The Hospice Companion. Best Practices for Interdisciplinary Care of Advanced Illness

Description 

The Hospice Companion is a guide to the processes of care during the intensive, interpersonal experiences of hospice work. This resource highlights themission and values of modern-day hospice through the individual and combined efforts of the field's most valuable asset, the hospice professional. Thiseasy-to-navigate clinical decision support tool for caregivers of those with life-limiting illnesses allows for personal and professional growth and a deeplygratifying sense of accomplishment as you proceed in the all-important work of caring for the dying. The third edition of The Hospice Companion features athoroughly current guide to clinical processes and symptom management, providing hospice professionals with a concise summary of changes that haveinfluenced clinical practice over the last several years. Moreover, feedback from hospice social workers has been incorporated into the section on personal, social, and environmental processes and guidance on integrative and non-pharmacologic interventions have been added.

Perry G. Fine, Professor of Anesthesiology, Pain Research Center, School of Medicine, University of Utah

Features

• Easy to use for bedside reference
• Formatted to "thinkthrough" commonclinicalproblems and conditions
• Coversallcommon social and clinicalconditions and symptomcomplexesconfrontingpatients and caregiversexperiencingadvancedillness 

Table of contents

1. General Processes
Palliative Care at the End of Life: Blending Structure and Function
The Interdisciplinary Team (IDT)
Documentation

2. Personal, Social, and Environmental Processes
Abuse in the Home
Advance Care Planning and Directives for Health-care Interventions
Changes in Body Image and Loss of Independence
Changes in Family Dynamics
Completing Worldly Business and Life Closure
Controlled Substances: Misuse and Abuse
Cultural Differences: Respect, Understanding, and Adapting Care
Denial
Grief Reactions
Living Environment, Finances, and Support Systems
Basic Home Safety
Suicide: Risk, Prevention, and Coping If It Happens

3. Clinical Processes and Symptom Management
Air Hunger (Dyspnea)
Agitation and Anxiety
Anorexia and Cachexia
Belching and Burping (Eructation)
Bleeding, Draining, and Malodorous Lesions
Confusion/Delirium
Constipation
Coughing
Depression
Diarrhea and Anorectal Problems
Dysphagia and Oropharyngeal Problems
Edema: Peripheral Edema, Ascites, and Lymphedema
Fatigue, Weakness (Aesthenia), and Excessive Sedation
Fever and Diaphoresis
Hiccups
Imminent Death
Insomnia and Nocturnal Restlessness
Nausea and Vomiting
Pain
Pruritus
Seizures
Skeletal Muscle and Bladder Spasms
Skin Breakdown: Prevention and Treatment
Urinary Problems
Xerostomia (Dry Mouth)

4. Appendices
Appendix 1: Palliative Radiation Therapy in End-of-Life Care: Evidence-Based Utilization
Appendix 2: Principles of Pharmacotherapy
Appendix 3: Ketamine Protocol
Appendix 4: Clinical/Functional Assessment and Staging
Appendix 5: Anticoagulation