Comprehensive Guide To Supportive And Palliative Care For Patients With Cancer

"The contributors educate health care providers on the principles and practices of pain and symptom management in cancer patients. The content was expanded significantly for the fourth edition"--

This book offers healthcare professionals, academics and anyone affected by cancer a fresh and original approach to the supportive care of people with cancer. It looks at some of the underlying reasons why cancer often leads to high levels of distress. More importantly, it suggests many practical ways distress can be prevented and minimised. The book combines the actual experiences of cancer patients, as recorded in their personal diaries, with theory, research and practical clinical advice. In each of its seven chapters the book takes a different perspective and a different approach to supportive care in cancer. Chapter 1 considers how people generally manage and adjust to change in their lives and in particular how they react to the threat of cancer. Chapter 2 examines the 'lived experience' of people with cancer as they negotiate the many challenges and changes following their diagnosis. Chapter 3 looks at the impact of cancer on the families, partners, and carers of people with cancer. Chapter 4 shows that the social and cultural context of someone's life is critical to an understanding of their resources and responses to serious illness. Chapter 5 considers how professionals can help minimise disruption to their patients quality of life as they endure the notorious demands of oncology treatments. It looks at popular cancer treatments, common treatment difficulties, cancer rehabilitation and palliative care. Chapter 6 provides a summary of the burgeoning area of communication skills within healthcare and, finally, Chapter 7 ponders how professionals can maintain adequate supportive care in light of the evidence of high levels of stress and burnout among cancer staff.

Handbook of Supportive Oncology and Palliative Care is a practical guide to providing evidence-based and value-based care to adult and pediatric cancer patients experiencing severe symptoms and stressors due to cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, and comorbid conditions. This accessible reference provides the art and science behind the whole-person and family approach to care by delivering the best practices to relieving a cancer patient’s symptoms across physical, psychosocial, and spiritual dimensions. Unlike other resources, this book covers all dimensions of palliative care but with a special emphasis on primary palliative care. Part One of the handbook provides the essential background and principles of supportive oncology and palliative care, including chapters on understanding the adult and pediatric patient and family illness experience, the roles and responsibilities of the palliative care team, and the art of the palliative care assessment interview. Part Two covers symptom management and includes ten chapters considering the major physical and psychosocial symptoms a cancer patient may face—neurologic, cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, psychiatric, sleep and fatigue, pain, and psychosocial and spiritual distress. Part Three addresses special considerations and issues that an oncologist, physician, nurse or other healthcare provider often face in these settings, including chapters on intimacy, sexuality, and fertility issues, grief and bereavement, running a family meeting, care for the caregiver, and survivorship. Written by expert clinicians, this state-of-the-art handbook is a necessary resource for any oncologist, nurse, primary care physician, psychosocial expert, or related practitioner who endeavors to improve quality of life and provide healing to those suffering from cancer and its treatment. Key Features: Provides the binding principles of palliative care for pediatrics, adults and families from diverse cultures and spiritual beliefs Easy-to-read format makes extracting content fast and convenient for both the clinical and educational setting Guides the clinician and practitioner through the palliative care assessment process, including the appropriate questions for the palliative care interview

The first truly interdisciplinary book on supportive oncology and palliative care returns with a new edition that serves as a practical guide to the management of the myriad symptoms and quality-of-life issues that occur in patients with cancer—including newly diagnosed patients, patients undergoing treatment, cancer survivors, and patients whose disease is no longer curable. The interdisciplinary group of contributors includes leading experts in hospice care and palliative medicine, oncology, nursing, neurology, psychiatry, anesthesiology, and pharmacology. This completely revised edition features new chapters on caregiver stress, hepatic failure, pulmonary failure, research issues in palliative care, and beginning a palliative care program. Content has been aligned with the needs of today's palliative care fellowship programs and includes additional tables, algorithms, and flow charts.

Janet L. Abrahm argues that all causes of suffering experienced by people with cancer, be they physical, psychological, social, or spiritual, should be treated at all stages: at diagnosis, during curative therapy, in the event that cancer recurs, and during the final months. In the second edition of this symptom-oriented guide, she provides primary care physicians, advanced practice nurses, internists and oncologists with detailed information and advice for alleviating the stress and pain of patients and family members alike. The new edition includes the latest information on patient and family communication and counseling, on medical, surgical, and complementary and alternative treatments for symptoms caused by cancer and cancer treatments, and on caring for patients in the last days and their bereaved families. Updated case histories, medication tables, Practice Points, and bibliographies provide clinicians with the information they need to treat their cancer patients effectively and compassionately.

The specialty of palliative care has traditionally grown out of oncology and there has been little research into the needs of patients dying from causes other than cancer. Few non-cancer patients receive hospice in-patient, home care or day care although a good proportion of hospices say that their services are available to non-cancer patients. As a result, the importance of palliative care for non-cancer patients is now being increasingly recognized internationally, and in the UK a committee reporting to the Department of Health recommended that palliative care should be accessible to all patients who need such care. Palliative Care for Non-Cancer Patients considers the needs and experiences of patients dying from, for example, stroke, heart disease or dementia by,drawing on a range of disciplines and specialties in medicine. The provision of palliative care for patients dying from causes other than cancer raises a number of important questions for policy makers and purchasers. This book summarizes what is known about the needs of and appropriate service provision for people dying of causes other than cancer and begins to set a research agenda.

Since 1999, nurses at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have played key roles on the palliative care interdisciplinary team, which includes a mobile consultation team, an ambulatory outpatient center, and a dedicated acute inpatient palliative care unit. Passionate about continuing the development of evidence-based palliative care, the second edition of this handbook is intended to serve as a guide for healthcare providers in palliative medicine, along with referring physicians and nurses. This second edition includes input from nurses, physicians, social workers, chaplains, occupational and physical therapists, and pharmacists to provide guidance on the best practices to successfully work as an interdisciplinary team to deliver the optimal care to palliative care patients.

Written by experienced authorities from around the world giving a wider international perspective on palliative nursing, this substantially expanded new edition has been specifically adapted to reflect working practices within the NHS. All nurses especially those that are new to palliative care, and those working in other areas of health where palliative skills are required, will find this essential reading.