Ward based care - any nurses/doctors or other health professionals who can help?

[gerbilfur]

Could you please tell me what "ward based care" means? Is a person receiving this expected to pass away?

No- means what it says. Pt will receive care on a regular ward.

Hello OP, I’m a nurse. Ward based care normally refers to a ‘ceiling of care’ - essentially how far medics should go in treating someone.

If someone was deemed to have a ward based ceiling of care, then it usually means that the team feels that they are unlikely to benefit from being admitted to intensive care, with invasive monitoring and breathing tubes.

That isn’t to say that they think that the patient is going to die, but that they won’t benefit from intensive care, and should they become critically unwell, they would be unlikely to survive even with high level support.

There’s still lots of care that can be given on a ward (antibiotics, fluids, monitoring etc), and they aren’t saying that they won’t treat the patient. However they are saying that should they become unwell enough to need intensive care, they wouldn’t survive regardless.

I hope that makes sense, and that things get a bit better for you!

@user1476610748 that's exactly what I wanted to know thank you so much.

It's my dad. He's been admitted with kidney and liver failure and he's receiving ward based care. He's signed a DNR. Thank you

Oh, I’m so sorry.

A DNAR purely means that in the event of his heart stopping, they will not attempt to restart it. However it doesn’t mean that they won’t treat him up until that point.

It does sound like their focus will be on ensuring your Dad is comfortable, and won’t have to endure any invasive procedures, but will be managed conservatively.

Good luck to you both!