The role of hospice professionals
They can help navigate essential questions, align patient’s values and decisions
IN THE NEWS: Hospice care is designed to keep patients comfortable as they near the end of their lives.
Dr. Sonia Sehgal, a geriatrician with UCI Health Senior Health Services spoke with U.S. News & World Report about the best questions to ask when seeking care for a loved one.
"Hospice professionals are experts in facilitating conversations around end-of-life plans and advance directives. They encourage conversations with patients, families and the medical care team to align the patient’s values and decisions and make them actionable.”
To ensure that your hospice provider can offer your loved one the culturally appropriate care they desire, Sehgal recommends raising the question.
"Directly ask hospice care providers specific questions about their policies and experiences with diverse traditions and beliefs. Families should feel comfortable approaching this and advocating for their loved ones."
Sehgal is a board-certified UCI Health internist who specializes in the care and treatment of older adults. Her clinical interests include healthy aging, hypertension, osteoporosis, preventive medicine and elder abuse. As a professor at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, she is leading the expansion of the geriatrics program and its workforce development efforts.
About UCI Health
UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,461-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Health — Orange, its flagship hospital, the UCI Health — Irvine acute care hospital and medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Health — Orange provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).