EMS Care of Adult Hospice Patients– a Position Statement and Resource Document of NAEMSP and AAHPM

Abstract

Emergency medical services (EMS) systems are designed to provide care in the field and while transporting patients to a hospital; however, patients enrolled in hospice may not want invasive therapies nor benefit from hospitalization. For many reasons, encounters with hospice patients can be challenging for EMS systems, EMS clinicians, hospice clinicians, hospice patients, and their families.