A Physician's Guide to Pain and Symptom Management in Cancer Patients


Book Description

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.




Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Control


Book Description

Most women who die from cervical cancer, particularly in developing countries, are in the prime of their life. They may be raising children, caring for their family, and contributing to the social and economic life of their town or village. Their death is both a personal tragedy, and a sad and unnecessary loss to their family and their community. Unnecessary, because there is compelling evidence, as this Guide makes clear, that cervical cancer is one of the most preventable and treatable forms of cancer, as long as it is detected early and managed effectively. Unfortunately, the majority of women in developing countries still do not have access to cervical cancer prevention programmes. The consequence is that, often, cervical cancer is not detected until it is too late to be cured. An urgent effort is required if this situation is to be corrected. This Guide is intended to help those responsible for providing services aimed at reducing the burden posed by cervical cancer for women, communities and health systems. It focuses on the knowledge and skills needed by health care providers, at different levels of care.




A Physician's Guide to Pain and Symptom Management in Cancer Patients


Book Description

This highly regarded handbook provides clinicians with the information they need to treat their cancer patients effectively and compassionately. This comprehensive guide to managing pain and other symptoms for people with cancer has helped tens of thousands of patients and families. Designed for busy practicing clinicians, A Physician's Guide to Pain and Symptom Management in Cancer Patients 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. Drawing on the work of experts who have developed revolutionary approaches to symptom management and palliative care, as well as on the lessons learned from patients and their families during her thirty years as a teacher and clinician, Dr. Janet L. Abrahm shows how physicians and other caregivers can help patients and families heal emotionally even as the disease progresses. The third edition includes updates to medications and clinical stories, and features two new chapters: “Working with Patients’ Families” and “Sexuality, Intimacy, and Cancer.” New lessons from palliative care and hospice care can help patients, their professional caregivers, and their families support each other every step of the way.




Cancer Pain Management


Book Description

Cancer Pain Management, Second Edition will substantially advance pain education. The unique combination of authors -- an educator, a leading practitioner and administrator, and a research scientist -- provides comprehensive, authoritative coverage in addressing this important aspect of cancer care. The contributors, acknowledged experts in their areas, address a wide scope of issues. Educating health care providers to better assess and manage pain and improve patientsrsquo; and familiesrsquo; coping strategies are primary goals of this book. Developing research-based clinical guidelines and increasing funding for research is also covered. Ethical issues surrounding pain management and health policy implications are also explored.




Cancer Control


Book Description

In 2005, 7.6 million people died of cancer. More than 70% of those deaths occured in low and middle income countries. WHO has developed a series of six modules that provides practical advice for programme managers and policy-makers on how to advocate, plan and implement effective cancer control programmes, particularly in low and middle income countries.The WHO guide is a response to the World Health Assembly resolution on cancer prevention and control (WHA58.22), adopted in May 2005, which calls on Member States to intensify action against cancer by developing and reinforcing cancer control programmes.




Improving Palliative Care for Cancer


Book Description

In our society's aggressive pursuit of cures for cancer, we have neglected symptom control and comfort care. Less than one percent of the National Cancer Institute's budget is spent on any aspect of palliative care research or education, despite the half million people who die of cancer each year and the larger number living with cancer and its symptoms. Improving Palliative Care for Cancer examines the barriersâ€"scientific, policy, and socialâ€"that keep those in need from getting good palliative care. It goes on to recommend public- and private-sector actions that would lead to the development of more effective palliative interventions; better information about currently used interventions; and greater knowledge about, and access to, palliative care for all those with cancer who would benefit from it.




Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic


Book Description

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.




Supportive Oncology E-Book


Book Description

Supportive Oncology, by Drs. Davis, Feyer, Ortner, and Zimmermann, is your practical guide to improving your patients‘ quality of life and overall outcomes by integrating palliative care principles into the scope of clinical oncologic practice at all points along their illness trajectories. A multidisciplinary editorial team, representing the dual perspectives of palliative medicine and oncology, offers expert guidance on how to effectively communicate diagnoses and prognoses with cancer patients and their families, set treatment goals, and manage symptoms through pharmacological therapies, as well as non-pharmacological therapies and counselling when appropriate. Integrate complementary palliative principles as early as possible after diagnosis with guidance from a multidisciplinary editorial team whose different perspectives and collaboration provide a well-balanced approach. Effectively communicate diagnoses and prognoses with cancer patients and their families, set treatment goals, and manage symptoms through pharmacological therapies, as well as non-pharmacological therapies and counseling when appropriate. Improve patients’ quality of life with the latest information on pain and symptom management including managing side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, rehabilitating and counselling long-term survivors, and managing tumor-related symptoms and other complications in the palliative care setting. Prescribe the most effective medications, manage toxicities, and deal with high symptom burdens.







Palliative Care in Oncology


Book Description

Palliative care provides comprehensive support for severely affected patients with any life-limiting or life-threatening diagnosis. To do this effectively, it requires a disease-specific approach as the patients’ needs and clinical context will vary depending on the underlying diagnosis. Experts in the field of palliative care and oncology describe in detail the needs of patients with advanced cancer in comparison to those with non-cancer disease and also identify the requirements of patients with different cancer entities. Basic principles of symptom control are explained, with careful attention to therapy for pain associated with either the cancer or its treatment and to symptom-guided antineoplastic therapy. Complex therapeutic strategies for palliative cancer patients are highlighted that involve both cancer- and symptom-directed options and address a range of therapeutic aims. Issues relating to drug use in palliative cancer care are fully explored, and a separate section is devoted to care in the final phase. A range of organizational and policy issues are also discussed, and the book concludes by considering likely future developments in palliative care for cancer patients. Palliative Care in Oncology will be of particular interest to palliative care physicians who are interested in broadening the scope of their disease-specific knowledge, as well as to oncologists who wish to learn more about modern palliative care concepts relevant to their day-to-day work with cancer patients.