Supports clinicians in providing the best possible care to patients with serious illness

The first comprehensive clinical guide for practicing palliative care and hospice clinicians, this evidence-based reference is designed to promote best practices in the delivery of safe, compassionate patient care. With a dual focus on evaluation and intervention, the book covers all aspects of providing palliative and hospice care for vulnerable and diverse populations. It provides an overview of common disease manifestations, typical trajectories of illness, symptom management, and recommendations for nursing care.

Written in easy-to-access outline format, the resource is organized by body system and includes common diagnoses encountered in palliative and hospice care. Individual diagnoses include a definition, incidence, etiology, pathophysiology, predisposing factors, subjective and objective data, diagnostic tests, differential diagnoses, complications, disease-modifying treatments, palliative interventions/symptom management, prognosis, and nursing interventions. The text provides referral guidelines for serious illness as well as general and disease-specific hospice care admission guidelines. Also included are comprehensive tables of diagnostic testing, disease-specific palliative and symptom management interventions, prognostic and screening tools, patient teaching and clinician resources, and guides to pain management and wound care.

Key Features:

• Delivers current guidelines for management of symptoms associated with serious illness


• Provides an in-depth review of common conditions seen in palliative and hospice care


• Organized by body system for quick information retrieval


• Delivers in-depth, evidence-based, and consistently organized disease-specific guidelines


• Presents hospice and palliative care management guidelines


• Contains reproducible patient/family education handouts


• Reviews procedures commonly used in hospice and palliative practice