Publishing on the 50th anniversary of the opening of St Christopher's Hospice - widely thought of to be the first modern hospice, combining pain and symptom management with education and training - this edited collection discusses what motivates professionals and volunteers to provide spiritual care. This book shows how the world of hospice care is moving on from Cicely Saunder's, founder of St Christopher's Hospice, legacy to providing spiritual care in a more integrated manner. With entries from doctors, nurses and CEOs among others, this book informs good practice for professionals and volunteers providing spiritual care for patients and their families. It looks at how, for many of these professionals, spirituality does not have to be grounded in organised religion, but stems from understanding and providing for our human needs.

What do you need to know in order to provide the best possible care for sick children of different faiths? What, in the context of the young person's faith, might it be helpful to know to support the child and the family, improve care, communicate sensitively and avoid causing offence? Drawing on extensive, evidence-based research and practice, this practical resource addresses the multi-faith needs of sick and dying children and young people in hospitals and the wider community. Covering Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism, it provides the key information needed to help multi-disciplinary healthcare staff offer the best, culturally-appropriate care to sick children and their families. The book discusses daily, palliative, end of life and bereavement care in a range of settings, including hospitals, hospices, schools and home. The information provided covers those aspects of the religions discussed that are essential for healthcare staff to understand, including modesty and hygiene, taboos, food and prohibited products, age-related issues, sacred objects, visitors, and the expectations of the family. It includes important information on the issues of disability and mental health in each faith as well as addressing the significance within different faith traditions of the transitions from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. A comprehensive resource that uniquely focuses on the care needs of sick children from different faiths, this book will be of immeasurable value to multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, bereavement support and palliative care workers, carers, counsellors, chaplains and arts therapists.

"Case Studies in Palliative and End-of-Life Care" uses a case-based approach to provide students and practitioners with an important learning tool to improve critical thinking skills and encourage discussion toward improving experiences for patients and their families.

The book is organized into three sections covering subjects related to communication, symptom management, and family care. Each case is presented in a consistent, logical format for ease of use, highlighting key evidence-based concepts including the case history, care setting, diagnosis and prognosis, assessment, treatment considerations, and family support.A key reference, "Case Studies in Palliative and End-of-Life Care "is an invaluable resource for clinicians who provide palliative care to patients with life-limiting illnesses and those at the end of life along with their families.

The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing remains the most comprehensive treatise on the art and science of palliative care nursing available. Dr. Betty Rolling Ferrell and Dr. Judith A. Paice have invited 162 nursing experts to contribute 76 chapters addressing the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs pertinent to the successful palliative care team. Organized within 7 Sections, this new edition covers the gamut of principles of care: from the time of initial diagnosis of a serious illness to the end of a patient's life and beyond. This fifth edition features several new chapters, including chapters on advance care planning, organ donation, self-care, global palliative care, and the ethos of palliative nursing. Each chapter is rich with tables and figures, case examples for improved learning, and a strong evidence-based practice to support the highest quality of care. The book offers a valuable and practical resource for students and clinicians across all settings of care. The content is relevant for specialty hospice agencies and palliative care programs, as well as generalist knowledge for schools of nursing, oncology, critical care, and pediatric. Developed with the intention of emphasizing the need to extend palliative care beyond the specialty to be integrated in all settings and by all clinicians caring for the seriously ill, this new edition will continue to serve as the cornerstone of palliative care education.

Volunteers have a long been involved in supporting the delivery of palliative care. Indeed in some countries, the range and quality of hospice and palliative care services depends on the involvement of volunteers. Hospice and palliative care services and volunteering are changing. As society develops, so too does volunteering. Volunteers have growing expectations of organizations, and increasingly seek roles that meet their needs and aspirations, rather than fitting in with organizational approaches. As hospice and palliative care services experience increasing and changing demands for their services due to aging populations with complex healthcare needs, we need to recognize that volunteers have a vital role to play in supporting the delivery of services of the future. The Changing Face of Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care explores the complex phenomenon that is volunteering in hospice and palliative care in different countries. It considers how and why volunteering is changing, through the contributions of authors from Western and Eastern Europe, North America, Australia, Africa, and India. It reflects on the influence of culture and organisational contexts, in addition to management approaches, legislative, and political influences, highlighting factors that contribute to the success of volunteering. Contributing to knowledge and understanding in the field of volunteering in hospice and palliative care internationally, this book highlights the factors that contribute to the success of volunteering models, allowing readers to see possibilities for change and find new ideas for innovative practice in their own setting.

The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work is a comprehensive, evidence-informed text that provides clinicians, researchers, policy-makers, and academics with a broad range of content to inform and enhance palliative social work practice. This definitive resource brings together an array of more than 150 international authors and is edited by three leading palliative social work pioneers to address the needs of professionals providing interprofessional, culturally sensitive, biopsychosocial-spiritual care for patients and families living with serious illness. Social workers from diverse settings will benefit from the historical perspective and international scope as well as the wealth of patient and family narratives. In keeping with the dynamic growth of the field over the last decade, this second edition offers a substantially deeper dive both conceptually and contextually into the more nuanced delivery of palliative social work. This edition includes additional chapters that reflect the increased integration of palliative social work across populations, diagnoses, and settings. Each chapter has been extensively updated integrating current evidence, with a section specifically devoted to interventions for the purpose of affirming the scope of social work palliative practice. A new preface highlights aspects of social-political inequity and injustice that informed the development, process, and ultimate content of this Text. International palliative social work practice is reflected by regional voices and highlighted by an exploration of the unique response to the COVID-19 pandemic as it evolved in their respective countries. Professional issues explore topics of mentoring, supervision, advocacy, leadership, certification, legacy, and resilience.

This beautifully illustrated and sensitive storybook is designed to be used therapeutically by professionals and caregivers supporting children with an untreatable illness. With gentle and colourful illustrations that can help children with fears and feelings, it tells the story of the final journey made by a Boy with a Bear, as the Boy says his goodbyes and comes to terms with his life-ending illness. In this bundle, it is accompanied by the Storybook Manual, a resource that has been designed to support practitioners and caregivers with practical and creative ideas on how to use illustrated storybooks therapeutically with children. Key features include: An inviting and sensitively written fairy tale, with a story and illustrations that have been specifically designed to support children going through difficult life-events A supporting manual that offers a range of prompts, ideas and activities to encourage children's imagination and creativity, develop confidence and emotional literacy as well as deepen engagement and understanding of storybooks. Downloadable worksheets to support the story and explore specific themes further This is an invaluable resource for all professionals looking to use stories and images therapeutically with children suffering from a life-ending illness. The resources can also be adapted for wider use with siblings and other family members.

'A hymn to the art and science of nursing itself' Guardian The hand of a stranger offered in solace. A flower placed on a dead body as a mark of respect. It is these moments of empathy that define us as people. Nobody knows this better than a nurse. In How to Treat People, Molly Case documents these extraordinary moments of human connection and compassion. In rich, lyrical prose, she introduces us to patients going through the most extreme experiences. And when her father is admitted to the high dependency unit on which she works, Molly confronts care in a whole new way, when two worlds - the professional and the personal - suddenly collide. 'It will buoy your faith in humanity' Stylist 'Outstanding. Case's power of observation can slay you' The Times 'Fascinating, poignant and searing' Jo Brand 'Beautifully written' Stephen Westaby, author of Fragile Lives 'Her empathy and compassion are everywhere' Sunday Times

...members of the caring professions need all the counselling skills that we can muster. Readers of this book will end up feeling less helpless in the face of death but we should not expect to find communication easy. "What can we say?" Once we think we know what to say we are wrong. Rather this book will help us to learn when to speak of dying and when not to, what not to say and when to keep silent and wait patiently for what gliding instructors call an 'up-draught'. We must start from wherever the other person may be and we must take the time and trouble to discover the language with which this person speaks about death and dying, the assumptions they make and their needs and wishes to speak or not to speak. - From the Foreword by Dr Colin Murray Parkes, Life President of Cruse Bereavement Care Good counselling skills are often not taught to the professionals who need them most. Compassionate and tactful communication skills can make the difference between an awkward encounter with a dying patient, and an engaging, empathic bond between two people. Louis Heyse-Moore draws on his wealth of experience as a trained counsellor and palliative medicine specialist. Covering difficult subjects such as breaking the news of terminal illness to a patient, euthanasia and the effect of working with patients on carers, Speaking of Dying is a practical guide to using counselling skills for all clinical disciplines working in palliative care, whether in a hospice, hospital or at home. Complete with a clear explanation of both counselling and medical terminology, this hands-on guide will be an invaluable companion to anyone working in palliative care.

Wir wollen moeglichst alt werden, verdrangen aber das Alter gleichzeitig aus unserem oeffentlichen und persoenlichen Bewusstsein. Und genau mit dieser Vision einer Reintegration des Alters in der Mitte unserer Gesellschaft beschaftigt sich dieses Buch. Die Autoren, die sich seit vielen Jahren in ihrer beruflichen Praxis in der Medizin, Krankenpflege, Wissenschaft, Politik, Philosophie oder Management mit dem Thema des Alterns beschaftigen, nahern sich aus ihrer jeweils eigenen Perspektive dem Thema Altern in Wurde. Dabei werden die Ursachen der aktuellen Entwicklungen, die alte Menschen so oft an den Rand der Gesellschaft treiben, analysiert und notwendige Veranderungen und Loesungsmodelle vorgestellt. Das Buch weckt Hoffnung auf Selbstbestimmung und zeigt Wege auf, wie Teilhabe am gesellschaftlichen Leben gelingen kann. Angesprochen werden alle Menschen, die an gesundem und aktivem Altern interessiert sind und die wissen wollen, was wir heute tun mussen, damit Alter nicht langer mit Einsamkeit, Isolation und Leben im Pflegeheim gleichgesetzt wird.

Hospice care is available to patients and families dealing with terminal illness. People often do not avail themselves of hospice care because they don't understand what it entails. Many wait until their last few days to request this extraordinary comfort care instead of using the full six months available to them through Medicare and other insurance options. Demystifying Hospice describes through stories good news about end-of-life issues. Written from the perspective of a licensed social worker with experience in public and private hospitals, hospice, and the American Cancer Society, these first-hand accounts of patients, family members, hospice workers and others will lift spirits, touch hearts, and illustrate the advantages of hospice care. These are real-life examples of personalized comfort care, offered by an interdisciplinary team, where ever the patient lives. Each story addresses some aspect of helping families through the caregiving and grieving process, which are part-and-parcel of a serious illness, and offers comfort and understanding to readers who may be going through similar experiences. This book describes hope, healing, and support through difficult times.

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.

Sarah Thebarge, a Yale-trained physician assistant, nearly died of breast cancer at age twenty-seven, but that did not end her deeply felt spiritual calling to medical missions in Africa. Risking her own health, she moved to Togo, West Africa-ranked by the United Nations as the least happy country in the world-to care for sick and suffering patients. Serving without pay in a mission hospital, she pondered the intersection of faith and medicine in her quest to help make the world "well." In the hospital wards, she witnessed death over and over again. In the outpatient clinic, she daily diagnosed patients with deadly diseases, many of which had simple but unavailable cures. She lived in austere conditions and nearly succumbed herself in a harrowing bout with malaria. She describes her experiences in gripping detail and reflects courageously about difficult and deep human connections-across race, culture, material circumstances, and medical access. Her experience exemplifies the triumph of surviving in order to share the stories that often go untold. In the end, WELL is an invitation to ask what happens when, instead of asking why God allows suffering to happen in the world, we ask, "Why do we?"

With the number of people requiring palliative and end of life care steadily increasing, it is the responsibility of every nurse, regardless of specialism, to know how to provide high quality care to this group of people. Yet caring for those nearing the end of life can throw up complex issues, including handling bereavement, cultural and ethical issues, delivering care in a wide variety of settings, symptom management and also ensuring your own emotional resilience. This book is specifically designed to equip nursing students and non-specialists with the essential knowledge in relation to the care and management of people nearing the end of life.

Palliative Care is the first book to provide a comprehensive understanding of the new field that is transforming the way Americans deal with serious illness.

Diane E. Meier, M.D., one of the field's leaders and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in 2009, opens the volume with a sweeping overview of the field. In her essay, Dr. Meier examines the roots of palliative care, explores the key legal and ethical issues, discusses the development of palliative care, and presents ideas on policies that can improve access to palliative care.

Dr. Meier's essay is followed by reprints of twenty-five of the most important articles in the field. They range from classic pieces by some of the field's pioneers, such as Eric Cassel, Balfour Mount, and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, to influential newer articles on topics such as caregiving and cost savings of palliative care. The reprints cover a wide range of topics including:

Why the care of the seriously ill is so important

Efforts to cope with advanced illness

Legal and ethical issues

Pain management

Cross-cultural issues

Philosophical perspective

The demand for palliative care has been nothing short of stunning--largely because of palliative care's positive impact on both the quality and the cost of care provided to seriously ill individuals. By providing a wide-ranging perspective on this growing field, this book will serve as a guide for developing meaningful approaches that will lead to better health care for all Americans.

Students and newly qualified staff make up much of the workforce delivering end-of-life care but, because end-of-life care can be both technically challenging and emotionally demanding, it is an aspect of nursing that can cause considerable anxiety. This very accessible, straightforward book helps to allay those concerns and enables pre-registration students to prepare confidently for the challenges they will face when they are caring for dying patients and supporting their families. Each chapter is based on a different and realistic scenario - reflecting a range of circumstances - to demonstrate the essential generic knowledge and skills they need to develop, and draws out the important practical and theoretical issues students should consider and address if patients and their families are to receive the best possible care. Written by two experienced palliative care lecturer/practitioners, and mapping closely to the NMC's 2010 domains, the book is tailored to the needs of student nurses working with adult patients. It explores the importance of their role in end-of-life care and how this interfaces with the roles of other multidisciplinary professionals involved in the care of their patients. It will also be helpful to students of other health-care professions and support newly-qualified health-care professionals working in adult health.

Given our aging population, there will sadly be an increasing number of terminally-ill patients over the next ten to twenty years. A Patient-Centered Approach to Medicine for the Terminally-Ill explains that a more humane patient-centered approach is necessary to ensure that terminally-ill patients are cared for effectively at the end of life. It is a well-known fact that terminally-ill patients are very difficult to care for by their physicians and other medical specialists, and paternalism is no longer a viable way of caring for the terminally-ill. In this book, Switankowsky argues that there are five conditions for physicians to bring about patient-centered medicine. These are: effective physician-patient disclosure of treatments, successful decision-making, effective communication, development of effective physician-patient relationships, and advance directives. By following these five necessary conditions, physicians could ensure that all terminally-ill patients die with some degree of dignity and are given essential, humane care until the end of their days.

This is a unique resource to improve this difficult and highly sensitive area of communication, ideal for both individual use and by groups or in teaching. It offers a visual, interactive training experience, linking with supportive care frameworks. It is accompanied bya DVD which contains filmed scenes illustrating a range of challenging dialogues between health workers and a patient and his family through the journey of his terminal illness. Accompanying booklet highlights communication issues with suggested exercises, reflection points and advice. It is available as individual-use-only product for self-reflective learning, or institutional-use product for tutored learning, both priced to give excellent value.

This text introduces the reader to the key issues surrounding care of the dying patient, as well as highlighting the importance of context in the social management of dying. Written in a pragmatic style, it provides a foundation from which to consider the theoretical and practical concerns that are central to terminal care in institutional as well as community-based settings. Illustrated with case studies that demonstrate how the themes of the book can be applied in practice, this text encourages readers to reflect on research findings so that they are stimulated to formulate their own ideas about caring for dying patients.

`There is much to learn about easing suffering from John's reflective narrative. The journal is both evocative and illuminating. The attention given to individuals patients experiences and to the manner in which practitioners can help to relieve suffering is the main strength of the book' -Journal of Advanced Nursing `Christopher Johns has written an exquisite book detailing the experience of being a palliative care nurse. He has taken a unique approach in chronicling his practice through a journal, which serves a model for the reader on reflective practice. Johns' book is insightful on several levels. He offers a poignant book about the practice of palliative care, which will certainly evoke deep feelings and memories for many who have cared for dying patients. The narrative serves a model for reflective practice for students and practitioners alike who wish to explore this method of research and self-inquiry. John also, as the postscript writer describe, addresses some of the lessons that can be learned in palliative care work, the importance of living in the moment, and acknowledgement of the constantly changing nature of life.' - Mary L. Wilby, MSN, CRNP, La Salle University School of Nursing `Chris Johns has produced a book that is, I believe, unique in the field of nursing practice. In his personal and philosophical reflections on palliative care he pin-points...the very essence of nursing practice... This text should be at the heart not only of nursing but also the way in which we should live our lives.' - Denise Rankin-Box, Editor in Chief, Complementary Therapies in Nursing and Midwifery Written by an experienced palliative care nurse, trainer, and complementary therapist, Being Mindful, Easing Suffering is an essential resource for professionals working with the seriously ill and the dying. Chris Johns describes how he has combined traditional medical, and more reflective models in his palliative practice, enabling him to work mindfully to alleviate physical and non-physical pain and suffering throughout the health-illness cycle. With reference to ideas from Buddhist philosophy around compassion and reflective knowing, this important book shows how the core task of those working in palliative care is to nurture the spiritual growth and development of their patients and, in turn, themselves.

A textbook aimed at nurses working with and in the homes of people with AIDS. Also useful to the family and friends of a person with AIDS.

Just as everyone must die, almost everyone will deal with death among close friends or loved ones. This collection explores the often difficult issues of human relationships with the dying, as well as the many stresses and burdens faced by the survivors.