The Difference: How Our Booklets Improve Your Outcomes

Pre-Admission

Pre-Admission Nurse/Social Worker

Use to comfort the family as they learn about the benefits of hospice and how hospice works. Provide them with the booklet to comfort and educate. Listen to their concerns and refer to the appropriate section to reinforce the information you are teaching.

Admission Packet

Include Nature Gave Us Butterflies in the initial information the family receives upon admission to hospice or in the "considering hospice phase." As we know, families integrate information in pieces and at their own pace. Provide them with end-of-life materials that represent your hospice agency in a gentle, compassionate manner.

 

During Hospice Services

RN Case Manager

Quality teaching is the goal of every hospice nurse, and yet we still struggle to get all of the information into the visit, along with other important nursing duties. Teaching from our booklets and showing the family where to read about the specific symptoms creates a visual where the family can turn for further information. Teaching from one end-of-life care booklet provides continuity of care among staff and decreases the caregiver anxiety, resulting in an overall better experience of hospice care.

Social Work Services

Social workers have the ability to create a level of trust with patients and families, placing them in a unique position to educate and support the patient and family. Giving them the permission needed to voice their feelings and concerns creates a sense of security and comfort with the hospice care they are receiving. Our materials are used by social workers to reinforce the normalcy of grief reactions, grief as an individual process, and many other psychosocial topics.

Chaplain Services

Chaplains are an important source of comfort and knowledge for the patient and family. As spiritual care providers, many of our publications can augment the existential questions that chaplains address daily while patient and their families come to terms with their end-of-life issues.

On-Call Services

Studies show that the number of after-hour calls decreases when you provide quality teaching to patients and families. In addition to inservicing your staff on the use of our teaching materials, be sure your on-call staff refers to and teaches from the relevant pages in the booklets as well. Once the family knows what to expect, anxiety decreases and calls lessen. Being consistent and having the entire staff teach from one booklet provides continuity of care and decreases mixed messages given by staff.

 

After Death Occurs

 Bereavement Counseling

Bereavement counselors know that when a client is grieving, there is a limit to the amount of information a person can truly comprehend in session. Providing grief materials to read in between sessions can be comforting to the client. Our materials use the soft, inviting approach of nature metaphors to relate to their experiences and help them understand and make sense of their emotional pain. Use materials for individuals, groups, memorial service readings, and newsletter topics.

Bereavement Groups

Groups, by nature, are comprised of those attendees who speak often and those who would rather listen. Each person mourns and processes grief individually. However, providing grief materials for group members to take home in between group sessions may keep them invested and engaged in attending the group on a regular basis. 

 

Marketing, Community Education, Outside Professional Education, and Compliance

Marketing Activities

One of the best ways to demonstrate your care and level of professionalism to physicians, long-term care facilities, hospitals, and other referral sources is to share your patient education materials with them. Not only will they be able to see your agency's level of professionalism, but they will also have valuable, reliable, and sensitive education materials to learn from when they are informing and educating their patients.

Community Inservices and Education

As hospice providers, we commit to educating our communities about the valuable services hospice can provide. We are end-of-life experts. Our mission continues: to provide evidence-based, factual information addressing the fears and myths that arise when the word "terminal" is presented. Our booklets deliver this information in a gentle,  factual, and beautiful manner, using nature metaphors to help them understand this phase of life. Use the booklets to distribute in community inservices to deepen the understanding of end-of-life care.

Volunteer/Employee Training

Many hospices train their entire staff on using Nature Gave Us Butterflies, creating a synchronized approach to the use of the booklet in the patient's home. When all of your staff refer to the same booklet for education, the family will sense and benefit from the continuity of the message. Volunteer Coordinators also use the materials to educate volunteers in new volunteer orientation or ongoing volunteer inservicing.