The palliative care director oversees medical services for patients nearing the end of their lives, ensuring compliance with regulations, budget planning, staff training, and acting as a liaison between patients, families, and staff. They are responsible for meeting standards of care and cleanliness and supervising staff. They also act as a final authority in dealing with families under severe stress.
A palliative care director is usually responsible for planning and coordinating medical services for patients who are likely to be nearing the end of their lives. To do this, the director, sometimes known as the hospice administrator, oversees all care efforts, ensuring compliance with all local, state, or regional and national regulations. The palliative care director is also responsible for planning or approving budgets, hiring, and may even take on a teaching role for staff who need additional training. Another job of the director is to act as a liaison between patients, families and staff.
The Hospice Director’s primary objective is to ensure that the institution is meeting the needs of patients and is doing so in a manner consistent with all valid regulations. As a medical facility, hospice is responsible for meeting certain standards of care and cleanliness. If this is not followed, government inspectors can fine the facility, or even shut it down. Given the ever-changing nature of regulations in healthcare facilities, the director is also responsible for keeping staff informed of changes.
Another job of the palliative care director is to ensure that the approved budget is appropriate and that expenditures are in line with, or in some proportion to, revenues. Depending on the type of asylum the director is working on, the budget objective may be slightly different. In a non-profit hospice, the goal is simply to ensure that expenses never exceed income. In a for-profit hospice, the goal is to reach certain levels of profit. Documentation and tax records are also slightly different between the two types of agencies.
Staff supervision is another important job of the palliative care director and directly related to patient care. While the director of human resources may make hiring decisions, he may have influence or say in at least some of the people hired. The director is also responsible for ensuring that staff receive all necessary training, not only when it comes to new regulations, but also ongoing training for standards of care and when the hospital itself has new policies to implement.
Given the work done in a hospice and the emotions that can sometimes be involved, the hospice director is also responsible for acting as a liaison between the family, patients and staff. If the family believes that something is not being done properly, or simply has a question about something, the principal may be called upon to provide an explanation. While other employees may answer the question, the principal acts as the final authority. This can be one of the most difficult parts of the job, as it involves dealing with individuals who may be under severe stress.
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