Hospice and Palliative Care: The Essential Guide

by Stephen R. Connor

Overview

The third edition of Hospice and Palliative Care is the essential guide to the hospice and palliative care movement both within the United States and around the world. Chapters provide mental-health and medical professionals with a comprehensive overview of the hospice practice as well as discussions of challenges and the future direction of the hospice movement. Updates to the new edition include advances in spiritual assessment and care, treatment of prolonged and complicated grief, provision of interdisciplinary palliative care in limited-resource settings, significant discussion of assisted suicide, primary healthcare including oncology, and more. Staff and volunteers new to the field along with experienced care providers and those using hospice and palliative care services will find this essential reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317221166
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/06/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	290
File size:	920 KB

About the Author

Stephen Connor, PhD, is the executive director of the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance based in London, UK. He has worked continuously in hospice and palliative care for the past 40 years as researcher, executive, educator, author, and licensed clinical medical psychologist.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER 1 What Are Hospice and Palliative Care?

CHAPTER 2 The Interdisciplinary Team

CHAPTER 3 Symptom Management and Physical Care

CHAPTER 4 Psychosocial and Spiritual Care

CHAPTER 5 Grief and Bereavement

CHAPTER 6 Community, Public, & Professional Education

CHAPTER 7 Hospice and Palliative Care Leadership

CHAPTER 8 Hospice and palliative care in the US health care system

CHAPTER 9 How Palliative Care is Unique in the Health Care System

CHAPTER 10 How Good Are Hospice and Palliative Care?

CHAPTER 11 A Right to Die?

CHAPTER 12 Hospice and Palliative Care Around the World

CHAPTER 13 The Future of Hospice and Palliative Care

References

APPENDIX ONE Discussion Questions and Activities by Chapter (updated)

APPENDIX TWO Organizational References (updated)

Index

　

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Catherine Parsons Emmett, PhD, APRN, ACHPN (Empath Health)
Description: The modern hospice and palliative care movement began in the 1960s and has seen many changes in the decades since, and this edition brings readers up to date on where the movement stands today. It covers the practice of hospice and palliative care in the United States and around the world, reviewing the history of the movement and current and future trends. The book is logically laid out, with each chapter discussing specific aspects of hospice and palliative care. The two previous editions were published in 2009 and 1999.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide an overview of hospice and palliative care for healthcare professionals, hospice and palliative care staff and volunteers, and the public. As the author points out, the hospice and palliative care movement is relatively new in the field of healthcare, and therefore is still not well understood by many. The book succeeds in its objectives to provide a fairly complete overview in fewer than 250 pages.
Audience: This would be a great book for healthcare administrators who are new to the field of hospice and palliative care, as well as administrators in healthcare systems looking to acquire and/or launch these services for the first time. It also would make a great textbook for a course on hospice and palliative care for nurses, social workers, divinity students, and physicians, or as a supplemental book for those disciplines. The author is uniquely qualified, having worked in the field since 1976 and currently serving as the executive director of the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance.
Features: The book begins with a brief history of the beginnings of the modern hospice and palliative care movement and then goes into details regarding the interdisciplinary team (IDT), symptom management, psycho/social/spiritual care, and community education. It then discusses hospice and palliative care program operations and challenges. It concludes with a look at palliative care globally and what the future may bring. The book is well organized, and the material flows in a logical manner. There could have been much more information on spiritual care, especially since this is one of the primary IDT principles on which the modern hospice and palliative care movement was founded. A minor quibble is with the font, which could have been a bit larger and/or different font so that aging eyes would find it easier to read. A more serious criticism is of the references, only a handful of which were from recent years. Missing in this book is the role of hospice and palliative care in addressing the opioid crisis, which has emerged as an issue in the last few years.
Assessment: This is a well-organized overview of hospice and palliative care, covering the history, current issues and challenges, and pathways for the future. While there are many books that focus on discipline-specific aspects of hospice and palliative care (Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing, 4th edition, Ferrell et al. (Oxford University Press, 2015); Advanced Practice Palliative Nursing, Dahlin et al. (Oxford University Press, 2016); Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, 5th edition, Cherny et al. (Oxford University Press, 2015); to name a few), this book encompasses a broad range of topics and can serve as an excellent introduction to the field for new employees, volunteers, administrators, and students. Overall, I would recommend this book for anyone wanting an overview of hospice and palliative care.

Doody's Review Service

"This third edition of Hospice and Palliative Care is an essential resource for all professionals. Dr. Connor has captured both the foundation and history of this still emerging field as well as the timely, critical issues that will define our future. It is a comprehensive and thoughtful contribution to advance the care of the seriously ill."

Betty Ferrell, PhD, RN, director, Division of Nursing Research and Education, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California

From the Publisher