The Textbook of Palliative Care Communication is the authoritative text on communication in palliative care, providing a compilation of international and interdisciplinary perspectives. This volume was uniquely developed by an interdisciplinary editorial team to address an array of providers including physicians, nurses, social workers, and chaplains, and it unites clinicians with academic researchers interested in the study of communication. By featuring practical conversation and curriculum tools stemming from research, this text integrates scholarship and inquiry into translatable content that others can use to improve their practice, teach skills to others, and engage in patient-centered communication. The volume begins by defining communication, explicating debatable issues in research, and highlighting specific approaches to studying communication in a palliative care context. Chapters focus on health literacy and cultural communication, patient and family communication, barriers and approaches to discussing palliative care with specific patient populations, pain, life support, advance care planning, and quality of life topics such as sexuality, spirituality, hope, and grief. Team communication in various care settings is outlined, and current research and education for healthcare professionals are summarized. Unique to this volume are chapters on conducting communication research, both qualitatively and quantitatively, to promote further research in palliative care.

Rarely heard about in our society are caregivers' thoughts and feelings about life, death, and dying and how they act on those feelings. "For the Living: Coping, Caring and Communicating with the Terminally Ill" provides an in-depth, qualitative look at the experiences of oncology healthcare professionals as they work with terminally ill patients. Through a series of recorded and edited interviews, the author explores the social and cultural dynamics that affect physicians, nurses, and social workers routinely encountering mortality and loss. What death and the prospect of dying mean to these individuals should not be taken lightly.

Aimed at health care professionals and their colleagues, ministers of religion and funeral directors, this comprehensive work of reference describes the complex procedures required when someone dies. The information should be of value to all those who are concerned with the correct handling of situations as diverse as fatal mass disasters and the rites that are associated with those who hold unfamiliar religious beliefs. The guide is in three parts: legal and technical aspects; considerations for the living, care of the dying, and death with dignity; and religious, ethnic and cultural aspects of dying and death. The author combines medico-legal facts and practical, sensitive advice.

Handbook of Supportive Oncology and Palliative Care is a practical guide to providing evidence-based and value-based care to adult and pediatric cancer patients experiencing severe symptoms and stressors due to cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, and comorbid conditions. This accessible reference provides the art and science behind the whole-person and family approach to care by delivering the best practices to relieving a cancer patient's symptoms across physical, psychosocial, and spiritual dimensions. Unlike other resources, this book covers all dimensions of palliative care but with a special emphasis on primary palliative care. Part One of the handbook provides the essential background and principles of supportive oncology and palliative care, including chapters on understanding the adult and pediatric patient and family illness experience, the roles and responsibilities of the palliative care team, and the art of the palliative care assessment interview. Part Two covers symptom management and includes ten chapters considering the major physical and psychosocial symptoms a cancer patient may face-neurologic, cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, psychiatric, sleep and fatigue, pain, and psychosocial and spiritual distress. Part Three addresses special considerations and issues that an oncologist, physician, nurse or other healthcare provider often face in these settings, including chapters on intimacy, sexuality, and fertility issues, grief and bereavement, running a family meeting, care for the caregiver, and survivorship.Written by expert clinicians, this state-of-the-art handbook is a necessary resource for any oncologist, nurse, primary care physician, psychosocial expert, or related practitioner who endeavors to improve quality of life and provide healing to those suffering from cancer and its treatment. Key Features: Provides the binding principles of palliative care for pediatrics, adults and families from diverse cultures and spiritual beliefs Easy-to-read format makes extracting content fast and convenient for both the clinical and educational setting Guides the clinician and practitioner through the palliative care assessment process, including the appropriate questions for the palliative care interview Interdisciplinary team approach to psychosocial and spiritual care Includes access to the fully searchable downloadable eBook

The grief reaction is often similar for many diverse circumstances and situations. This book focuses heavily on caring for children with disabilities, chronic or terminal illness, dealing with the loss, and the recovery process.

When Professionals Weep speaks to the humbling and often transformational moments that clinicians experience in their careers as caregivers and healers-moments when it is often hard to separate the influence of our own emotional responses and worldviews from the patient's or family's. When ProfessionalsWeep addresses these poignant moments-when the professional's personal experiences with trauma, illness, death, and loss can subtly, often stealthily, surface and affect the helping process. This edition, like the first, both validates clinicians' experiences and also helps them process and productively address compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. New material in the second edition includes increased emphasis on the burgeoning fields of hospice and palliative care, organizational countertransference, mindfulness, and compassionate practice. It includes thought-provoking cases, self-assessments, and exercises that can be used on an individual, dyadic, or group basis. This volume is an invaluable handbook for practitioners in the fields of medicine, mental health, social work, nursing, chaplaincy, the allied health sciences, psychology, and psychiatry.

This easy-to-use guide provides a quick reference to the principles of palliative and end-of-life care for adults, to help you enable your patients to not only die peacefully but also live until they die. The Nursing & Health Survival Guides have evolved - take a look at our our app for iPhone and iPad.

'Death is inevitable-none of us will escape it. Ending life with a terminal illness is a slow and rather lonely process. I am interested in the question of why some nurses choose to work in the field of palliative care. I am one who willingly stepped into the role of being with patients at their most vulnerable time -when death became inevitable. My nursing history has spanned fifty years, of which the last twenty were in palliative care of terminally ill and dying patients. What was it that influenced me to move from a curing model to comfort caring only? My work is an account of how I discovered palliative care nursing after thirty years in the acute-care setting. I migrated to Australia at the age of seventeen after the violence of World War II and the death of my father in a refugee camp. It seemed that taking on nursing was the best way to settle into a new life. I was happy with general nursing but had a feeling that there was more I could contribute to my patient care. My mother's unexpected death with cancer was responsible for showing the way. She died in the hospice unit of the hospital where I was employed. Sitting by her side showed me another aspect of nursing that attracted me to a career change. I transferred to the Hospice after mother died and remained there for twenty years. Naturally I wondered why this change of direction happened.' - Susan Bardy

Palliative and end of life care are an essential component of nursing practice. This book provides students with the key information they need to deliver effective and safe end of life care for patients and their families. Crucially, it also creates opportunities for them to reflect on their own perspectives on death and dying and explore the impact of this on their practice. Key features Fully mapped to the NMC standards of proficiency for registered nurses (2018) Helps you to develop a holistic understanding of the fundamental principles and practice of palliative and end of life care Activities encourage you reflect on your own perspectives of death and dying and to consider the impact this has on your practice Case studies bring the theory to life and illustrate the real world applicability

The first study guide for the CHPN (R) certification exam! This must-have study guide for nurses seeking to obtain Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse (CHPN (R)) status provides state-of-the-art information about all aspects of this specialty. It features 300 carefully selected Q&As that offer a detailed rationale for each question, along with tips and strategies to promote exam mastery and frequently asked questions about the exam. Additional questions are arranged in chapters mirroring the exam blueprint and the number of questions for each category correlates with the exam matrix. Case-based scenarios embodied within the questions facilitate the application of knowledge in a problem-solving format. A complete practice exam is included as well. Brief topical reviews address hospice and palliative care nursing practice in all of its dimensions, including physical, spiritual, and psychosocial. The resource highlights information that forms the basis of end-of-life care, such as communication and family-centered care. Additionally, high-level skills used by hospice and palliative care nurses, such as drug and dosage conversion and the use of infusion therapy, are covered as well. Key Features: Delivers the first study guide for hospice and palliative nurses seeking CHPN (R) certification Provides concise, up-to-date knowledge on all aspects of the specialty Includes information about the exam, answers to commonly asked questions, and tips and strategies for exam mastery Includes practice questions and answers following each chapter Provides a final comprehensive practice exam that offers 300 Q&As with detailed answer rationales that mirror the exam format Presents case-based scenarios within the questions that facilitate the application of knowledge

In this volume the personal journey of why a nurse chose to leave Acute Care nursing to be involved in Palliative Care nursing connect with a broader culture of Palliative Care nursing by interviewing those who chose palliative care nursing and examine the reasons for changes in careers from acute, curing based, nursing to Palliative Caring for those in end of life nursing. The longest section of the study travels the world of Palliative nursing with participant observers. It is about the actively working nurse and includes extensive analytical discussion of an attempt to understand the sense of professional change, and the significance of beliefs for the reasoning behind vocational transformation. The second section examines the interviews, the third addresses the heart of the research question and examines nursing moving from a curing model to a caring only approach when death of the patient is inevitable. The volume ends with a letter written by the author to her sons asking them to be there when her time comes at the end of life through a life limiting illness and requests her sons and the Palliative Care professionals observe her final wishes.

Many hospice social workers must address spiritual issues with their clients, but do not feel competent to do so effectively. This targeted volume draws upon multidisciplinary theory and research to advance a relational model of spiritually sensitive hospice care. The book will help readers elevate their spiritual competence and foster a relationship with their clients that will enrich the experience for all involved. Spirituality and Hospice Social Work helps practitioners understand various forms of spiritual assessment for use with their clients. The book teaches practitioners to recognize a client's spiritual needs and resources, as well as signs of spiritual suffering. It also discusses religious and spiritual practices that clients may use to enhance their spiritual coping. Spirituality and Hospice Social Work stresses the need for interdisciplinary collaboration with other members of the hospice team, along with the value of maintaining professional ethical standards when addressing spiritual issues. Throughout, the importance of spiritual sensitivity and its effect upon client well-being is emphasized.

Pediatric palliative care is a field of significant growth as health care systems recognize the benefits of palliative care in areas such as neonatal intensive care, pediatric ICU, and chronic pediatric illnesses. Pediatric Palliative Care, the fourth volume in the HPNA Palliative Nursing Manuals series, highlights key issues related to the field. Chapters address pediatric hospice, symptom management, pediatric pain, the neonatal intensive care unit, transitioning goals of care between the emergency department and intensive care unit, and grief and bereavement in pediatric palliative care. The content of the concise, clinically-focused volumes in the HPNA Palliative Nursing Manuals series prepares nurses for certification exams as well as quick-reference in daily practice. Plentiful tables and patient teaching points make these volumes useful resources for nurses.

Rapid advances in modern medicine have revolutionized the way we think about death and the processes of dying. Once death was defined as the absence of respiration or heartbeat; today patients hooked up to a respirator and feeding tube can be kept alive for months or years. Ivan and Melrose carefully explain the various medical processes involved in death and dying. In doing so they also confront the many ethical, moral and legal dilemmas that face doctors today, as well as the decisions that must be taken by relatives.

Dieses Buch thematisiert die arztlich geschuldete Leistung in der Palliativmedizin. Unter Einbeziehung der Definitionen u.a. der WHO und DGP erfolgt zunachst eine Begriffsklarung und Abgrenzung zur kurativen Medizin, dem Hospiz und der Sterbehilfe, sodann eine Auseinandersetzung mit dem medizinischen Standard i.S.d. 630a Abs. 2 Hs. 1 BGB. Dabei zeigt das Buch zum einen den Mangel an wissenschaftlicher Evidenz auf und fragt danach, ob und wie eine Standardbildung auch ohne diese moeglich ist. Weiter untersucht es die Frage, wie bei einer interdisziplinaren Kompetenz eine Standardbildung erfolgen kann. Die Ergebnisse sowie Loesungen tragen der besonderen Behandlungssituation vulnerabler Palliativmedizinpatienten Rechnung. Das Buch schliesst mit einer Aufarbeitung zweier besonderer Konstellationen der Palliativmedizin: den Entscheidungen unmittelbar am Lebensende sowie der Neugeboreneneuthanasie.

The study and practice of end-of-life care has seen an increasing understanding of the need for care that integrates clinical, psychosocial, spiritual, cultural, and ethical expertise. Yet, no one existing volume pulls together perspectives from a diverse array of religions with ethical dilemmas and clinical problems in view. Safe Passage coaches clinicians and others on the front lines of care on understanding how to incorporate different traditions of thinking into the most difficult of moments around the end of life. The book is structured around five major moments of realization - when disease progresses, when emergencies happen, when dying will be a long process, the time of death, and when grieving begins. Each decision point is introduced with a research summary and an extensive case example that describes disease processes, health care delivery possibilities, and the end-of-life dilemmas involved so as to apply across the varying cultural, socio-economic, and spiritual contexts. The case example is followed by a clinical commentary written by a palliative care specialist, an ethical commentary written by an ethicist, and three short essays written by religious thinkers of different traditions. Each situation is concluded by remarks on potential approaches that respect religious and spiritual beliefs, values, and practices at the end of life across all contexts, and a bibliography. The five decision points are bookended by an introductory section that explores broad historical and cultural perspectives and a conclusion section that summarizes the book and provides guidance for further reading and study.

Oxford Case Histories in Oncology contains 30 well-structured cases from clinical practice, giving a comprehensive coverage of the diagnostic and management dilemmas in oncology. The cases cover a wide spectrum of oncology including rare presentations and clinical problems of common cancers. Each case comprises a brief clinical history with relevant clinical examination findings. Questions are based on clinical investigations and aspects of management. Detailed answers are based on the best available evidence from the latest research, systematic reviews, meta-analysis and guidelines from national and international academic bodies. The text is complimented by over 50 illustrations, including radiographic images and radiotherapy treatment plans. The format of this book is thought provoking, and it helps to improve critical thinking and interpretative skills. It is a perfect self-assessment tool for oncology and palliative medicine trainees and consultants, and will be useful for those preparing for exit examinations in oncology. It will also be of interest to non-specialist readers who wish to improve their skills in the diagnosis and management of a broad range of cancers.

"A profound exploration of what it means for all of us to live-and to die-with dignity and purpose." -People "Visceral and lyrical." -The Atlantic As the American born daughter of immigrants, Dr. Sunita Puri knew from a young age that the gulf between her parents' experiences and her own was impossible to bridge, save for two elements: medicine and spirituality. Between days spent waiting for her mother, an anesthesiologist, to exit the OR, and evenings spent in conversation with her parents about their faith, Puri witnessed the tension between medicine's impulse to preserve life at all costs and a spiritual embrace of life's temporality. And it was that tension that eventually drew Puri, a passionate but unsatisfied medical student, to palliative medicine--a new specialty attempting to translate the border between medical intervention and quality-of-life care. Interweaving evocative stories of Puri's family and the patients she cares for, That Good Night is a stunning meditation on impermanence and the role of medicine in helping us to live and die well, arming readers with information that will transform how we communicate with our doctors about what matters most to us.

How do people face life-limiting illness and death? This challenging question is discussed in-depth in Life to be Lived by looking at the feelings, hopes, fears and stresses associated with life-threatening illnesses, often experienced by patients and their carers. Drawn from research, clinical, and pastoral experiences, the authors examine the process of adjustment that patients and their families go through in major illnesses and when approaching the end of life. Life to be Lived is written in an accessible style using many stories shared by counsellors, chaplains, patients and relatives. Describing the messiness, uncertainties, and paradoxes that are part and parcel of living through an advanced illness, dying, and bereavement, but also what helps and heals, it reviews a range of responses to the challenges to patients and carers and the support, both personal and organisational. Life to be Lived is essential reading for professionals and trained volunteers who work as a part of multidisciplinary teams in palliative and end-of-life care to improve their understanding of the attitudes and behaviour of patients and carers. Families and friends will also benefit from this book as they try to come to terms with their own situations and how they can cope better with them.

Respiratory disease is the second most common cause of death worldwide. Patients with advanced non-malignant disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, have similar or even greater health care needs than those with advanced lung cancer. Uncontrolled symptoms, distress, and social isolation contribute to the poor quality of life experienced by such patients.
This book provides practical guidance to professionals who care for patients with advanced respiratory disease. It gives evidence-based advice on a wide range of topics, including management of respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms, chronic respiratory failure, and respiratory emergencies. Recognition of when a patient may be approaching the end of life can be particularly challenging in patients with advanced respiratory disease. Ways to facilitate prognostication are covered, along with the significant communication and ethical challenges that this phase of life can present.
Written by a respiratory specialist and two palliative medicine physicians, this book will be of great value to doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals working in respiratory medicine and in palliative care, both in relation to everyday clinical practice as well as meeting the requirements for postgraduate exams.

The needs of critically ill children are unique and highly specialized. "Paediatric Intensive Care Nursing" is an essential manual of care and an invaluable resource to all those involved in the care of critically ill children and young people. Covering all the key aspects of pediatric intensive care, it is a fully comprehensive textbook which provides an evidence-based and up-to-date guide for all nurses who work with critically ill children.

"Paediatric Intensive Care Nursing" is divided into four user-friendly sections: The first section looks at the general background of paediatric intensive careSection two employs a systems approach, with each chapter focusing on a specific disease and following the same framework. This includes treating children with cardiac conditions, acute neurological dysfunction, musculoskeletal injuries and gastrointestinal and endocrine conditionsSection three looks at the essential care of managing pain relief, transportation needs and treating woundsThe final section explores the holistic aspects of nursing - nutrition and fluid management, infection control issues, safeguarding children and spirituality and bereavement

Written by a team of experts in the field, "Paediatric Intensive Care Nursing" is indispensable reading for nurses and health care professionals working with critically ill children.

Effective palliative care that rests on a sound ethical foundation requires ongoing discussions about patient and family values and preferences. This is especially important when addressing care at end-of-life including artificial nutrition and hydration, withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies and palliative sedation as well as requests for assistance in hastening death. The eighth volume in the HPNA Palliative Nursing Manuals series, Legal and Ethical Aspects of Palliative Care, provides an overview of critical communication skills and formal organizational mechanisms, such as ethics committees and interdisciplinary rounds, required for decisions in ethical dilemmas which respect diversity in the views of colleagues, as well as patients. The content of the concise, clinically focused volumes in the HPNA Palliative Nursing Manuals series is one resource for nurses preparing for specialty certification exams and provides a quick-reference in daily practice.

The first book of its kind, Resilience and Palliative Care - Achievement in adversity takes the increasing international literature on resilience and applies it to palliative and end-of-life care. The book offers an overview of all key aspects of palliative care, presented through a resilience perspective. Why do some patients and families break down while others surmounts the challenges facing them? What interventions strengthen individual, family and community coping? This book aims to facilitate change with people facing the crisis of death, dying and bereavement. Much of the existing literature has focused on risk, problems and vulnerability; the emerging concept of resilience focuses on strengths and possibilities. The 'total pain'/'total care' approach pioneered by Dame Cicely Saunders and St Christopher's Hospice now needs reinterpreting in the light of changing contexts and challenges. The realities of demographic change and resource-constrained health and social care environments have generated an increasingly risk focused approach to service delivery. A narrowly medicalised approach has inevitable limitations; professional care alone will be unable to meet need and demand in the face of ageing populations, changing patterns of illness and the need for equity. The resilience approach offers a counterbalance that harnesses the strengths of individuals and the communities in which they live and in which most of their dying will take place. Resilience thinking emphasises the importance of public health and creates a partnership between patients, professionals and community structures, seeking to build community capacity and to deliver a preventive health care that will leave future generations less afraid of the dying and bereavement that will confront all of us. This book offers insights into how, at all levels of planning and delivering palliative care, there is the opportunity to maximise coping, build an infrastructure for self-help, and increase the capacity of strengthened teams and organisations.

Despite the fact that most palliative care educators are involved in teaching, there is little literature devoted to education specifically within palliative care. This book bridges that gap, giving a wide-ranging, global view of palliative care education. It offers theoretical and practical insights, along with specific suggestions for developing knowledge and skills for teaching. It also contains extensive accounts of important contextual matters which influence the range and quality of palliative care education, including: interprofessional learning; continuing professional development; evaluation; and educational leadership. The development of palliative care as a clinical speciality is increasingly conducted at an international level, and a special feature of this book is the inclusion of chapters reviewing palliative care education in each continent. This enables practitioners and teachers to share knowledge across diverse healthcare systems and cultures. There is also an acknowledgement of the multi-professional team involved in palliative care, as education and training are looked at from the perspectives of doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. The book is split into three distinct parts: Part 1 - sets the scene for existing palliative care education, both in the UK and internationally. Part 2 - focuses on the theory underpinning each aspect of teaching, learning and assessment, and then examines the practicalities of delivering these in the clinical setting. Part 3 - explores ways of building and nurturing a culture of learning in palliative care, whether as an individual or as an organization.