R432-750-4. Definitions

(1) See common definitions rule R432-1-3.

(2) Special definitions:

(a) "Appropriate" means especially suitable or compatible; fitting.

(b) "Bereavement" means the period of time, usually occurring within the first year after the loss, during which a person or group of people experiences, responds emotionally to, and adjusts to the loss by death of another person.

(c) "Care" means to perceive and respond to the needs of another.

(d) "Continuum" means the uninterrupted provision of services appropriate to the needs of the patient and family; these services are planned, coordinated, and made available by the hospice program.

(e) "Family" means a group of individuals living under one roof and under one head; a group of persons of common ancestry; a group of individuals having a personal commitment one to the another.

(f) "Grief" means the response to loss that often occurs in stages of varying length. Stages are differentiated by changes in feeling, thought, and behavior.

(g) "Hospice" means a public agency or private organization or subdivision of either of these that is primarily engaged in providing care to terminally ill individuals and their families.

(h) "Hospice Administrator" means a person who is appointed in writing by the governing body of the hospice organization and who shall be accountable and responsible for implementing the policies and programs approved by the governing body.

(i) "Hospice Care" means the care given to the terminally ill and their families which occurs in a home or in a health facility and which includes medical, palliative, psychosocial, spiritual, bereavement and supportive care and treatment.

(j) "Hospice Inpatient Facility" means a freestanding licensed hospice facility or designated hospice licensed hospice unit in an existing health care facility.

(k) "Interdisciplinary Team" means a team composed of physician (attending and medical director), nurse, social worker, pastoral care provider, volunteer, patient and family, and any other professionals as indicated.

(l) "Palliative Treatment" means treatment and comfort measures directed toward relief of symptoms and pain management rather than treatment to cure.

(m) "Palliative Care" means the care given to the terminally ill, focusing on relief of distressing symptoms

(n) "Pastoral Care Provider" means an individual who has received a degree from an accredited theological school, or an individual who by ordination or by ecclesiastical endorsement from the individual's denomination has been approved to function in a pastoral capacity. A Pastoral Care Provider may also be an individual who has received certification in Clinical Pastoral Education which meets the requirements for the College of Chaplains. The individual shall have experience in pastoral duties and be capable of providing for hospice patients' and families' spiritual needs.

(o) "Primary Care Giver" means the family member or other person designated by the family who assumes the overall responsibility for the care of the patient in the home.

(p) "Special Services" means those services not represented on the interdisciplinary team that may be valuable for specific patient and family needs, including but not limited to nurses, social workers, homemakers, certified nursing aide, recreation therapists, occupational therapists, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, dieticians, lawyers, certified public accountants, funeral directors, musical therapists, art therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists, and counselors.

(q) "Spiritual" means patient's and families' beliefs and practices as they relate to the meaning of their life, death, and their connection to humanity which may or may not be of a religious nature.

(r) "Terminal Illness" means a state of disease characterized by a progressive deterioration with impairment of function which without aggressive intervention, survival is anticipated to be six months or less.

(s) "Terminal Care" means the care provided to an individual during the final stage of their illness.

(t) "Unit of Care" means the individual to receive hospice services; since the term "unit" means a single, whole thing, hospice defines the patient and family to be the single whole, regardless of the degree of harmony or integration of the parts within that whole.

(u) "Volunteer" means an individual, professional or nonprofessional, who has received appropriate orientation and training consistent with acceptable standards of hospice philosophy and practice; one who contributes time and talent to the hospice program without economic remuneration.