Palliative care - holistic support at home from Spitex
People prefer to suppress the subject of dying, like the fact that everyone inevitably comes to the end of their life at some point. However, terminally ill patients usually wish to be able to spend their last days in their familiar surroundings, their home. They and their relatives need reliable, competent and highly professional support at their side.
Spitex can provide reliable holistic care here. It stands by those affected during the last stage of their lives, addresses their fears and concerns and provides comprehensive care.
What does palliative care mean?
The term is derived from the Latin words palliare = to cover with a cloak and cura: care. The term is used for the entire range of services in nursing and medicine that care for people with incurable or very advanced chronic illnesses.
Palliative medicine therefore has the task of ensuring the best possible quality of life for patients during the time they still have left to live.
In addition to qualified medical assistance, those affected and their family members also need psychosocial and spiritual support.
The WHO (World Health Organization) describes the tasks of palliative care as follows:
- provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms
- affirms life and recognizes dying as a normal process
- does not seek to hasten or delay death
- integrates psychological and spiritual aspects of care
- provides support to help patients live as actively as possible until death
- offers support to family members during the patient's illness and during the grieving period
- is based on a team approach to meet the needs of patients and their families, including through counseling during the bereavement period, if necessary
- promotes quality of life and may also have a positive influence on the course of the disease
- is used early in the course of the disease, also in conjunction with other therapies aimed at prolonging life, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and includes examinations that are necessary to better understand and treat stressful complications
Qualified employees at Spitex
In order to meet the complex requirements of palliative care, Spitex staff must be highly qualified. It is easier for the dying and their relatives if fears of contact are reduced in good time through knowledge of how to deal with dying appropriately.
Spitex staff have the appropriate training or further training, empathy and mental stability. They are able to apply learned measures to ease the patient's suffering. This leads to great relief for all those affected. Treating the dying with respect makes the farewell more dignified for everyone involved and is already an important step in the subsequent grieving process.
What costs of palliative care are covered by health insurance?
All seriously ill and dying people in Switzerland receive individually tailored palliative care - regardless of their age, illness, background and financial means. For this reason, up to 90% of the costs of palliative care and support services provided by private Spitex are covered.
The services also include assessing the individual situation and coordinating the procedure with all those involved.
Maintaining dignity and self-determination
Preserving people's dignity in their most difficult hours is a very complex issue that our society is facing to an increasing extent.
Today, patients want to be able to make their own decisions and have a say in the end of their lives. The starting point for self-determined action is the appropriate care provision. This guarantees that decisions can be made freely, i.e. not under the pressure of social circumstances or pain.
With the palliative care offered by Spitex organizations, patients can remain in their familiar surroundings, their suffering is alleviated, they receive a close-knit care network and can thus maintain their self-determination at the end of their lives for as long as possible.
