Geriatric Palliative Care

The growing geriatric population in the United States has created an increasing need for palliative medicine services across the range of medical and surgical specialties. Yet, palliative medicine lacks the resources to carry such a workload itself. Geriatric Palliative Care addresses this need by encouraging individual specialties to "own" the management of elderly with the same vigor as they "own" other key management competencies within their specialty. This clinically focused and highly practical handbook, which compliments the more comprehensive text Geriatric Palliative Care by Sean Morrison and Diane Meier (Oxford University Press, 2003), encourages this process of learning and ownership across many medical specialties. Designed to be readable and easily accessible to a range of health care providers, Geriatric Palliative Care outlines specific strategies for caring for specific palliative care issues common in elderly patients. The handbook also provides evidence based advice for helping patients, relatives, and staff cope with such issues as polypharmacy, dementia and consent, multiple pathologies, home care, elderly caregivers, and supporting the elderly in the place where they would like to be.

Geriatric Palliative Care covers a broad spectrum of issues characterizing care for older adults living with complex and serious illness. Beginning with the social and cultural context of old age and frailty, this volume details specific aspects of palliative care relevant to particular disorders, individual symptoms, communication skills, and health systems.

This issue of Clinics in Geriatric Medicine is devoted to Palliative Care. Guest Editors Thomas Smith, MD and Madeline Leong, MD have assembled a group of expert authors to review the following topics: Palliative Care in the Era of Healthcare Redesign; Communications to Patients; Communications by Professionals; International Palliative Care; Public Health and Palliative Care; Culturally Relevant Palliative Care; Spirituality, Religion, and Healing in Palliative Care; Alternative, Complementary and Mainstream Therapies in Palliative Care; Symptom Management in the Older Adult; Interaction of Palliative Care and Primary Care; Palliative Care in the Ambulatory Geriatric Practice; Choosing Cancer Therapy Based on Geriatric Assessment; and Emergency Medicine and Palliative Care.

In this issue of Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, guest editor Dr. Kimberly A. Curseen brings her considerable expertise to the topic of Palliative Care. Top experts in the field cover key topics such as palliative care in the ambulatory geriatric; end-stage heart failure; the intersection of palliative care and primary care; public health and palliative care; advanced care planning in the geriatric population; and more. Contains 13 relevant, practice-oriented topics including diversity, equity, and inclusion in geriatrics: palliative care considerations; providing palliative care to LGBTQ+ older adults; palliative care for seriously ill older veterans; entheogenic medications (psychedelic, cannabis); integrative medicine for older adults; palliative care for the geriatric cancer patient; and more. Provides in-depth clinical reviews on palliative care in geriatric medicine, offering actionable insights for clinical practice. Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create clinically significant, topic-based reviews.

The ageing of society is becoming a major public health issue, posing challenges to social and health care structures in many countries. This book demonstrates the added value of palliative care which, although traditionally focused on cancer and the very end of life, can play a role in strengthening and complementing the care of older people. The book outlines the current state of worldwide policy work, research, and innovations in the field of public health and palliative care for older people and concludes with recommendations for policy and decision makers, at international and national level.

"Practice guidelines for management of conditions prevalent in long-term geriatric care are based, by and large, on expert consensus and rarely on controlled studies. Though enforced by tradition, some of the rules often applied in clinical practice fall short of scientific foundation. In lacking high-grade scientific evidence, geriatric practice might benefit from an 'evidence-balanced' approach. A step forward in this direction is by corroboration of observational data. In this book, we brought our share of observational data, input from our experience in geriatric care, to be merged with the profession's collective information base. Seventy-five case histories illustrate a variety of conditions met at the bedside, some of them challenging the clinician's expertise and judgement. We hope that illustrating clinical practice in the real-world might be a suitable addition for physicians"--

This new edition of the comprehensive and renowned textbook Principles and Practice of Geriatric Medicine offers a fully revised and updated review of geriatric medicine. It covers the full spectrum of the subject, features 41 new chapters, and provides up-to-date, evidence-based, and practical information about the varied medical problems of ageing citizens. The three editors, from UK, USA and France, have ensured that updated chapters provide a global perspective of geriatric medicine, as well as reflect the changes in treatment options and medical conditions which have emerged since publication of the 4th edition in 2006. The book includes expanded sections on acute stroke, dementia, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory diseases, and features a new section on end-of-life care. In the tradition of previous editions, this all-encompassing text continues to be a must-have text for all clinicians who deal with older people, particularly geriatric medical specialists, gerontologists, researchers, and general practitioners. This title is also available as a mobile App from MedHand Mobile Libraries. Buy it now from Google Play or the MedHand Store. Praise for the 4th edition: "...an excellent reference for learners at all clinical and preclinical levels and a useful contribution to the geriatric medical literature." —Journal of the American Medical Association, November 2006 5th edition selected for 2012 Edition of Doody's Core TitlesTM

Ageing populations mean that palliative and end of life care for older people must assume greater priority. Indeed, there is an urgent need to improve the experiences of older people at the end of life, given that they have been identified as the 'disadvantaged dying'. To date, models of care are underpinned by the ideals of specialist palliative care which were developed to meet the needs of predominantly middle-aged and 'young old' people, and evidence suggests these may not be adequate for the older population group. This book identifies ways forward for improving the end of life experiences of older people by taking an interdisciplinary and international approach. Providing a synergy between the currently disparate literature of gerontology and palliative care, a wide range of leading international experts contribute to discussions regarding priority areas in relation to ageing and end of life care. Some authors take a theoretical focus, others a very practical approach rooted in their clinical and research experience. The issues covered are diverse, as are the countries in which discussions are contextualised. Those working in both palliative care and gerontology will find the issues and advice discussed in this book hugely topical and of real practical value.