Care of the Dying: A Pathway to Excellence.
John Ellershaw and Susie Wilkinson (Editors)
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Oxford University Press, 2003
228 pages
ISBN: 0198509332
RRP £ 24.95 $US 37.95
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The Liverpool Integrated Care Pathway for the Terminal/Dying Phase was initially developed to facilitate the introduction into acute hospital
wards of the expertise in end-of-life care that has developed in hospices and specialist palliative care units over the last thirty years. It is a multiprofessional, evidence-based, care pathway
that provides the health care professionals managing a dying patient with all the necessary cues in assessment, treatment and documentation. Other matters addressed include religious/spiritual
matters, communication, and the care of the patient’s family, both before and after the death. The Appendix includes four slightly different versions of the pathway – for use in acute hospitals,
specialist palliative care units, nursing homes and in home care. Introduction of the care pathway to a clinical service requires education and training, and these needs are described in a separate
chapter. The book also includes useful chapters on symptom control, communication, ethical issues and spiritual/religious matters in the context of end-of-life care.
The Liverpool Integrated Care Pathway described here is comprehensive, yet reasonably simple to use. Its goal is to promote excellence
in end-of-life care across all clinical settings and it is almost impossible to think that its regular use would not lead to improved standards of care. The bonus is that analysis of the variances
(deviations from the pathway) provides an on-going audit of the end-of-life care being provided. This book deserves to be widely read and will hopefully lead to the more widespread use of the
Pathway, or locally adapted versions of it, both within and without specialist palliative care units.
Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health, Melbourne
(December 2003)
Author information
John Ellershaw is Medical Director of the Marie Curie Centre, Liverpool, UK.
Susie Wilkinson is Head of Palliative Care Research, Marie Curie Palliative Care Research and Development Unit, London, UK
Table of Contents
Foreword
Dame Cicely Saunders
Introduction
Ellershaw
The development, role and integration of integrated care pathways in modern day health
care. Overil
How to use the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP);
Kinder, Ellershaw
Symptom control in care of the dying;
Glare, Dickman & Goodman
Ethical issues in care of the dying
Thorns & Garrard
Communication in care of the dying
Wilkinson, Mueller:
Spiritual/religious issues in care of the dying
Speck
The education strategy to implement the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP)
Murphy
Implementing the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) in: the hospital; the hospice; the community; the nursing home
Foster, Rosser, Kendall & Barrow
Evaluating the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) and future
developments
Ellershaw, Wilkinson
