AAHA/IAAHPC End-of-Life Care task force
The AAHA/IAAHPC End-of-Life Care task force members consist of:
The AAHA/IAAHPC End-of-Life Care task force members consist of:
Animal hospice care has its origins in human hospice philosophy and practice. Human hospice care focuses on the palliation of a chronically ill or seriously ill patient’s pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs as they near the end of life and as they die. Human hospice care also assists patients’ families to help them cope with the patient’s circumstances and to provide care and support in the home care setting. Similarly, animal hospice care seeks to maximize comfort and minimize suffering for the patient, and address the needs of the caregiver in preparation for the death of the pet.
Canine and feline patients who are candidates for hospice or palliative care generally have at least one or a combination of the following conditions:
Loss and grief are universal human experiences. A pet owner’s emotional response to the loss of their pet is often as intense as the grief experienced following the loss of a family member or friend.
Because an interdisciplinary team approach can add a valuable dimension to EOL care, the task force recommends that all primary care practices have a dedicated team to implement palliative and hospice care.
Both euthanasia and hospice-supported natural death are medically and ethically acceptable options in veterinary EOL care and animal hospice. Deciding between humane euthanasia and hospicesupported natural death should be the result of a collaborative discussion involving the caregiver and the animal hospice team.
The overarching goal of EOL care in veterinary medicine is to maximize patient comfort while minimizing suffering, utilizing a collaborative and supportive approach with the caregiver client.
2016 AAHA/IAAHPC End-of-Life Care Guidelines references
End-of-life (EOL) care and decisionmaking embody the critical final stage in a pet’s life and are as important and meaningful as the sum of the clinical care provided for all prior life stages.
It’s no secret that today’s pet owners increasingly view their pets as family. Forty-percent of surveyed owners said they would likely not return to a veterinary hospital where they had an unsatisfactory pet euthanasia experience. That’s why AAHA developed a new accreditation model called End-of-Life Care accreditation.