Abstract
Home care agencies, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and other providers have varied standards and expectations regarding the care of someone who is dying. A patient in Home Health Care Agency X might receive excellent pain management and family support, whereas a patient in Home Care Agency Y might receive mediocre pain management and no other support services. The Minnesota Commission on End of Life Care, a state-government-sponsored task force comprising public and private decision makers, focused on the existence of these inconsistencies and created a broad framework for end of life care called The Five Guiding Principles. The principles address treatment preferences, pain and physical symptom management, suffering, preparation for death, and grief. This framework can provide guidance to home care agencies in staff training, competency, and improved quality of care for patients who are facing the end of life.
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