Young People's Perspectives on End-of-Life


Book Description

This book challenges adult assumptions that young-people do not, cannot and should not think about death. The author uses everyday material objects in order to facilitate a range of conversations, revealing lively engagement with the topic. Cultural resources, such as literature and film, provide a rich variety of perspectives on and responses to death, whilst equally providing an opportunity to challenge many of these representations as unreal and unauthentic. The book contains personal narratives of loss and memories of loved ones, presenting a variety of encounters with significant deaths, the stories being told in an array of vibrant, amusing and emotive ways. Similarly, death is explored from a variety of religious and scientific frameworks, highlighting rich and changing perspectives. Such shifting and exciting vistas are a largely undiscovered part of young-people's lives and situate them in a landscape not often associated with childhood. Young-People's Perspectives on End-of-Life will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including Childhood and Youth Studies, Death Studies, Qualitative Research Methodologies, Sociology, Anthropology and Education.




Dying in America


Book Description

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.




Pediatric Palliative Care


Book Description

Pediatric palliative care is a field of significant growth as health care systems recognize the benefits of palliative care in areas such as neonatal intensive care, pediatric ICU, and chronic pediatric illnesses. Pediatric Palliative Care, the fourth volume in the HPNA Palliative Nursing Manuals series, highlights key issues related to the field. Chapters address pediatric hospice, symptom management, pediatric pain, the neonatal intensive care unit, transitioning goals of care between the emergency department and intensive care unit, and grief and bereavement in pediatric palliative care. The content of the concise, clinically focused volumes in the HPNA Palliative Nursing Manuals series is one resource for nurses preparing for specialty certification exams and provides a quick-reference in daily practice. Plentiful tables and patient teaching points make these volumes useful resources for nurses.




Let's Talk about Death (over Dinner)


Book Description

For readers of Being Mortal and When Breath Becomes Air, the acclaimed founder of Death over Dinner offers a practical, inspiring guide to life's most difficult yet important conversation. Of the many critical conversations we will all have throughout our lifetime, few are as important as the ones discussing death—and not just the practical considerations, such as DNRs and wills, but what we fear, what we hope, and how we want to be remembered. Yet few of these conversations are actually happening. Inspired by his experience with his own father and countless stories from others who regret not having these conversations, Michael Hebb cofounded Death Over Dinner—an organization that encourages people to pull up a chair, break bread, and really talk about the one thing we all have in common. Death Over Dinner has been one of the most effective end-of-life awareness campaigns to date; in just three years, it has provided the framework and inspiration for more than a hundred thousand dinners focused on having these end-of-life conversations. As Arianna Huffington said, "We are such a fast-food culture, I love the idea of making the dinner last for hours. These are the conversations that will help us to evolve." Let's Talk About Death (over Dinner) offers keen practical advice on how to have these same conversations—not just at the dinner table, but anywhere. There's no one right way to talk about death, but Hebb shares time—and dinner—tested prompts to use as conversation starters, ranging from the spiritual to the practical, from analytical to downright funny and surprising. By transforming the most difficult conversations into an opportunity, they become celebratory and meaningful—ways that not only can change the way we die, but the way we live.




Perspectives on Palliative Care for Children and Young People


Book Description

Advances in medical science and technology are saving the lives of more children worldwide than ever. Some survive and live out a normal life expectancy, others have a life-limiting/life-threatening diagnosis where death may come early, and still others will live on well past projected life trajectories into adulthood. With so many different care pathways, children, parents and communities often find themselves facing challenges for which neither they nor their healthcare systems are prepared. This book opens a global discussion of these issues. Extending Rita Pfund's text Palliative Care Nursing of Children and Young People, it invites paediatric palliative care professionals, parents and children from around the globe to share their knowledge and experience. This book is of vital interest to palliative care professionals, parents, policy makers and academics. It is an important move towards ensuring that all children and their families, regardless of geographical location, gender, ethnicity or socio-economic class have equal and guaranteed access to comprehensive paediatric palliative care services.




With the End in Mind


Book Description

For readers of Atul Gawande and Paul Kalanithi, a palliative care doctor's breathtaking stories from 30 years spent caring for the dying. Modern medical technology is allowing us to live longer and fuller lives than ever before. And for the most part, that is good news. But with changes in the way we understand medicine come changes in the way we understand death. Once a familiar, peaceful, and gentle -- if sorrowful -- transition, death has come to be something from which we shield our eyes, as we prefer to fight desperately against it rather than accept its inevitability. Dr. Kathryn Mannix has studied and practiced palliative care for thirty years. In With the End in Mind , she shares beautifully crafted stories from a lifetime of caring for the dying, and makes a compelling case for the therapeutic power of approaching death not with trepidation, but with openness, clarity, and understanding. Weaving the details of her own experiences as a caregiver through stories of her patients, their families, and their distinctive lives, Dr. Mannix reacquaints us with the universal, but deeply personal, process of dying. With insightful meditations on life, death, and the space between them, With the End in Mind describes the possibility of meeting death gently, with forethought and preparation, and shows the unexpected beauty, dignity, and profound humanity of life coming to an end.




Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing


Book Description

The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing remains the most comprehensive treatise on the art and science of palliative care nursing available. Dr. Betty Rolling Ferrell and Dr. Judith A. Paice have invited 162 nursing experts to contribute 76 chapters addressing the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs pertinent to the successful palliative care team. Organized within 7 Sections, this new edition covers the gamut of principles of care: from the time of initial diagnosis of a serious illness to the end of a patient's life and beyond. This fifth edition features several new chapters, including chapters on advance care planning, organ donation, self-care, global palliative care, and the ethos of palliative nursing. Each chapter is rich with tables and figures, case examples for improved learning, and a strong evidence-based practice to support the highest quality of care. The book offers a valuable and practical resource for students and clinicians across all settings of care. The content is relevant for specialty hospice agencies and palliative care programs, as well as generalist knowledge for schools of nursing, oncology, critical care, and pediatric. Developed with the intention of emphasizing the need to extend palliative care beyond the specialty to be integrated in all settings and by all clinicians caring for the seriously ill, this new edition will continue to serve as the cornerstone of palliative care education.




Essential Nursing Care for Children and Young People


Book Description

Essential Nursing Care for Children and Young People is the definitive guide for all nursing and healthcare students and professionals caring for children and young people. Designed to meet the 2010 NMC competency standards for pre-registration nurses, the textbook supports you through the process of caring for children and young people with varied needs and conditions across all healthcare settings. A practical, patient-centred approach is taken throughout, with the ‘voices’ of children, their families and their carers used to tie theoretical knowledge to the real experience of providing care. The inclusion of the latest research and health and social care policies ensures that you are fully in line with the latest clinical practice, whilst the book’s activities and exercises allow you to regularly check your understanding and develop confidence during your journey from student to nursing professional. Main features: Course-Focused Approach – pedagogy and content designed specifically for all three years of the child nursing degree programme. Contemporary Content – research note features and policy integrated throughout to give you instant access to the latest evidence-based practice. Illustrated Throughout – this highly accessible text regularly uses pictures and diagrams to highlight key issues. Voices – include authentic experiences of children, young people, parents, carers and professionals to help develop a patient-focused attitude to care. Pertinent A&P – includes coverage of all relevant anatomy and physiology for child and young person nursing courses. Practice Guidelines – provide practical guidance on everyday procedures for your quick reference. Activities and Answers – allow you to check your knowledge and build confidence. Specialist Authors – each chapter is written by leading experts in each area. Essential Nursing Care for Children and Young People is the ideal main textbook for all undergraduate child and young person nursing students, as well as professionals wanting to ensure they are using the latest practice. This text is also relevant to any student or professional involved in the health and social care of children and young adults.




Oxford Textbook of Public Health Palliative Care


Book Description

Death, dying, loss, and care giving are not just medical issues, but societal ones. Palliative care has become increasingly professionalised, focused around symptom science. With this emphasis on minimizing the harms of physical, psychological, and spiritual stress, there has been a loss of how cultures and communities look after their dying, with the wider social experience of death often sidelined in the professionalisation and medicalisation of care. However, the people we know and love in the places we know and love make up what matters most for those undergoing the experiences of death, loss, and care giving. Over the last 25 years the theory, practice, research evidence base, and clinical applications have developed, generating widespread adoption of the principles of public health approaches to palliative care. The essential principles of prevention, harm reduction, early intervention, and health and wellbeing promotion can be applied to the universal experience of end of life, irrespective of disease or diagnosis. Compassionate communities have become a routine part of the strategy and service development in palliative care, both within the UK and internationally. The Oxford Textbook of Public Health Palliative Care provides a reframing of palliative care, bringing together the full scope of theory, practice, and evidence into one volume. Written by international leaders in the field, it provides the first truly comprehensive and authoritative textbook on the subject that will help to further inform developments in this growing specialty.




A Textbook of Children's and Young People's Nursing - E-Book


Book Description

This innovative textbook provides a concise and accessible guide for undergraduate students specializing in children and young people's nursing in the UK and further afield. Each chapter has been fully updated to reflect current knowledge and practice. The wide range of topics covered includes all the essentials, such as contemporary child health policy and legal issues; knowledge and skills for practice; and caring for children with special needs. Students will learn how to recognize the deteriorating child, use procedural play and distraction, and consider the mental health of children and young people. A Textbook of Children's and Young People's Nursing is written by multidisciplinary experts, rooted in child-centred healthcare within a family context, and draws upon best contemporary practice. It is an invaluable resource that will help nursing students provide effective, evidence-based care. - Key points, summary boxes and clearly defined aims, objectives and learning outcomes to support learning - Conversation boxes to enliven the text - Patient scenarios to relate theory to practice - New chapters on skin health and the use of therapeutic play - Suggestions for seminar discussion topics to help teachers - Resource lists and online resources for further study or research - Online slides to complement chapters within book