frequent dressing changes. These can serve as a reminder to the patient and their family of the morbidity and mortality associated with end of life care and detract from the comfort that hospice is designed to bring. The author has developed a PICOT question, 'Should wound treatments originally started for curative purposes in hospice patients suffering wounds (P) be treated in a continuing fashion to remedy the wound and prevent pain (I) or should only basic pain treatment such as analgesics (C) be used as pain develops for the greatest relief and quality of life to the patient (O) during hospice and end of life care (T)'. This will be answered by reviewing current literature and evidence based practices being proposed by Calvary Hospital and institutions such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses' Society (WOCNS). The concept of the Betty Neuman theory of holistic and flexible care will be used as a looking glass for vision and direction that care should take.