Palliative Care Book of the Month
HANDBOOK FOR MORTALS 2e
Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness
Joanne Lynn, Joan Harrold, Janice Lynch Schuster (Eds)Susie Wilkinson (Eds)
Oxford University Press, 2011
296 pp
IBSN 978-0-19-974456-5
RRP $US24.95, £15.99
This second edition, coming twelve years after the first, has been expanded and updated. In a most respectful way, it discusses just about all of the issues that might confront somebody with a serious illness and their families. There is a lot of practical information about symptoms, about the health care system, and what decisions they will need to face. Interspersed with this are many stories and quotations as well as a healthy dose of distilled wisdom.
I understand that excerpts from the first edition were available on the websites of Growthhouse www.growthhouse.org/ and Americans for Better Care of the Dying http://abcd-caring.org/. Hopefully, the same will occur with this edition as I think it is a unique and most useful resource, written in a most caring manner, and should be read and recommended as widely as possible.
Roger Woodruff
December 2011
Other Reviews
OXFORD AMERICAN HANDBOOK OF HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE MEDICINE
Eduardo Bruera and Sriram Yennurajalingam (Eds)
Oxford University Press, 2011
488 pp
ISBN 978-0-19-538015-6
RRP $US49.95, £32.50
This Handbook of Hospice and Palliative Medicine is written by North Americans for North Americans. It is significantly shorter than it’s English counterpart, but I was impressed by the amount of material it contained, which was well presented and accessible to the reader. There are chapters on pain and all the usual physical symptoms as well as the psychosocial and administrative aspects of care. Separate chapters deal with paediatric and geriatric palliative care. An additional six chapters provide guidance on non-malignant disease (HIV, cardiac, hepatic, renal, neurological and pulmonary). Many sections end with a list of ‘Clinical pearls’ and the chapters seem adequately referenced. This book will provide ready answers to clinical questions for those working in palliative care, but the material is presented and set out in a way that would be useful to other health care professionals who may less often have to deal with problems involving palliative medicine.
THE SYRINGE DRIVER 3e
Continuous Subcutaneous Infusions in Palliative Care
Andrew Dickman and Jennifer Schneider
Oxford University Press, 2011
482 pp
ISBN 978-0-19-956972-4
RRP £24.99, $US49.95
This is the third edition, much expanded, of Andrew Dickman’s The Syringe Driver that first appeared in 2002. The book follows a similar format. The first chapter provides an overview of syringe drivers and continuous subcutaneous infusions (CSCIs). The second provides information relating to most drugs likely to be administered via a CSCI, and the third discusses the control of specific symptoms. The fourth chapter, which comprises about two-thirds of the book, provides compatibility tables for all the drugs in anything from a two- to a six- drug combination. If you use syringe drivers and CSCIs on a regular basis, your ward or service should have a copy of this book.
Dr. Roger Woodruff
Dr. Woodruff is a Lifetime Member of the IAHPC Board and Past Chair. His bio may be found at http://www.hospicecare.com/Bio/r_woodruff.htm
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Note: Review copies become property of IAHPC and are not returned to the author. Only palliative care related books which are previously approved will be reviewed. Due to the large number of requests, we can't provide exact dates of when books will be reviewed.
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