Description
The Hospice Companion is a guide to the processes of care during the intensive, interpersonal experiences of hospice work. This resource highlights the mission and values of modern-day hospice through the individual and combined efforts of the field's most valuable asset, the hospice professional. This easy-to-navigate clinical decision support tool for caregivers of those with life-limiting illnesses allows for personal and professional growth and a deeply gratifying sense of accomplishment as you proceed in the all-important work of caring for the dying. The third edition of The Hospice Companion features a thoroughly current guide to clinical processes and symptom management, providing hospice professionals with a concise summary of changes that have influenced clinical practice over the last several years. Moreover, feedback from hospice social workers has been incorporated into the section on personal, social, and environmental processes and guidance on integrative and non-pharmacologic interventions have been added.
Table of Contents
1. General ProcessesPalliative Care at the End of Life: Blending Structure and FunctionThe Interdisciplinary Team (IDT)Documentation2. Personal, Social, and Environmental ProcessesAbuse in the HomeAdvance Care Planning and Directives for Health-care InterventionsChanges in Body Image and Loss of IndependenceChanges in Family DynamicsCompleting Worldly Business and Life ClosureControlled Substances: Misuse and AbuseCultural Differences: Respect, Understanding, and Adapting CareDenialGrief ReactionsLiving Environment, Finances, and Support SystemsBasic Home SafetySuicide: Risk, Prevention, and Coping If It Happens3. Clinical Processes and Symptom ManagementAir Hunger (Dyspnea)Agitation and AnxietyAnorexia and CachexiaBelching and Burping (Eructation)Bleeding, Draining, and Malodorous LesionsConfusion/DeliriumConstipationCoughingDepressionDiarrhea and Anorectal ProblemsDysphagia and Oropharyngeal ProblemsEdema: Peripheral Edema, Ascites, and LymphedemaFatigue, Weakness (Aesthenia), and Excessive SedationFever and DiaphoresisHiccupsImminent DeathInsomnia and Nocturnal RestlessnessNausea and VomitingPainPruritusSeizuresSkeletal Muscle and Bladder SpasmsSkin Breakdown: Prevention and TreatmentUrinary ProblemsXerostomia (Dry Mouth)4. AppendicesAppendix 1: Palliative Radiation Therapy in End-of-Life Care: Evidence-Based UtilizationAppendix 2: Principles of PharmacotherapyAppendix 3: Ketamine ProtocolAppendix 4: Clinical/Functional Assessment and StagingAppendix 5: Anticoagulation
