Hospice nursing is not for the fainthearted. As Margaret R. Crawford, BSN, touches on in her new guide to this particular specialty, it takes inner strength to be able to walk up to a hospice patient's door every day. Crawford stresses that it isn't simply the technical aspects of hospice nursing that make it challenging, but the emotional attachments and anxieties that may emerge. In Hospice Nursing, Crawford covers the reasons someone would choose hospice nursing; the importance of self-care; the day-to-day routine of a hospice nurse; the admission conversation; different ways to treat and comfort patients with small children or patients with addictions; the complex relationships between nurses, patients, their families, and coworkers; the need to recognize and plan for burnout; and other basic challenges nurses must face. While hospice care may be demanding, Crawford is also quick to say that it can also be incredibly rewarding. As a nurse or caretaker, you are committed to making a difference in someone's life. Hospice care allows you to help alleviate the suffering of others. If this is something you are interested in pursuing, Crawford has all the information you need to get started.

The first text to explore the history, characteristics, and challenges of hospice social work, this volume weaves leading research into an underlying framework for practice and care. A longtime practitioner, Dona J. Reese describes the hospice social work role in assessment and intervention with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and the community, while honestly confronting the personal and professional difficulties of such life-changing work. She introduces a well-tested model of psychosocial and spiritual variables that predict hospice client outcomes, and she advances a social work assessment tool to document their occurrence. Operating at the center of national leaders' coordinated efforts to develop and advance professional organizations and guidelines for end-of-life care, Reese reaches out with support and practice information, helping social workers understand their significance in treating the whole person, contributing to the cultural competence of hospice settings, and claiming a definitive place within the hospice team.

In this moving and compassionate classic—now updated with new material from the authors—hospice nurses Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley share their intimate experiences with patients at the end of life, drawn from more than twenty years’ experience tending the terminally ill. Through their stories we come to appreciate the near-miraculous ways in which the dying communicate their needs, reveal their feelings, and even choreograph their own final moments; we also discover the gifts—of wisdom, faith, and love—that the dying leave for the living to share. Filled with practical advice on responding to the requests of the dying and helping them prepare emotionally and spiritually for death, Final Gifts shows how we can help the dying person live fully to the very end.

This is the only handbook for hospice and palliative care professionals looking to enhance their care delivery or their programs with LGBTQ-inclusive care. Anchored in the evidence, extensively referenced, and written in clear, easy-to-understand language, LGBTQ-Inclusive Hospice and Palliative Care provides clear, actionable strategies for hospice and palliative physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors, and chaplains.

Joy is a word rarely associated with death. Yet joy is ultimately the effect in this collection of stories about Janet Wehr’s experiences in witnessing the death of her patients during her fifteen years as a hospice nurse. Her first-hand account gives illuminating and comforting insight into the spiritual aspect of what occurs in the transition between life and death, highlighting the importance of the mind-body-spirit connection as it manifests in the dying process. It also gives a candid impression of hospices and hospice nurses and the services they can provide. All of Janet’s forty-six personal stories are true, fascinating, heart-felt, and thought-provoking. Through her authentic examples, readers gain understanding, hope, and a sense of peace about what is, after all, an inevitable experience for us all. And with that sense of peace, comes joy. This book is endorsed by the President of Hospice of America and will be used as a training manual by that organization.

Hospice and Palliative Care for Companion Animals: Principles and Practice offers the first comprehensive reference to veterinary hospice and palliative care, with practical guidance and best practices for caring for sick and dying animals. Presents the first thorough resource to providing veterinary hospice and palliative care Offers practical guidance and best practices for caring for sick and dying animals Provides an interdisciplinary team approach, from a variety of different perspectives Gives concrete advice for easing pets more gently through their final stage of life Includes access to a companion website with client education handouts to use in practice

I was in a Panera's taking a quick minute between patients to scarf down some food. Sitting alone, I was surrounded by the buzz of couples dining and friends meeting -- including an animated threesome of middle-aged women at the table next to me. My phone rang; it was one of my nurses calling about a patient in pain. I asked a few questions and then said, "OK well increase the morphine to 60 milligrams three times a day and add another 5 mg of methadone to the current dose that she's taking. As I rang off, I realized it had suddenly gotten quiet around me. I looked up from pocketing my phone. The threesome of matrons was glaring at me. Cockroaches get more benign stares. The woman closest to me curled her lip, it was clear she could see the large MD on my ID badge clipped to my lapel. "What kind of a doctor would hand out those kinds of medicines, are you one of those 'pain doctors?" she spat at me. Her friends nodded. Clearly, the public campaign against pain clinics and their doctors was having its desired effect.

An on-the-go reference for hospice nurses and those interested in end-of-life care, this practical guide covers the essential elements in the compassionate and holistic care of terminally ill patients and their families. Nurses care for patients facing end-of-life issues in every practice specialty and, as the U.S. population continues to age, the need for proficiency in end-of-life skills will become increasingly important. Fast Facts for the Hospice Nurse: A Concise Guide to End-of-Life Care is an invaluable resource that provides emotional, administrative, and palliative support, whether in a hospice, long-term care facility, or acute care setting. This vital go-to text clearly and concisely lays out not only how to care for patients facing end-of-life issues, but also how to engage in self-care and cope with occupational stress. Beginning with an overview of hospice care, including its history and philosophy, this book offers a timeline of the growth of the hospice movement in the United States. Subsequent sections include up-to-date information on the clinical responsibilities of the hospice nurse in addressing the physical, psychological, and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients and their families in a culturally sensitive way. This book also outlines the administrative duties of the hospice nurse, including hospice documentation, a review of hospice regulations, and quality management. The closing section focuses on occupational stress in hospice nursing and how to engage in self-care. This text can serve as a useful clinical resource and also as a reference for nurses seeking hospice certification from the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center. Key Features Organized within the context of the scope and standards of practice of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association. Addresses key points about issues unique to hospice nursing and highlights evidence-based interventions Addresses important Medicare regulations and reimbursement Offers numerous clinical resources to assist with hospice nursing practice Serves as a concise study resource for hospice nursing certification

Exploring the failure of hospice in America to care for patients and families at the end of life. Hospice is the dominant form of end-of-life care in the United States. But while the US hospice system provides many forms of treatment that are beneficial to dying people and their families, it does not encompass what is commonly referred to as long-term care, which includes help with the activities of daily living: feeding, bathing, general safety, and routine hygienic maintenance. Frequently, such care is carried out by an informal network of unpaid caregivers, such as the person's family or loved ones, who are often ill-prepared to offer this type of support. In The Crisis of US Hospice Care, Harold Braswell argues that the stress of providing long-term care typically overwhelms family members and that overdependence on familial caregiving constitutes a crisis of US hospice care that limits the freedom of dying people. Arguing for the need to focus on the time just before death, Braswell examines how the relationship of hospice to familial caregiving evolved. He traces the history of hospice over the past fifty years and describes the choice that people dying with inadequate familial support face between a neglectful home environment and an impersonal nursing home. A nuanced look at the personal and political dimensions that shape long-term, end-of-life care, this historical and ethnographic study demonstrates that the crisis in US hospice care can be alleviated only by establishing the centrality of hospice to American freedom. Providing a model for the transformative work that is required going forward, The Crisis of US Hospice Care illustrates the potential of hospice for facilitating a new way of living our last days and for having the best death possible.