The needs of hospice patients and primary caregivers While much has been written about the needs of terminally ill patients and of those who provide care for them, little empirical research has addressed this issue. Such research is required to enable hospice programs to evaluate the extent to which they are meeting their goals and to develop adequate programs of care. For this study, a list of ten need categories for patients and five need categories for primary caregivers were developed out of a review of relevant literature. Primary caregivers and nurses were asked to rank the importance of these needs for patients and for caregivers. There was a high degree of congruence between the rankings of caregivers and nurses at the beginning of hospice care; A second measure taken after the patient’s death showed that the level of congruence increased over the course of hospice treatment. Read more
