Terminal Care At Home

"A guide for carers caring for a person who has a life limiting illness at home"--Provided by publisher.

Data from the World Health Organization indicate that about 40 million people worldwide require palliative care each year. We must face this enormous problem with appropriate welfare policies and training of up-to-date and competent personnel. In this context, a book that collects the experiences of authors with diverse backgrounds, and operating in different settings of palliative care, can be added to the many editorial products on the subject. Over five sections, this volume addresses such topics as palliative care in children, infants, and gynecologic oncology patients; the role of the caregiver; the use of drugs; and ethics, organization, and policy issues. Although this book should not be considered as an exhaustive treatise on palliative care, the many topics covered and the experience and competence of the authors involved make it a useful tool for those who are already experts in the field as well as those who are studying this field.

In our society, the overwhelming majority of people die in later life. They typically die slowly of chronic diseases, with multiple co-existing problems over long periods of time. They spend the majority of their final years at home, but many will die in hospitals or care homes. This book explores the possibilities for improving the care of older people dying in residential care and nursing homes. It argues that there are aspects of palliative care that, given the right circumstances, are transferable to dying people in settings that are not domestic or hospice based. End of Life in Care Homes describes what happens in nursing and residential care homes when a resident is dying, how carers cope, and the practical, health and emotional challenges that carers face on top of their day-to-day work. Based on detailed research from both the UK and US, the book shows how the situation can be improved.

This second edition incorporates the latest developments in the treatment of the terminally ill patient. It tackles the general ethical and medical principles in the care of the dying patient and considers the details of the control of pain and other symptoms, with the hope that doctors and other professionals will support the patient and his family by sharing the truth with them and empathizing with their emotional suffering. Written by internationally renowned authors, this book is an invaluable handbook for family doctors and health professionals and a compassionate source of information for the terminally ill and their relatives.

Updated with stories from people who have been inspired by the original text, a guide to connecting with what matters most identifies four phrases for honoring relationships, letting go of unhealthy emotions, and living life fully.

This open access book aims to provide a comprehensive but practical overview of the knowledge required for the assessment and management of the older adult with or at risk of fragility fracture. It considers this from the perspectives of all of the settings in which this group of patients receive nursing care. Globally, a fragility fracture is estimated to occur every 3 seconds. This amounts to 25 000 fractures per day or 9 million per year. The financial costs are reported to be: 32 billion EUR per year in Europe and 20 billon USD in the United States. As the population of China ages, the cost of hip fracture care there is likely to reach 1.25 billion USD by 2020 and 265 billion by 2050 (International Osteoporosis Foundation 2016). Consequently, the need for nursing for patients with fragility fracture across the world is immense. Fragility fracture is one of the foremost challenges for health care providers, and the impact of each one of those expected 9 million hip fractures is significant pain, disability, reduced quality of life, loss of independence and decreased life expectancy. There is a need for coordinated, multi-disciplinary models of care for secondary fracture prevention based on the increasing evidence that such models make a difference. There is also a need to promote and facilitate high quality, evidence-based effective care to those who suffer a fragility fracture with a focus on the best outcomes for recovery, rehabilitation and secondary prevention of further fracture. The care community has to understand better the experience of fragility fracture from the perspective of the patient so that direct improvements in care can be based on the perspectives of the users. This book supports these needs by providing a comprehensive approach to nursing practice in fragility fracture care.

For patients and their loved ones, no care decisions are more profound than those made near the end of life. Unfortunately, the experience of dying in the United States is often characterized by fragmented care, inadequate treatment of distressing symptoms, frequent transitions among care settings, and enormous care responsibilities for families. According to this report, the current health care system of rendering more intensive services than are necessary and desired by patients, and the lack of coordination among programs increases risks to patients and creates avoidable burdens on them and their families. Dying in America is a study of the current state of health care for persons of all ages who are nearing the end of life. Death is not a strictly medical event. Ideally, health care for those nearing the end of life harmonizes with social, psychological, and spiritual support. All people with advanced illnesses who may be approaching the end of life are entitled to access to high-quality, compassionate, evidence-based care, consistent with their wishes. Dying in America evaluates strategies to integrate care into a person- and family-centered, team-based framework, and makes recommendations to create a system that coordinates care and supports and respects the choices of patients and their families. The findings and recommendations of this report will address the needs of patients and their families and assist policy makers, clinicians and their educational and credentialing bodies, leaders of health care delivery and financing organizations, researchers, public and private funders, religious and community leaders, advocates of better care, journalists, and the public to provide the best care possible for people nearing the end of life.

Originally published as a series of articles in Missouri medicine.