Experts analyze death-related issues and policies in twelve countries, discussing health care costs, advance directives, pain management, cultural, social, and religious factors, and other topics.

Decision Making near the End of Life provides a comprehensive overview of the recent developments that have impacted decision-making processes within the field of end-of-life care. The most current developments in all aspects of major underlying issues such as public attitudes, the impact of media, bioethics, and legal precedent provide the background information for the text. The authors examine various aspects of end-of-life choices and decision-making, including communication (between and among family, medical personnel, the dying person), advance directives, and the emergence of hospice and palliative care institutions. The book also explores a variety of psychosocial considerations that arise in decision-making, including religion/spirituality, family caregiving, disenfranchised and diverse groups, and the psychological and psychiatric problems that can impact both the dying person and loved ones. Case studies and first-person stories about decision-making, written by professionals in the field, bring a uniquely personal touch to this valuable text.

Questions that face dying individuals, their families, and the professionals that help them at the end of their lives are explored in this volume. The contributors help the reader to come to terms with issues of mortality complicated by the diversity of cultures within society.

Palliative and End-of-Life Care, 2nd Edition provides clinicians with the guidelines and tools necessary to provide quality, evidenced-based care to patients with life-limiting illness. This text describes the care and management of patients with advanced disease throughout the disease trajectory, extending from diagnosis of advanced disease until death. Four units provide the general principles of palliative and end-of-life care, important concepts, advanced disease management, and clinical practice guidelines. Clinical practice guidelines offer in-depth discussions of the pathophysiology of 19 different symptoms, interventions for specific symptom management (including in-depth rationales), and suggestions for patient and family teaching. Defines dying as a normal, healthy process aided by the support of an interdisciplinary team. Provides in-depth pathophysiology, assessment, and intervention information based upon the disease trajectory. Highlights opportunities for patient and family teaching. Describes psychosocial issues experienced by patients and their families. Reviews uncomplicated and complicated grief and mourning, providing suggestions to help the family after a patient's death. Includes case studies at the end of chapters to reinforce key concepts of compassionate care. New chapters including Advance Care Planning, Ethical Issues, Spiritual Care Across Cultures, Pharmacology, Sleep, and Nutrition. Includes a new appendix on Assessment Tools and Resources for more comprehensive coverage of palliative and end-of-life care.

The 5th edition of Bioethics provides nursing students with the necessary knowledge and understanding of the ethical issues effecting nursing practice. Groundbreaking in its first edition, Bioethics continues its role as a vital component of nursing education and provides a framework for students to understand the obligations, responsibilities and ethical challenges they will be presented with throughout their careers. This latest edition responds to new and emerging developments in the field and marks a significant turning point in nursing ethics in that it serves not only to inform but also to revitalise and progress debate on the issues presented.

Originally published in 2001, the Textbook of Palliative Nursing has become the standard text for the field of hospice and palliative care nursing. In this new edition, the authors and editors have updated each chapter to ensure that the content is evidence-based and current references are included. They also have retained the important focus on case studies throughout the text and practical, clinically-relevant tables, figures, and other resources. Like the previous edition, this text has an introductory section of the general principles of palliative care followed by a comprehensive section on symptom assessment and management encompassing twenty-one different symptoms. Other key sections include psychosocial support and spiritual care, providing holistic perspective on care of patients facing advanced disease. The text also includes an innovative section on special populations addressing those most in need of palliative care. The textbook is a useful resource for all nurses with the excellent section on end-of-life care across settings. In this new edition, the pediatric palliative care section has been greatly expanded and includes seven separate chapters on pediatric care. It includes a section on "special issues" addressing topics such as ethical considerations, nursing research, and public policy perspectives and concludes with a section presenting models of excellence including six international models. This edition also offers a narrative on dying based on a spouse's perspective. The text includes an appendix with an extensive list of resources for nurses in the field.

Decisions to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment are contentious, and offer difficult moral dilemmas to both medical practitioners and the judiciary. This issue is exacerbated when the patient is unable to exercise autonomy and is entirely dependent on the will of others. This book focuses on the legal and ethical complexities surrounding end of life decisions for critically impaired and extremely premature infants. Neera Bhatia explores decisions to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment from critically impaired infants and addresses the controversial question, which lives are too expensive to treat? Bringing to bear such key issues as clinical guidance, public awareness, and resource allocation, the book provides a rational approach to end of life decision making, where decisions to withdraw or withhold treatment may trump other competing interests. The book will be of great interest and use to scholars and students of bioethics, medical law, and medical practitioners.

This issue of Nursing Clinics, Guest Edited by Mimi Mahon, features subject topics such as: Understanding Children's Involvment in Medical Decision Making; Symptom Management at End of Life; Assessing respiratory distress when the patient can’t self-report; Barriers to Palliative Care, Legislative Issues; End Stage Liver Disease: Symptoms & Practice Implications; Dying children: Creating opportunities out of a “Last Chance ; Decision making in palliative care; Discussing a family member's serious illness: children's and families' perspectives; Living with cognitive impairments in Long Term Care: Palliative Care & End of Life implications; Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapy; The patient and family perspectives: Living with cancer; Palliative care concepts in the sickle cell population.

"Qualitative Research in Nursing is a user-friendly text that systematically provides a sound foundation for understanding a wide range of qualitative research methodologies, including triangulation. It approaches nursing education, administration, and practice and gives step-by-step details to instruct students on how to implement each approach. Features include emphasis on ethical considerations and methodological triangulation, instrument development and software usage; critiquing guidelines and questions to ask when evaluating aspects of published research; and tables of published research that offer resources for further reading"--Provided by publisher.