Palliative Care Nursing: Quality Care to the End of Life » (3rd Edition)

Marianne LaPorte Matzo, PhD, APRN, GNP-BC, FAAN, is a Professor and the Frances E. and A. Earl Ziegler Chair in Palliative Care Nursing at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center College of Nursing in Oklahoma City. She is also a member of the Doctoral Faculty at The Union Institute and University of Cincinnati, and a Soros Scholar for the Project on Death in America. She was awarded a Doctorate in Gerontology from the University of Massachusetts--Boston and a master's degree in Nursing from the Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Massachusetts--Lowell. Her work for the Project on Death in America has included undergraduate curriculum development on the care of the dying patient and family, work as a hospice nurse, and continuing education programs related to death, dying, and bereavement. Her research has included nurse's practices of assisted suicide and a quantitative study of health care providers' responses to the death of their patients. Dr. Matzo has presented educational programs both regionally and nationally on many topics related to care of the dying person, gerontological nursing, and curriculum development. Her work has been published in Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Educator, Geriatric Nursing, Nursing Homes, Geriatric Psychiatry, The Journal of Gerontological Nursing, Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, Applied Nursing Research, Heart and Lung, Nursing Education Perspectives and the Geriatric Clinics of North America.

Deborah Witt Sherman, PhD, APRN, ANP-BC, FAAN, is Associate Professor, Director of the Doctoral Program at New York University College of Nursing, and faculty of the Advanced Practice Palliative Care Master's and Post-Master's Programs. She is also Co-Director and faculty for the Bronx Veterans Medical Center Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Fellowship Program.

Dr. Sherman's background in critical care nursing, hospice nursing, and her certification as an adult nurse practitioner, as well as her research focus on populations with life-threatening and terminal illness, are foundational to her expertise and commitment to palliative care, for which she developed the first nurse practitioner palliative care master's and post-master's programs in the United States.

In 1998, she was awarded the prestigious Project on Death in America Faculty Scholars Fellowship, funded by the Soros Foundation, to implement the Advanced Practice Palliative Care Master's Program at NYU and to participate as a nurse practitioner on the palliative care team of Mount Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Sherman was also awarded an advanced nursing practice training grant by the Department of Health and Human Services to fund the Advanced Practice Palliative Care Master's Program ate NYU.

Dr. Sherman has been funded by the National Institute of Health for a two-year pilot study entitled "Interventions and Quality of Life for Patients with Advanced Cancer or AIDS and their Family Caregivers." She is also a co-investigator on a four-year randomized control trial funded by the National Cancer Institute to examine the effects of psychoeducation and telephone counseling on the adjustment of women and partners experiencing early stage breast cancer.

Dr. Sherman is a member of several editorial boards and professional nursing organizations including the National Hospice Organization, Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses Association, The Association of Death Educators and Grief Counselors, Oncology Nursing Society, and the Association for Nurses in AIDS Care. Dr. Sherman serves on the advisory board and as faculty on the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium, whose aim is to educate nurses in palliative care across the country. She has served as a member of an Interdisciplinary Steering Committee of a National Consensus Project, which developed national guidelines for quality palliative care. She has led the initiative to develop the Scope and Standards for Advance Practice Palliative Care Nursing approved by the ANA. Dr. Sherman secured funding to develop the first national Advance Practice Palliative Care Credentialing Examination, which was completed in May 2003.

"This textbook has...introduced concepts and methods of education which [help] to move palliative nursing forward as an evidenced based practice of whole person care."

-- Betty Ferrell, PhD, FAAN Research Scientist (From the Foreword)

"In this comprehensive textbook on palliative care nursing, editors Marianne Matzo and Deborah Witt Sherman succeed in bringing together the heart of nursing and the true meaning of palliative care with the most current evidence based practice."

--GeriPal

Palliative care is a philosophy of caregiving that integrates disease modification with supportive, compassionate therapies for patients at the end of life. Palliative care nurses are responsible for alleviating pain and other physical symptoms-along with satisfying the emotional, social, cultural, and spiritual needs of patients who are facing life-threatening illness.

This third edition of Palliative Care Nursing provides more comprehensive newly updated content, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and cutting-edge teaching and learning strategies to achieve the AACN End-of-Life nursing competencies providing a lifespan approach. Now in its third edition, this book continues to emphasize the value of complementary, holistic modalities in promoting health, wholeness, and wellness, even as death approaches.

Key topics discussed:

• Ethical aspects of palliative care
  
• Legal aspects of end-of-life decision-making
  
• Loss, suffering, grief, and bereavement on the part of patients and their families
  
• Symptom-specific nursing management of pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue, malnutrition, and dehydration-all common to palliative care
  
• How to communicate with the seriously ill and dying patients, their families, and their health care providers
  
• Disease-specific aspects of palliative care for those battling cancer, heart disease, lung disease, HIV/AIDS, end-stage renal and liver disease, neurological, and other disorders

Doody Review Services

Reviewer: Lisa Stepp, PhD, RN, APN, AOCN, CRNH (Private Practice)
Description: Although palliative care and hospice have been an important part of medical service now for many years, clinician education in this area remains relatively new. Numerous nursing and physician education programs have started to integrate palliative care into their curriculum and appropriate texts are necessary to support this process.
Purpose: Clinicians are unable to provide services for which they have not received appropriate instruction. This book proposes to provide such instruction for students and established clinicians in palliative and end-of-life care. All contributing authors to this book are experienced in the area of palliative care and well respected in the field. The wealth of knowledge they bring to the topic is unsurpassed.
Audience: This book is most appropriate for nursing students, but clinicians just starting in palliative care as well as social workers and chaplains can benefit. The terminology is somewhat technical and will require some basic knowledge of nursing and science. Excellence in quality nursing care can only be achieved through appropriate education and direction. This book provides a framework that facilitates such quality care.
Features: This book provides the most essential information regarding end-of-life care and is orgainzed around 15 core competencies. With an understanding of the holisitic approach of palliative care, the reader is exposed to a comprehensive curriculum to guide their practice and success.
Assessment: Although there have been many books written regarding nursing care at the end of life, this book provides new information regarding appropriate curriculum development and implementation. Overall, the book is most appropriate for educators and use as a class textbook.

Section I: Looking at the Whole person in Palliative Care Chapter 1: Culture and Spirituality as Domains of Quality Palliative Care Chapter 2: Sexual Health and Intimacy Chapter 3: Holistic Integrative Therapies Section II: Societal and Professional Issues in Palliative Care Chapter 4: Societal Perspectives Regarding Palliative Care Chapter 5: The Nurses Role in Interdisciplinary and Palliative Care Chapter 6: Development of the Specialty of Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing Chapter 7: Ethical Aspects of Palliative Care Chapter 8: Legal Aspects of End-of-Life Decision Making Section III: Psychosocial Considerations Chapter 9: Communicating with Seriously Ill and Dying Patients, Their Families, and Their Health Care Providers Chapter 10: Family Caregivers Chapter 11: Loss, Suffering, Grief and Bereavement Section IV: Physical Aspects of Palliative Care: Diseases Chapter 12: Cancer Chapter 13: End Stage Heart Disease Chapter 14: Chronic Lung Disease Chapter 15: Neurological Disorders Chapter 16: End Stage Renal Disease Chapter 17: End Stage Liver Disease Chapter 18: HIV/AIDS Section V: Physical Aspects of Palliative Care: Symptoms Chapter 19: Pain Assessment and Pharmacological/Non-Pharmacological Interventions Chapter 20: Dyspnea Chapter 21: Anxiety, Depression, and Delirium Chapter 22: Gastrointestinal Symptoms Chapter 23: Fatigue Chapter 24: Skin Care Needs of Palliative Patients Chapter 25: Peri-Death Nursing Care