PALLIATIVE CARE NURSING
A Guide to Practice. Second edition
Margaret O’Connor and Sanchia Aranda (Eds)
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Ausmed Publications, Melbourne, 2003
388 pp
ISBN 0-9577988-4-9
RRP $AU 65.95, £ 37.60, $US 60
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This is the second edition of a book written by nurses for nurses, and most of the contributors are experienced and practising palliative care nurses. It is eminently practical in describing the nursing approach to various clinical problems, be they physical or psychosocial. It is commendably holistic in approach, with due attention to psychosocial and spiritual issues as well as caring for the caregivers. But what really shines through is the attitude of caring.
On the back cover, the publisher declares this to be ‘the definitive textbook on palliative care nursing’ but I think it may lack the detail needed by specialist palliative care nurses. There are a number of common symptoms in which nursing plays an important role that probably deserve their own section, including spinal cord compression, seizures, and terminal respiratory congestion or "death rattle". The section on analgesics includes all the principles but lacks the detail of how these drugs are used in practice. And COX-2 selective NSAIDs don’t seem to cause less renal dysfunction.
This book will undoubtedly be very useful for general nurses and students needing to know more about managing palliative care patients. The editors state that this is their aim and there is no doubt that this book will empower nurses and lead to enhanced care for people who are dying.
Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia
(July 2003)
Author Information
Margaret O’Connor is Professor of Palliative Care Nursing, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Sanchia Aranda is Professor and Director of Cancer Nursing and Research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Table of Contents
1. Framing Palliative Care 3
Aranda
2. Evidence-based practice in palliative care 7
Pearson
3. Communication skills in palliative care 23
Pollard and Swift
4. Occupational stress in palliative care 41
Vachon
5. Ethical decision-making 53
O'Connor and Aranda
6. Spiritual care 69
Hudson and Rumbold
7. A framework for symptom assessment 89
Aranda
8. Pain management 101
Brant
9. Breathlessness 117
Bredin
10. Fatigue 137
Porock
11. Constipation 155
Bailey
12. Nausea and Vomiting 173
Millership
13. Nutrition and Hydration 187
O'Connor
14. Malignant wounds 199
Naylor
15. Confusion and Terminal Restlessness 215
Flynn and Quinn
16. Psycholigical and Existential distress 229
Kissane and Yeates
17. Sexuality and body image 245
White
18. Complementary therapies 259
McCabe and Kenny
19. Working with Families 271
Kristjanson, Hudson and Olden
20. Bereavement 285
Milne and Millard
21. Palliative care in chronic illness 303
Skilbeck and Payne
22. Ageing, dementia and palliative care 313
Abbey
23. Caring for dying people in critical care 329
Seymour
24. Paediatric palliative care 341
Monterosso and de Graves
References 355
Index 378
