Hospice Palliative Care
Book Reviews
Dr. Woodruff, MD
(Australia)
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STEPPING INTO PALLIATIVE CARE 1
(2 nd edition)
Relationships and Responses
Jo Cooper (Ed)
Radcliffe Publishing, 2006
212 pp
ISBN 1-85775-793-9
RRP £21.95 $US39.95
This book and the second volume Stepping into Palliative Care 2, are about understanding what palliative care really is; they are about putting the caring back into palliative care and how to do it.
After some introductory chapters, there are chapters devoted to the cancer patient’s journey, the experience of illness, its psychological impact, hoping and coping, and the therapeutic relationship. There are chapters on palliative care in the community, integrated care pathways, and the structure and function of palliative care teams. Stress, communication, ethical dilemmas, transcultural and ethnic issues, and sexuality make up the last few chapters. These are all important topics that tend not to get the attention they deserve in medical textbooks.
The liberal use of headings, bullet-point lists, diagrams, tables and case scenarios makes the book a pleasure to read or browse. There are reflective exercises and self-assessment questions in every chapter. This book would be an excellent resource for somebody coming into palliative care and for those doing a course in palliative care. But I think it is better than just an introduction to palliative care and those experienced in the field will find a lot to think about and reflect on if they dip into this book. The books will certainly have a place on the library shelf in my palliative care unit.
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HEART FAILURE AND PALLIATIVE CARE
Miriam Johnson and Richard Lehman (Eds)
Radcliffe Publishing, 2006
150 pp
ISBN 1-85775-643-6
RRP $US47.00, 24.95
Whenever a patient under my care dies, I write to their general practitioner, and send copies to any other specialists who may also have cared for the patient. I don’t think about it, it’s automatic. But over all the years, I have never received a similar letter from a cardiologist, concerning a patient that I had treated who died whilst under the care of the cardiologist. An interesting observation on the ethos of cardiologists. Perhaps that is why I was so interested to see this book that attempts to begin to weave the principles of holistic palliative care into the management of patients with end-stage heart failure.
The book opens with a chapter on the need for palliative care in heart failure, which doesn’t need much selling. There are chapters regarding the syndrome of advanced heart failure, maximal medical therapy and the difficulties with prognostication. Then there are chapters on symptom relief, supportive care, communication issues, and the management of the dying patient.
This book is a first step, and one of the editors says, ‘Palliative care for heart failure is now on the map, but much of the detail of the map is yet to be drawn.’ But what a great first step it is! This book will be a useful addition to the palliative care service library shelf, as more patients with end-stage heart failure are referred. And I think it should be compulsory reading for cardiologists and their trainees!
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DYING WITH JOY AND SORROW
Judy Voss and Linda Neider (Eds)
E-O-L Publishing, 2004
184 pp
ISBN 0975370502
RRP $US18.75
Death is the natural end to life, but it is little talked about outside palliative care circles. Can there be joy associated with a death? How best can we respect a person’s independence and dignity? Attend to the needs of their spirituality? What is the role for complementary therapies and music? Here are 80-odd true stories about people dying, collected by two Florida hospice nurses, that cover these issues and many more. Lessons from the bedside. The stories are interspersed with ‘Gentle Reflections’, encouraging the reader to reflect on the story just read. For palliative care professionals, there are any number of salutary reminders of what we should be able to do for our patients to ease their suffering. In societies where death is little mentioned, having this book to read would be a real comfort for a layperson coping with a dying relative.
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OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY IN ONCOLOGY AND PALLIATIVE CARE
2 nd edition
Jill Cooper (Ed)
John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2006
262 pp
ISBN 0-470-01962-X
RRP £29.99, $US55.00
Few would argue that the occupational therapist is an important and integral part of the clinical team that works in oncology or palliative care. This book explores the challenges they face coming to our services and the therapies and resources that they bring with them. There are chapters outlining the occupational therapists’ approach to symptom control, and their role in the management of anxiety, breathlessness and cancer-related fatigue. There are chapters on how they may help in the context of HIV, paediatric oncology and neuro-oncology. The chapter on the use of creativity as a psychodynamic activity was particularly interesting. The book can be used in a workbook situation, but if you left it lying around on an oncology ward or a palliative care service, it might result in the rest of us having a better understanding of all that our OTs have to offer.
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DEATH AND DYING SOURCEBOOK
2 nd edition
Joyce Brennfleck Shannon (Ed)
Omnigraphics, 2006
626 pp
ISBN 0-7808-0871-1
RRP $US87.00
This was my first contact with Omnigraphics’ Health Reference Series, but it sounds like a well-oiled machine with more than 140 subject volumes in print. This tome is the second edition of all you could possibly want to know about death and dying. It is presented in an easy-to-understand format in non-technical language for patients, families and caregivers. The book’s 74 chapters cover end-of-life care, medical management of end-of-life symptoms, medical decisions at the end-of-life, end-of-life care facilities, end-of-life care giving, death and children, legal and economic issues at the end of life, funeral arrangements, and grief. This book brings together information from diverse sources and having it all in one place makes it a valuable resource for those carers with an insatiable need for information, even after surfing the internet. It would be good to be able to point them in the direction of this volume.
Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health,
Melbourne, Australia
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