Hospice Chaplains: Who Wants Them? (Research, Video 1:11)

Being diagnosed as terminally ill can trigger many thoughts in a person’s mind. Considerations may include if or how their lives matter, what they can do to make their final journey more productive, what happens after death. For those who are inclined toward beliefs in religious or spiritual truths, the hospice chaplain is someone they may want to counsel them with answers.

What do patients expect to receive from hospice chaplain visitation? Who are the people who request this support? Why are these visits important to them? These are questions that the Department of Chaplain Services at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota researched with 4500 eligible medical and hospital patients in Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida. About one-third of the mostly male, married, over age 55 Protestants and Catholics responded from each site with these results:

1)   Nearly 70% of patients reported wanting chaplain visitation.

2)   Chaplains visited 43%.

3)   Indicating that visitation by a chaplain was important were 81% of patients.

4)   The strongest predictor of wanting chaplain visitation was denomination vs. no indicated religious affiliation.

5)   The most important reason for patients wanting chaplain visitation was that chaplains served as reminders of God's care and presence.

Being religiously affiliated is a very strong predictor of wanting chaplain visitation. In this video, Sig Jaeger, chaplain of Hospice Palm Beach County in Florida, and a patient share their mutually beneficial visitation experiences together:

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback at many booksellers and in e-book form at Amazon and Barnes and Noble booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Quality of Life for the Oldest Old With or Without Dementia (Quiz, Research, Video 1:06)

How happy will you be when you’re 100 with or without dementia? Little research has been done regarding the quality of life of the oldest of the old, particularly those with dementia. With more people living longer, information concerning this age group is becoming more of a priority. Due to their interactions and observations of those aging in their care, caregivers can also add insightful information on this topic.

The following questions are worth considering regarding this geriatric population. See if you can guess the answers after you read the questions:

Do the oldest old perceive their quality of life as good or not so good?

Are their perceptions of quality different from or the same as the perceptions of their caregivers?

What if the oldest old have dementia? Do they perceive their quality of life as better or worse? Do their caregivers agree or disagree with the oldsters’ perceptions?

If you were guessing the answers as you read the questions, you may be surprised by the results of a Mayo Clinic investigation involving 144 community dwellers with mean ages ranging from 93 to 94.

Research Results:

Although the overall functional ability was higher in groups without dementia, all subjects reported high overall quality of life.

And the caregivers? Caregivers perceived the subjects' overall quality of life to be lower with increasing severity of dementia. The difference in subjects' and caregivers' perception is more pronounced for the groups with dementia. Apparently, quality of life is more strongly correlated with depression than with dementia severity.

The photo above showcases Mississippi Winn, a 113-year-old woman who was believed to have been the oldest living African-American in the country and the world's seventh-oldest person. She died January 14, 2011. This video features a reportedly 130-year-old Russian woman named Antisa who may have been the oldest woman in the world at one time.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback at many booksellers and in e-book form at Amazon and Barnes and Noble booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Hospice-Palliative Care Doctors and Burnout (Research, Video 5:48)

Every profession has the potential for burnout, even when workers love what they do. With the growth in hospice-palliative medicine (HPM), more research is shining a light on how doctors in this field prevent burnout and promote self-care among themselves.

This research by the Mayo Clinic was reported in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. Participants included 40 HPM doctors practicing in America. These doctors were surveyed online about burnout prevention strategies and ways to find fulfillment in their professions. These were strategies used by 30 of 40 HPM physicians (19 males, 11 females) for burnout prevention:

1)    Physical well-being (60%)

2)    Professional relationships (57%)

3)    Transcendental perspectives (43%)

4)    Oral communication with others (43%)

5)    Hobbies (40%)

6)    Clinical variety (37%)

7)    Personal relationships (37%)

8)    Personal boundaries (37%)

9)    Time away from work (27%)

10)  Passion for one's work (20%)

11)  Realistic expectations (13%)

12)  Humor and laughter (13%)

13)  Memories of patients (10%)

HPM doctors use a variety of strategies to avoid burnout and maintain resilience. This research highlights the importance of dealing with burnout as it relates to doctors’ self-awareness and self-care. More research is needed to help physicians recognize burnout and individualized strategies for supporting themselves and their colleagues. This video titled “Palliative Curriculum - Part 15 - Cancer Doctors and Burnout” presents a scenario about burnout concerns.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback at many online and offline booksellers and in e-book form at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online stores.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog