Palliative Care Nursing Quality Care to the End of Life

Praise for the Third Edition:

This fourth edition of a comprehensive text/reference that has been valued by students, educators, and practicing nurses for many years, Palliative Care Nursing continues to reflect the fundamental hospice and palliative care nursing competencies---both basic and advanced--that are essential for effective and empathetic care of patients and families. This new edition reflects the tremendous growth of this vital discipline into the mainstream of health care and focuses on palliative care that is responsive to the demand for health care reform in America and globally. It provides the knowledge, scientific evidence, and skills needed by nurses to address the complex physical, emotional, social, sexual, and spiritual needs of patients and families within the context of a changing health care delivery system. With a focus on inter-professional collaboration, the book emphasizes the value of complementary, holistic models in promoting health and wholeness across the illness trajectory, even as death approaches.

The book is edited by Project on Death in America Faculty Scholars, who have worked to develop, implement, and evaluate nursing initiatives in palliative care in the U.S. and internationally. With a focus on both quality of life and economic imperatives, interdisciplinary authors describe the management of specific diseases and related physical and psychological symptoms, and care of patients during the dying process. They cover assessment of key symptoms and pharmacological, non-pharmacological, and complementary interventions. Taking a life-span approach, the book includes age-appropriate nursing considerations. Key points at the beginning of each chapter and callouts containing evidenced-based information highlight best practices. The text also examines relevant legal, ethical, and cultural considerations and offers case studies with conclusions in each clinical chapter.

• Thoroughly revised and expanded
• Three new chapters addressing palliative care amidst health care reform, rehabilitation in chronic or serious illness, and post-traumatic stress disorder
• A conceptual framework table in each chapter identifying the National Quality Forum Domains of Palliative Care and Basic and Advanced Palliative Care and Hospice Nursing Competencies
• Updated evidence-based callouts that review the highest-quality studies