Planning for End of Life Care

The death of elderly individuals takes place in different circumstances and settings such as painless death at home or painful death in a healthcare facility. Social workers have an important role in planning end-of-life care as part of providing essential social support to elderly individuals. The role of social workers in this process is attributable to the significance of their professional practice in a multidisciplinary palliative care team in hospice and hospital settings (Watts, 2013). Since the death of elderly individuals occurs in a variety of conditions and settings, social workers need to plan for end-of-life care. The planning and delivery of end-of-life care helps in helping the elderly cope with serious illness, face mortality or manage the process of dying in an effective manner.

One of the major functions of social workers in their role in planning for end-of-life care is providing psychosocial and practical support to individuals who are approaching the end of their lives. In this case, social workers work together with nurses and other relevant healthcare professionals to provide clinical and complementary therapies that help in managing the process of dying and/or cope with serious illness. The therapies provided by social workers alongside healthcare professionals helps elderly individuals to manage their feelings and understand the transition process.

Secondly, social workers help to create family and social support networks for elderly individuals during end-of-life. In this process, these professionals act as a link between the elderly individual and his/her family as well as a link between the individual and healthcare providers (Watts, 2013). However, social workers are faced with ethical considerations in palliative care when creating family and social support networks for elderly individuals facing the end of their lives. Ethical dilemmas in this situation emerge from cultural and community differences because talking about death is a taboo in many cultures. Additionally, the complex ethical dilemmas that are important considerations in palliative and hospice care are attributed to the fact that the creation of social support networks has personal and community elements. As a result, social workers should undertake several measures to address these ethical dilemmas and help create meaningful social support networks for elderly individuals facing the end of their lives. Some of these vital measures in palliative and hospice care include negotiating the complex social terrain of family conflicts, dealing with social isolation, and addressing social inequality (Watts, 2013).

When helping to plan end-of-life care, social workers are faced with other considerations relating to palliative care, hospice care, euthanasia, and the living will and advanced directives. One of the most important factors to consider during this process is the health status/condition of the elderly individual. This factor helps in determining whether the end-of-life care plan will incorporate palliative and/or hospice care to help cope with serious illness. Social workers can incorporate palliative care or hospice care in the end-of-life care plan if the health status of the elderly individual requires management of serious illness and the process of dying. Hospice care involves the establishment of a multidisciplinary team that focuses on symptom management, pain control, quality of life, and natural death (Center of Bioethics, 2005). Palliative care focuses on provision of comprehensive care to meet all needs of the patient and promote physical, social, emotional and psychological well-being. Additionally, social workers also need to consider euthanasia, the living will and advanced directives when planning for palliative care, hospice care or terminating treatment. Euthanasia is an important consideration when terminating treatment and ensuring smooth transition into death. The living will and advanced directives help in the decision making process on the best treatment approach for the patient.

References

Center for Bioethics. (2005). End of Life Care: An Ethical Overview. Retrieved from University of Minnesota website: http://www.ahc.umn.edu/img/assets/26104/End_of_Life.pdf

Watts, J.H. (2013). Considering the Role of Social Work in Palliative Care: Reflections from the Literature. European Journal of Palliative Care, 20(4), 199-201.