09.13.15 | Barbara Darius
One afternoon, I was sitting in the Nurses Station just talking about “whatever”. I looked on the Census Chart (the chart that shows the room and bed assignment/patient’s name/any diet restrictions /name of their social worker. Even though there is only one social worker for the in-patient unit, in the event that a home care patient needs to be transferred to the in-patient unit, the home care social worker stays with that patient.) While reviewing the chart, I notice only7 beds (out of 22) were occupied. I wondered aloud “What’s up with that?”
The response from one of the nurses was that a certain hospital in the city, who usually sends all their patients to the hospice has decided to designate some beds within the hospital as “hospice beds” so that if the patient dies in the hospital, the hospital will still receive the money for the patient until his/her last breath, however the death will not be recorded on the hospital roster for a death occurring at the hospital because the death that occurred at the hospital was in a bed that was designated a “hospice bed”.
I was completely disgusted upon hearing that. While that hospital is designating the bed a “hospice” are they giving them “hospice care” (a holistic focus of end of life care)? I doubt it and the people at this large hospital probably don’t even know the difference.
Dying & Death Talk 
