Author: Mercedes Bern-Klug
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231132247
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 378
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Book Description
This volume outlines the belief that nursing homes can and should support the physical, psychological, and social needs of residents, and that residents can thrive in nursing homes when these needs are met. The book's contributors explore the role that palliative or comfort care plays in enhancing the quality of life of nursing home residents as well as the medical, familial, psychological, cultural, and financial issues that influence decision-making about end-of-life care. The book is designed to be a tool to prepare social workers to advocate for a greater incorporation of palliative care and psychosocial care into the culture of nursing home care. The book includes discussions of the psychosocial needs of nursing home residents and families, the financing of long-term care and end-of-life care, ethical issues in chronic care and end of life, trends and characteristics in nursing home care, rituals and grief at end-of-life, and considerations for the future. Each chapter includes case examples to further illustrate points made.
Author: Jeanne Samson Katz
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0198510713
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 215
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Book Description
In our society, the overwhelming majority of people die in later life. They typically die slowly of chronic diseases, with multiple co-existing problems over long periods of time. They spend the majority of their final years at home, but many will die in hospitals or care homes. This book explores the possibilities for improving the care of older people dying in residential care and nursing homes. It argues that there are aspects of palliative care that, given the right circumstances, are transferable to dying people in settings that are not domestic or hospice based. End of Life in Care Homes describes what happens in nursing and residential care homes when a resident is dying, how carers cope, and the practical, health and emotional challenges that carers face on top of their day-to-day work. Based on detailed research from both the UK and US, the book shows how the situation can be improved.
Author: Lennart Nordenfelt
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 140518342X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 247
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Book Description
The notion of quality of life has for several decades been well-established in ethical debate about health care and the care of older people. Dignity in Care for Older People highlights the notion of dignity within the care of the elderly, focusing on the importance of theoretical concepts. Primarily based on a Research Project, Dignity and Older Europeans, funded by the European Commission, this book provides a thorough investigation of the concept of dignity and related concepts such as quality of life and autonomy. It includes a chapter devoted to the dignity of human embodiment, emphasizing the importance of the notion of the lived body in the context of elderly care. As a result of the conceptual study a model of dignity emerges in which four variants of dignity stand out: dignity of merit, dignity as moral status, dignity of identity and Menschenwürde (the specifically human value). From this follows a discussion of how these variants of dignity can be used in characterizing the care of the elderly. The notions of dignity and dignified care are discussed particularly in relation to demented persons and dying persons. The book also contains a chapter on the dignity of the dead person. International in focus, Dignity in Care for Older People provides a contemporary discussion of the care of older people, and will be of use to qualified nurses and social care practitioners working with older people, as well as those on ethics and gerontology courses.
Author: Committee on Care at the End of Life
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309518253
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 457
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Book Description
When the end of life makes its inevitable appearance, people should be able to expect reliable, humane, and effective caregiving. Yet too many dying people suffer unnecessarily. While an "overtreated" dying is feared, untreated pain or emotional abandonment are equally frightening. Approaching Death reflects a wide-ranging effort to understand what we know about care at the end of life, what we have yet to learn, and what we know but do not adequately apply. It seeks to build understanding of what constitutes good care for the dying and offers recommendations to decisionmakers that address specific barriers to achieving good care. This volume offers a profile of when, where, and how Americans die. It examines the dimensions of caring at the end of life: Determining diagnosis and prognosis and communicating these to patient and family. Establishing clinical and personal goals. Matching physical, psychological, spiritual, and practical care strategies to the patient's values and circumstances. Approaching Death considers the dying experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings and the role of interdisciplinary teams and managed care. It offers perspectives on quality measurement and improvement, the role of practice guidelines, cost concerns, and legal issues such as assisted suicide. The book proposes how health professionals can become better prepared to care well for those who are dying and to understand that these are not patients for whom "nothing can be done."
Author: David A. Fleming
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826272215
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 172
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Book Description
Although the need for improved care for dying patients is widely recognized and frequently discussed, few books address the needs of the physicians, nurses, social workers, therapists, hospice team members, and pastoral counselors involved in care. Care of the Dying Patient contains material not found in other sources, offering advice and solutions to anyone—professional caregiver or family member—confronted with incurable illness and death. Its authors have lectured and published extensively on care of the dying patient and here review a wide range of topics to show that relief of physical suffering is not the only concern in providing care. This collection encompasses diverse aspects of end-of-life care across multiple disciplines, offering a broad perspective on such central issues as control of pain and other symptoms, spirituality, the needs of caregivers, and special concerns regarding the elderly. In its pages, readers will find out how to: effectively utilize palliative-care services and activate timely referral to hospice, arrange for care that takes into account patients’ cultural beliefs, and respond to spiritual and psychological distress, including the loss of hope that often overshadows physical suffering. The authors especially emphasize palliative care and hospice, since some physicians fear that such referrals may be viewed by patients and families as abandonment. They also address ethical and legal risks in pain management and warn that fear of overprescribing pain medication may inadvertently lead to ineffective pain relief and even place the treating team at risk of liability for undertreatment of pain. While physicians have the ability to treat disease, they also help to determine the time and place of death, and they must recognize that end-of-life choices are made more complex than ever before by advances in medicine and at the same time increasingly important. Care of the Dying Patient addresses some of the challenges frequently confronted in terminal care and points the way toward a more compassionate way of death.
Author: National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780309495035
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
As the largest generation in U.S. history - the population born in the two decades immediately following World War II - enters the age of risk for cognitive impairment, growing numbers of people will experience dementia (including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias). By one estimate, nearly 14 million people in the United States will be living with dementia by 2060. Like other hardships, the experience of living with dementia can bring unexpected moments of intimacy, growth, and compassion, but these diseases also affect people's capacity to work and carry out other activities and alter their relationships with loved ones, friends, and coworkers. Those who live with and care for individuals experiencing these diseases face challenges that include physical and emotional stress, difficult changes and losses in their relationships with life partners, loss of income, and interrupted connections to other activities and friends. From a societal perspective, these diseases place substantial demands on communities and on the institutions and government entities that support people living with dementia and their families, including the health care system, the providers of direct care, and others. Nevertheless, research in the social and behavioral sciences points to possibilities for preventing or slowing the development of dementia and for substantially reducing its social and economic impacts. At the request of the National Institute on Aging of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Reducing the Impact of Dementia in America assesses the contributions of research in the social and behavioral sciences and identifies a research agenda for the coming decade. This report offers a blueprint for the next decade of behavioral and social science research to reduce the negative impact of dementia for America's diverse population. Reducing the Impact of Dementia in America calls for research that addresses the causes and solutions for disparities in both developing dementia and receiving adequate treatment and support. It calls for research that sets goals meaningful not just for scientists but for people living with dementia and those who support them as well. By 2030, an estimated 8.5 million Americans will have Alzheimer's disease and many more will have other forms of dementia. Through identifying priorities social and behavioral science research and recommending ways in which they can be pursued in a coordinated fashion, Reducing the Impact of Dementia in America will help produce research that improves the lives of all those affected by dementia.
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309132746
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
Among the issues confronting America is long-term care for frail, older persons and others with chronic conditions and functional limitations that limit their ability to care for themselves. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care takes a comprehensive look at the quality of care and quality of life in long-term care, including nursing homes, home health agencies, residential care facilities, family members and a variety of others. This book describes the current state of long-term care, identifying problem areas and offering recommendations for federal and state policymakers. Who uses long-term care? How have the characteristics of this population changed over time? What paths do people follow in long term care? The committee provides the latest information on these and other key questions. This book explores strengths and limitations of available data and research literature especially for settings other than nursing homes, on methods to measure, oversee, and improve the quality of long-term care. The committee makes recommendations on setting and enforcing standards of care, strengthening the caregiving workforce, reimbursement issues, and expanding the knowledge base to guide organizational and individual caregivers in improving the quality of care.
Author: J. M. Hockley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780335210619
Category : Aged
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
In this work, contributors from nursing and medicine, from the social and health sciences, and from ethics and health planning provide an international perspective on key issues in relation to end-of-life care such as: assessment; loss, autonomy and the ethics of end-of-life decision making.
Author: Keri Thomas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198802137
Category : MEDICAL
Languages : en
Pages : 337
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Book Description
Advance Care Planning (ACP) is an essential part of end of life care in the UK and most developed countries. It enables more people to live well and die as they would choose, and has significant implications for the individual person, their family and carers, and our wider society. In the context of an ageing population and increasing possibilities for medical interventions, ACP is a particularly important aspect of quality care. Expanded and fully updated throughout, this new edition gives a comprehensive overview of ACP and explores a wide range of issues and practicalities in providing end of life care. Written by experts from around the world, the book takes a comprehensive look at the subject by exploring the wide range of issues and practicalities in providing ACP; framing the purpose, process, and outcomes of these plans; and providing an important update on national and international research, policy and practice. Chapters also discuss values, goals and priorities, and include detailed case examples to aid best practice. This book is an invaluable resource for all clinicians involved in the caring for people in their final stages of life. It is of particular value to GPs, palliative care specialists, geriatricians, social care teams, researchers and policy leads interested in improving end of life care.
Author: Frances Shani Parker
Publisher: Loving Healing Press
ISBN: 1932690352
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 212
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Book Description
"Becoming Dead Right" guides readers through the general and "how to" information maze that prepares them for dealing with death. This book is filled with poetry, stories, wisdom, and common sense that can help baby boomers, students, caregivers, and policy makers understand that society can make important changes that can ensure safe, dignified, individualized care at the end of ones life.
