Hospice Guidelines for Dementia or Alzheimer's
Is your Dementia Patient Eligible for RC Hospice Care?
Alzheimer’s Disease and other progressive dementias are life-altering and eventually fatal conditions for which curative therapy is not available. Patients with Dementia or Alzheimer’s are eligible for RC Hospice Care when they show all of the following guidelines:
Unable to ambulate without assistance
Unable to dress without assistance
Unable to bathe properly
Incontinence of bowel and bladder
Unable to speak or communicate meaningfully (ability to speak is limited to approximately a half dozen or fewer intelligible and different words)
Thinking of dementia as a terminal illness from which people are dying over years instead of months allows one to focus explicitly and aggressively on palliative care plan.
Intercurrent illnesses associated with advanced dementia include:
Aspiration pneumonia
Pyelonephritis or upper urinary tract infection
Septicemia
Decubitus ulcers, multiple, stage 3-4
Fever recurrent after antibiotics
Impaired Nutritional status:
Difficulty swallowing or refusal to eat
IF receiving artificial nutritional support (NG or G-tube, TPN) patient must be exhibiting continued weight loss despite the feedings
Protein calorie malnutrition
Weight loss over 10% or
BMI less than 18 or
Albumin less than 3.1
We hope this list is helpful for you and should you have any further questions about the hospice journey please do not hesitate to reach out to RC Hospice Care at 916-858-1440. We are proud to serve the Greater Sacramento region.
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