Hospice Care

Compounding can assist with hospice care in many ways. The two biggest are adjusting dosage strengths and dosage forms. For those who no longer can swallow a tablet or capsule, we can create their medication in liquid, effervescent, lollipop or transdermal form to help with their comfort and needs. We are constantly advised of drug shortages and of discontinued products and can formulate a comparable solution. For example, Oxycodone is currently unavailable. We offer emergency kits for after hours service, weekends and holidays. These normally include items for nausea, seizures, anxiety and pain treatment. We can certainly create a kit to meet any patient’s specific needs.

Some of the areas where compounding can help are:

Nausea & Vomiting – Promethazine has been very successful in various dosage forms

Dry Mouth – Patients can swab area with medicated lollipop

Excessive Secretions – Commercial products typically come in difficult dosage forms and most hospice patients need higher strengths. Compounding gives their prescriber options

Allodynia – Commercial products are too painful to apply, compounding a foam has been a good alternative

Seizures – For large dosages we can compound a suppository

Oral Thrush – Commercially available products have a very bitter taste. Lollipops or troches can be created for better results

Suggested Reading:

Final Gifts, Maggie Callahan and Patricia Kelley

The Needs of the Dying, David Kessler

What Dying People Want, David Kuhl