Family Medicine: Hospice Day

Today was my day to go to the hospice center, except there really wasn't much to see. Aside from me, there were five fourth years at the center, and there were only two patients to see b/c a third passed away just hours before I arrived. And they'd lost three more patients over the weekend. I also arrived too late (thanks to taking a quiz in the morning) to go on a "ride-out" to see what home hospice care was like, so I was left to follow the fourth years around. There were two guys and three girls; the girls pretty much kept to themselves but the guys took me into the patients' rooms with them and taught me what signs of imminent death to look for in patients (i.e. buccal and temporal wasting, hyperextension of the neck, relaxed pinna, and death within 4-6 hours after radial pulses disappear). The patient who'd just passed away was still in her room and family members walked in and out of the room to say goodbye before her body, covered with a colorful quilt, was wheeled out of the room. One of the doctors told me that usually, patients arrive during the week and pass away over the weekend. =/