Practical Guide to Palliative Care » (New Edition)

Designed for easy use at the bedside, this manual contains the practical information health care professionals need to provide optimal end-of-life care. The book presents a multidimensional, holistic approach to assessment and management of the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of the patient and family. Topics covered include cultural diversity in end-of-life care; communicating with patients and families; predicting life expectancy; terminal care; non-pain symptom management; pain control; palliative interventions; pediatric palliative care; record keeping; and ethics.

The succinct, user-friendly presentation features bullet points and numerous quick-reference tables. Each chapter includes an "In a Nutshell" summary of key points.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Jean A Endryck, MSN(Seton Health)
Description:This overview of palliative care principles is an excellent book for beginning practitioners with limited experience and for general practitioners with some experience in this field. This book provides an easy way to locate the information.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide a simple approach at the end of life for your patients. The authors make it convenient to locate the information the practitioner may require immediately. Helping our patients and families with a "good death" is an important legacy that we leave with our families. The authors meet the objectives by providing a simple, comprehensive easy to read book.
Audience:This book can be used by students, residents, and seasoned general practitioners to provide an evidence-based approach to good quality end of life care. Although written for generalists, this book could be useful for the palliative care practitioner as well. The authors are practicing physicians who work with patients and families on end of life issues.
Features:The contents cover the aspects of the National Consensus Project for Palliative Care in a succinct, easy to read manner. It mainly covers the adult population, but touches on the pediatric population for a good overview. The end of each chapter has a "nutshell" section to highlight the important aspects of the chapter. The short, to the point chapters make it easier to find information quickly.
Assessment:As an experienced palliative care practitioner, I found the book easy to read and reference. I intend to use this book as part of my orientation program for new practitioners who join our service.

Section 1: THE PALLIATIVE CARE APPROACH

• Ch. 1 Definitions
• Ch. 2 Philosophy-From "Cure" to "Comfort"
• Ch. 3 The Transition from "Diagnose and Treat" to "Palliate"
• Ch. 4 Historical Perspective: What Has Changed?

Section 2: CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN END-OF-LIFE CARE

• Ch. 5: Planning for Diverse Populations
• Ch. 6: African American Culture & End-of-Life
• Ch. 7: Hispanic Views on Death & Dying
• Ch. 8: Understanding the Jewish Culture
• Ch. 9: Mourning in the Asian Culture
• Ch.10: Death Practices in the Muslim Culture
• Ch.11: Building Cultural Bridges with Other Cultures

Section 3: APPROACH TO THE PATIENT

• Ch.12: Delivering Bad News
• Ch.13: The Family Conference
• Ch.14: Dealing with Anger
• Ch.15: The Spiritual Assessment
• Ch.16: Giving Realistic Hope
• Ch.17: The "DNR" or "AND" Discussion in Seriously Ill Patients
• Ch.18: Advanced Directives in Health Care
• Ch.19: Decision-Making Ability
• Ch.20: Goal Setting
• Ch.21: The Hospice Conversation
• Ch.22: Telling the Children
• Ch.23: What if a Patient Asked You to Pray?
• Ch.24: Death Pronouncement
• Ch.25: Completing the Death Certificate
• Ch.26: Informing Significant Others of a Patient's Death
• Ch.27: Writing a Condolence Letter
• Ch.28: Caring for the Family

Section 4: PREDICTING LIFE EXPECTANCY

• Ch.29: "How Long Do I Have?"
• Ch.30: Guidelines for Hospice
• Ch.31: Physician Prediction of Life Expectancy
• Ch.32: Palliative Performance Score

Section 5: DELIVERY OF PALLIATIVE CARE

• Ch.34: The Hospital Palliative Care Unit
• Ch.35: Consulting in the Hospital
• Ch.36: Hospice in Delivery of Palliative Care

Section 6: TERMINAL CARE

• Ch.38: The Syndrome of Imminent Death
• Ch.39: Near Death Awareness (NDA)
• Ch.40: Terminal Delirium

Section 7: NONPAIN SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT

• Ch.42: Tips for Maximizing Chances of Success
• Ch.43: Dyspnea, Air Hunger, Shortness of Air
• Ch.44: Oral Care Basics

Section 8: PAIN CONTROL

• Ch.63: Myths About Opioid Use
• Ch.64: Legal Liability of UnderTreating Pain
• Ch.65: Principles of Pain Management
• Ch.66: Assessment of Pain
• Ch.67: Converting One Opioid to Another (Equianalgesic Dosing)
• Ch.68: Opioid Dose Escalation
• Ch.69: Managing Opioid Side Effects
• Ch.70: Opioid Withdrawal
• Ch.71: Morphine
• Ch.72: Hydrocodone for Pain
• Ch.73: Oxycodone for Pain

Section 9: PALLIATIVE INTERVENTIONS

• Ch.82: Tube Feeding in Palliative Care
• Ch.83: Palliative Chemotherapy
• Ch.84: Palliative Radiation
• Ch.85: "Response Rate" in Cancer Chemotherapy
• Ch.86: Ventilator Withdrawal
• Ch.87: Bowel Obstruction
• Ch.88: Treating the "Death Rattle"
• Ch.89: Aggressive Wound Management

Section 10: THE PALLIATIVE PEDIATRIC PATIENT

• Ch.90: Children and Death
• Ch.91: Neonatal Population
• Ch.92: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
• Ch.93: Pediatric Withdrawal of Life Support
• Ch.94: The Dying Adolescent

Section 11: CHARTING

• Ch.95: Documentation in Palliative Care
• Ch.96: Coding & Billing for Hospice/Palliative Care

Section 12: ETHICS AT THE END OF LIFE

• Ch.97: Ethics & Legal Issues
• Ch.98: Hastened Death: The Rule of Double Effect
• Ch.99: When to Stop-Medical Futility
• Ch.100: Caring for Yourself and Avoiding Burnout

Appendices

Index