Hospice Palliative Care Book Reviews &
The Palliative Care Book of the Month
Dr. Woodruff, MD
(Australia)
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Book of the Month
THE COMMON SENSE GUIDE TO IMPROVING PALLIATIVE CARE
Joanne Lynn, Ekta Chaudhry, Lin Noyes Simon, Anne M. Wilkinson, and Janice Lynch Schuster
Oxford University Press, 2007
264 pp
ISBN 978-0-19-531041-2
RRP $US 29.95 £ 17.99
Everyone who works in palliative care needs to read this gem of a guide to achieving measurable quality improvements in palliative care, and that includes administrators. Written by Joanne Lynn and her team at the Palliative Care Policy Center, it is based on the PCPC’s involvement in hundreds of QI programs across the United States.
The book is published as a companion to a revised edition of Improving Care for the End of Life, originally published in 2000, although the new edition has not yet crossed my desk. This is said to contain much more detail in the way of tools and information, but I think the essence is in the Common Sense Guide.
The book covers all aspects of palliative care. There are chapters on pain and physical symptoms, but also ones on how to improve palliative care in other environments including ICUs and nursing homes. This is a very practical, how-to-do-it book that is packed with useful information and written with an energy that is infectious.
Highly recommended.
Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia
(September 2007)
Book Reviews
INTO THE SILENCE
The Power of Stillness in Living and Dying
Judith M. Ashley
iUniverse Inc., 2007
174 pp
ISBN 978-0-595-44085-6
RRP $US 16.95 £ 9.00
This is one woman’s story of looking after her 80-year old mother who was dying with metastatic bowel cancer. Her observations and feelings were recorded in a series of letters to her husband who was across the Atlantic. Her observations are astute and her assessments insightful. For someone trained in human resources rather than palliative care, I was impressed by her sense of being there for her mother—seeing everything from the patient’s perspective. For anyone who works in palliative care, this book provides a very good description of the physical and psychological demands of caring for a dying relative. And for anyone faced with that task, it will provide much support.
SUPPORTING THE CHILD AND FAMILY IN PAEDIATRIC PALLIATIVE CARE
Erica Brown with Brian Warr
Jessica Kingsley, 2007
304 pp
ISBN 978-1-84310-181-9
RRP $US 23.95 £22.99
This book covers all aspects of paediatric palliative care, based on the Acorns Hospice Program in the UK. The book is broadly divided into four sections: a general introduction and overview of paediatric palliative care; the continuing holistic management of patients and their families; meeting individual needs; and future directions for paediatric palliative care. The material is comprehensive and well presented and I think this book would be a worthy edition to the library shelf in any paediatric palliative care unit.
ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION
An Evidence Base for Practice
Magi Sque and Sheila Payne (Eds)
Open University Press, 2007
191 pp
ISBN 9780-335-216-925
RRP £ 24.99 $US 56.95
This book sets out to provide an evidence base for the psychological and social issues that concern families, health care professionals and others involved in organ and tissue donation. Should it be seen as a ‘gift of life’ or a ‘sacrifice’? Does donation affect the bereavement experiences of the donor families? How can health care professionals best support families during their decision-making?
With the exception of corneas, organ donation in palliative care is an extremely rare event as many of the patients have a malignant diagnosis. But as palliative care professionals are (hopefully) being called to assist in other areas of the hospital, it is good to know there is a good reference available to call on.
***
Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia
(September 2007)
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