Do and hospice

Hi again


So yesterday I “googled” this topic and came across a discussion indicating that this is commonly discussed in DO interviews. I was not able to find a book on this topic specifically, does anyone know of a good resource to read more about it?


From my perspective, the only real difference between MD and DO approaches is minimal, it depends more upon the individual doctor’s approach…but perhaps due to recruitment differences of admissions committees the DO’s would be more apt to listen to the dying patient’s last wishes?


Does anyone have an opinion on this or know more?


Thanks

Hi there,


Hospice care is not a DO versus MD topic. You need to understand the issues of hospice and end of life care. There is no difference between an osteopathic physician and an allopathic physician in terms of the treatment of a patient in the hospice setting other than the possible use of OMM.


Natalie

misscompassion,


I think you are going to find that the differences in Hospice care really depend heavily on a combination of the caretaker’s approach and the patient’s needs regardless of whether or not the physician is a D.O. or M.D.


You may have noticed from you’re Google search that there is a ton of good material online regarding Hospice care. A book search on Amazon.com may also return some useful links.


Possibly Off Topic:


Many of the discussion I have regarding Hospice care often lead to the topic of Physician Assisted Suicide. This is probably due to the fact that up until recently I lived in Oregon which has a law in place specifically allowing for this practice called the “Death with Dignity Act”. You can get ore details here:


http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/


Cheers,

WOW hospice is practiced differently by different Hospice orgs. There are basic care standards but each org has it’s own protocols and such I would check out the National Hospice and Pallative care Org.


http://www.nhpco.org/templates/1/homepage.cfm


http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hospicecare.htm…


Medline


( I was a Hospice RN for 9 years and last job was a the nurse Manager for one)

Misscompassion, don’t know why your Google search showed some sort of connection between DOs and hospice, because as the others have indicated, they’re not connected. You are just as likely to be asked about end-of-life care issues at an MD interview as a DO interview.

The DO philosophy talks about a holistic approach to medicine, including the involvement of the patient’s family and other things similar to the priniciples of hospice care. But in my experience, hospice care is conducted by DOs and MDs equally. (That may change, as NPs are being called hospice ‘attendings’)


Also, when I interviewed for med school (MD schools), I’ve was asked about end-of-life issues/ethics every time.