Palliative Care Nursing: Quality Care to the End of Life

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)

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