Education
Glossary of Terms
Advance Directive: A general term that describes two kinds of legal documents—living wills and medical powers of attorney. These documents allow a person to give instructions about future medical care should he or she be unable to participate in medical decisions due to serious illness or incapacity.
Bereavement: Grieving a death. HPNI offers grief support groups, one-on-one counseling and memorial services to remember those loved ones who have died.
Caregivers: Family members, friends or paid staff who provide care to a person who is ill.
Dementia: Progressive neurological, cognitive, or medical disorder that affects memory, judgment, and cognitive powers.
Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order: A DNR order is a physician’s written order instructing healthcare providers not to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in case of cardiac or respiratory arrest. A person with a valid DNR order will not be given CPR under these circumstances. Although the DNR order is written at the request of a person or his or her family, it must be signed by a physician to be valid. A non-hospital DNR order is written for individuals who are at home and do not want to receive CPR.
Healthcare Agent: The person named in an advance directive or as permitted under state law to make healthcare decisions on behalf of a person who is no longer able to make medical decisions.
Home Care: The most common type of hospice in which the hospice staff visits the private home to assess the patient’s condition and manage symptoms. Most of the patient’s day-to-day care is provided by a family member or close friend.
Hospice: Considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care of people facing a life-limiting illness or injury, hospice and palliative care involve a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the person’s needs and wishes. Support is provided to the person’s loved ones as well.
Life-limiting Illness: An illness that no longer responds to aggressive, cure-oriented treatments.
Living Will: A type of advance directive in which an individual documents his or her wishes about medical treatment should he or she be at the end of life and unable to communicate. It may also be called a directive to physicians, healthcare declaration, or medical directive.
Medical Power of Attorney: A document that allows an individual to appoint someone else to make decisions about his or her medical care if he or she is unable to communicate. This type of advance directive may also be called a healthcare proxy, durable power of attorney for healthcare or appointment of a healthcare agent. The person appointed may be called a healthcare agent, surrogate, attorney-in-fact or proxy.
Non Profit: An organization that channels any funds remaining after paying operating expenses back into programs and services rather than sharing profits with owners, shareholders and executives.
Pain Management: Utilization of assessment, reassessment, teaching, and medicinal and non-medicinal treatments to meet the patient’s identified goals of comfort.
Palliative Care: A comprehensive approach to treating serious illness that focuses on the physical, psychological and spiritual, and existential needs of the patient. Its goal is to achieve the best quality of life available to the patient by relieving suffering and controlling pain and symptoms.
Power of Attorney: A legal document allowing one person to act in a legal matter on another’s behalf regarding to financial or real estate transactions.
Respite Care: A benefit provided by Medicare that allows the patient to go to an inpatient hospice home for up to five days so the family caregivers can take a break.
