This book is written for faith community nurses (FCNs) and provides information and resources necessary to be successful in the practice of faith community nursing. This specialty nursing practice combines the caring aspect of nursing with the spiritual and the sacred. The book is divided into three parts. Part I provides an overview of faith community nursing practices its roots, practice models, roles, and legal and ethical parameters. Faith community nursing is the specialized practice of professional nursing that focuses on the intentional care of the spirit as part of the process of promoting holistic health and preventing or minimizing illness in a faith community. Parish nursing is a recognized specialty practice that combines professional nursing and health ministry. Health care practitioners who make several small changes in how patients’ religious commitments are broached in clinical practice may enhance health outcomes. There are four models through which faith community nursing practice is delivered: the institutional model, the congregational paid model, the congregational volunteer model, and the paid consortium model. Part II includes chapters that inform the FCN about initiating a faith community nursing ministry, assessing the health needs of the faith community, health education, teaching, and program planning and evaluation. Part III presents information on meeting the special needs of the faith community and includes content on acute and chronic care needs, palliative care, and grief and loss. Additional chapters focus on connecting with community resources and vulnerable populations.

Caring for the dying and their families can be one of the most emotionally fulfilling, personalized, and loving acts a nurse can provide. This book, about the CARES tool, attempts to convey essential information on how to effectively care for the dying in a condensed and readily applicable format for the bedside nurse. It is divided into seven parts. A general background and the establishment of the CARES tool are found in Part I. The second part presents a detailed breakdown of the CARES tool by sections (comfort, airway, restlessness and delirium, emotional and spiritual support, and self-care). Part III shares the theoretical foundation of the CARES tool, and emphasizes the need for patient advocacy and strong communication skills. It also explores what can be done to promote a peaceful death. The fourth part consists of two chapters which address the changes in our culture that must occur and the new role of the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) for translating the current literature into evidence-based practice. Part V examines how the use of the CARES tool can impact nursing care and encourage end-of-life care involvement by other health care providers, and how hope can be nurtured for the dying. The penultimate part of the book provides insight into CARES tool application strategies employed at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada. The last part summarizes the example scenario of an individual final journey and the individualized care he and his family were given in an effort to provide a peaceful and loving death. It also provides some recommended websites, readings, and references to continue the reader’s education on evidence-based compassionate care of the dying.

This book delivers a wealth of practical tools for incorporating spirituality into nursing. There are numerous articles on the concepts of spirituality and religion in nursing practice, including the nursing role in spiritual assessment, spiritual nursing diagnoses, spiritual care in various nursing contexts, and many more. Spirituality is a focus for debate and discussion within the nursing profession, and it is appropriate to consider this concept as it has captured the nursing world. The book discusses an interrelationship between resilience and holistic health. It also discusses challenges to incorporating spirituality into nursing practice. Although there is ample rationale for the inclusion of spirituality into nursing practice, education, and research, there are also challenges to such inclusion. Some would identify these challenges as “barriers”, but the word “challenges” seems to have more potential for positive action with respect to exploring each challenge and ways to overcome it. In order to appropriately incorporate spiritual assessment and care into practice, nurses need the requisite professional competency. Competencies are integral to nursing practice and usually accompany standards of practice. Standards for educating nurses about spiritual care are present in both educational and practice contexts in that they are part of the accreditation criteria for institutions. The book also focuses on spiritual assessment and spiritual care within the context of mental health care/mental health nursing and spirituality in palliative and hospice care.

This book details the technical aspects of how to achieve requirements for clinical treatment planning aspects, including patient positioning, creation of patient specific bolus, beam angle configurations, and inverse planning optimization approaches. It is written for everyone involved in treatment planning including dosimetrists, physicists, and physicians. The book comprises of 14 chapters. The first three chapters are introductory chapters. Chapter one describes the types of treatment plans and the general process of treatment planning. The second chapter explains the principles and limitations of current inverse planning optimization algorithms, and discusses the application of auto-planning, knowledge-based planning, and multi-criteria optimization to overcome these limitations. The third chapter covers the available immobilization equipment and general principles of simulation, including patient safety procedures. Chapters four through eleven are organized by body site or system and covers central nervous system, head and neck, breast cancer, thoracic cancer, gastrointestinal radiotherapy, genitourinary cancer, gynecologic cancer, lymphoma, and soft tissue sarcoma. For each site, there is a description of patient simulation, including immobilization, setup, isocenter placement, and any special considerations such as motion management. The plan goals for each treatment site are tabulated, followed by recipes to achieve them from the simplest planning technique to the most advanced planning technique. For simple 3D conformal plans, the recipes include the field arrangement and portal shape design (both with many figures), beam weighting, and selection of dose normalization point. For advanced techniques such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy, volumetric modulated radiation therapy, and stereotactic body radiation therapy, the recipes provide details of creation of optimization structures and multiple stage optimizations. Each chapter concludes with plan evaluation, comparing achieved doses to the clinical planning goals. Chapter thirteen describes treatment planning for pediatric cancers. Chapter fourteen discusses treatment planning for palliative treatment.

Palliative care is considered a subspecialty of medicine and nursing, with certifications offered to insure the highest quality of care that can be offered to those with acute, chronic, progressive, life-altering, or life-threatening diseases. Palliative and hospice care are on the same continuum. Hospice care is offered in the last 6 months of life, whereas palliative care is offered earlier, at the time of diagnosis, with any diagnosis that can eventually lead to death. This book gives palliative care and hospice nurses the advanced knowledge they need, beyond their undergraduate and graduate nursing education, to incorporate advanced empirical, aesthetic, ethical, and personal knowledge into their nursing practice. The book is organized into four sections comprising 27 chapters. Section I articulates the purpose and value of palliative care and hospice nursing and the revolution across America and the world, which demands the relief of suffering and every effort to promote quality of life until its end. Section II emphasizes on the care for the whole person and family. The chapters on culture and spirituality, and sexuality will help to recognize that a person is more than a physical body. The art of communication, the promotion of health, and holistic therapies are also taught. Section III focuses on advancing one’s knowledge of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, end-stage heart disease, end-stage heart disease, end-stage renal disease, end-stage liver disease, chronic lung disease, neurological disorders, HIV/AIDS. Section IV deals with effective management of symptoms such as dyspnea, anxiety, depression, delirium, posttraumatic stress disorders, gastrointestinal symptoms, fatigue, and skin alterations by pharmacologic, nonpharmacologic, and complementary therapies. In the peri-death chapter, nurses will learn how their presence at the deathbed can imprint a memory that replaces fear with calm, suffering with relief, and sorrow with abundant appreciation and love.

Effective health communication is the result of a complex process that begins with understanding the theories related to various interdependent and interrelated communication disciplines. This book is intended to serve as a source of information, primarily as a stimulant for interaction, exploration, application, reflection, and self–assessment. To assist the reader in better assimilating and utilizing these disciplines, each chapter provides real and/or hypothetical examples that can be assessed and analyzed. The first chapter is an introduction and is followed by a chapter on health care pedagogy, which explores all aspects of American health care and its impact on a wide variety of health communication contexts and audiences. Another chapter focuses on interpersonal and gendered communication which is important to interpersonal relationship development and maintenance. Provider–patient communication is interpersonal, and differences in cultures potentially impact provider–patient communication. Ethical communication in clinical practice is critical to informed and collaborative decision making and enhances provider–patient interpersonal relationships. Leadership communication theories help the health care providers to understand and potentially apply in their various roles, situations, and/or teams. The book also discusses risk management vis–à–vis effective verbal, nonverbal, written communication policies, palliative care and end–of–life communication.

This book covers all dimensions of palliative care but with a special emphasis on primary palliative care. The book is organized into three parts comprising twenty two chapters. Part one provides the essential background and principles of supportive oncology and palliative care, including chapters on understanding the adult and pediatric patient and family illness experience, the roles and responsibilities of the palliative care team, and the art of the palliative care assessment interview. Part two covers symptom management and includes ten chapters considering the major physical and psychosocial symptoms a cancer patient may face—neurologic, cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, psychiatric, sleep and fatigue, pain, and psychosocial and spiritual distress. Part three addresses special considerations and issues that an oncologist, physician, nurse or other healthcare provider often face in these settings, including chapters on intimacy, sexuality, and fertility issues, grief and bereavement, running a family meeting, care for the caregiver, and survivorship.

The book examines various theories of aging including a contrast between the strengths-based person-in-environment theory and the pathologically based medical model of psychological problems. It advocates truly engaging with the older client during the assessment phase, and discusses a variety of intervention modalities. The book integrates an advanced clinical social work practice with in-depth knowledge of evidence-based practice as well as geriatric medicine, psychiatry and gerontology. The social worker must evaluate the status of the client’s housing, transportation, food, clothing, recreation opportunities, social supports, access to medical care, kinship and other factors considered important by the social worker or the client. Constructivist theory is a conceptual framework that is foundational to existential therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and narrative therapy, which are effective for older adults. Stigma associated with race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation produce psychosocial stressors that converge on older clients. The book discusses several medical conditions affecting older adults such as Alzheimer’s disease, arthritic pain, diabetes and various types of cancers. Older adults may also suffer from substance abuse-related problems, hypersexuality, and various types of abuse such as neglect. The book also highlights the problems faced by the older adult LGBT community and those suffering from HIV disease. It ends with discussions on care and residential settings for the older adults, and palliative care and euthanasia.

Social work has a long-standing commitment to healthcare and the recognition of the inextricable link to quality of life and well-being across the lifespan. This book emphasizes the critical importance of health for all members of society and the significant role of social work in the field. It presents essential information about health and social work critical to understanding today’s complex health care systems and policies. The book is intended as a core text for masters of social work (MSW) and advanced bachelor of social work (BSW) courses on health and social work, social work and health care, health and wellness, social work practice in health care, and integrative behavioral health taught in social work, public health, and gerontology. The book is organized into three parts containing 18 chapters. The first chapter describes the role of social work in healthcare. The second chapter discusses ethics and values in healthcare social work. The next three chapters present social determinants of health, intersectionality, and social work assessment. Chapter six discusses health promotion and public health. Chapter seven presents integrated behavioral healthcare. Chapter eight describes substance misuse, abuse, and substance-related disorders. Chapters nine and ten discuss palliative care, end-of-life care, correctional healthcare, and psychosocial care. Chapter 11 describes children and family health. Chapter 12 explores healthcare and work with older adults and their caregivers. Chapters 13 to 15 delve on immigrants and refugee health, health and HIV/AIDS, and LGBTQ health. Chapters 16 and 17 describe healthcare and disability, and healthcare and serving veterans. The final chapter discusses future direction of healthcare and social work.

This book provides clinicians from multiple disciplines the opportunity to examine key topics that can be practically considered for implementation into practice. It provides information from a wide variety of viewpoints that will enable individual team members to forge interdisciplinary approaches to care, assess current programs, develop strategies to improve the quality of care, and tailor new models of care for patients in need of palliative care services. The book spans all aspects of the clinical and compassionate care of patients, families, and caregivers. Written by experts from all clinical disciplines, including medical and surgical physicians, mental health professionals, nurses, therapists, and chaplains, it shows great respect for and gives voice to affected families and their babies. It addresses the multidimensional aspects of perinatal and neonatal palliative care. Encompassing the perspectives of neonatologists, maternal-fetal medicine and other physicians, neonatal and perinatal nurse practitioners, midwives, nurses in all sectors of perinatal care, and child life specialists, chaplains, social workers, genetic counselors, lactation consultants, and others, the book underscores the unique aspects of perinatal and neonatal palliative care, with a focus on improving quality of life, as well as comfort at the end of life. It describes healthcare for neonates and pregnant mothers, care and support of the family, planning and decision making, and effective support for grief and bereavement. It addresses all palliative and neonatal palliative care settings, including home care, and covers elements of comfort care, such as pain medication and oxygen. The book focuses on the prenatal period after diagnosis of the expected baby’s life-threatening condition. These include such topics as care of the mother, delivering devastating news, and advance care planning.

This book provides education, tools, and support for caregivers who care for high-risk maternal and neonatal patients so that they too can learn how to effectively and successfully provide high quality care coordination and family-centered care to patients and families in their daily care practice. It looks at the high-risk antepartum patient stay, the high-risk delivery, the NICU admission, the NICU journey, discharge home, special situations in the NICU, palliative and bereavement in the perinatal and neonatal period, and caring for the caregiver. Each chapter focuses on one of these areas and provides real examples of care situations, positive care coordination efforts, and exceptional psychosocial support that were provided to patients and families. One may even come across a few examples of where care coordination and psychosocial support did not go as well as it could have. Eighteen families have shared their very personal stories and experiences to increase the depth of the book and their words have not been altered. The book is intended primarily for the nursing and nurse practitioner audience. It is organized into six parts comprising 16 chapters. The first part presents an overview of nursing history, care coordination, and family-centered care. The second part discusses supporting patients in high-risk pregnancy and delivery. The third part deals with supporting patients and families in the NICU. The fourth part provides description on supporting patients with special challenges in the NICU. The fifth part talks about bereavement and palliative care support. The final part discusses therapeutic strategies for caregivers and patients.

This book makes a timely and essential contribution to professional training and is a welcome resource for those dedicated to improving long-term care services for older adults. It reflects the way society views the growing elderly population and the implications of this demographic trend for the field of long-term care. Long-term care continues to be the fastest growing segment of the healthcare industry; there is a critical need to educate and train a core of professional personnel with the knowledge and skills to address the complex issues in aging, health, and human services. The book aims to provide a useful reference of content information, effective practices, and model programs in elder care related to assisted living/residential care (AL/RC) administration. Similar to the first edition, this book is based on the core competencies required to operate assisted living communities. It contains five parts; each part focuses on a core competency in assisted living administration such as organizational management, human resources management, business and financial management, environmental management, and resident care management. The book embraces chapter features such as useful learning objectives, case studies, effective practices, and model programs in elder care that are relevant to assisted living communities. New chapters in this edition address topics such as inter-professional practice; home- and community-based services; information and communication technology; LGBTQ and other diverse groups; memory care; and palliative and hospice care. Importantly, the book is based on core competencies required to operate assisted living communities, and each of its five parts focuses on a core competency (i.e., domain of practice). The book serves as a useful reference for professionals who are associated with AL/RC organizations. It can also function as a primary textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in gerontology, health administration, and long-term care administration that focus on assisted living/residential care administration.

This book is written to provide a general overview of health literacy, as it is difficult to incorporate a comprehensive illustration of every type of health literacy encounter. It is divided into four parts with specific chapters within each part for quick and easy reference. The first part of the book provides an overall baseline knowledge of health literacy. It touches on health literacy and its impact on accessing care and navigating throughout a complex health care delivery system and reviews the major health literacy efforts of the federal government, scientists, health researchers, health policy experts, and health professionals. The second part focuses on the role of oral communication. It incorporates the role and importance of culture, language, and communication access services needed to provide quality, safe person-centered care and focuses on nursing strategies to enhance effective communication and understanding. The third part focuses on written health communication. It discusses content design and layout of written health information and patient education. How written information is presented can have a tremendous impact on readability and understandability. The final part of the book helps to prepare nurses who care for unique populations. It presents health literacy implications when caring for persons in in palliative care and making difficult end-of-life decisions and identifies the uniqueness of caring for young children, patients with mental health disorders and older adults. Finally, the book presents the ethical principles of human research subjects and how to ensure that research participants with low health literacy are protected.

Revised and updated, this third edition continues its tradition of providing evidence-based approaches to the specific technical aspects of delivering radiation treatment. Easy to read and relevant to general practice, this popular pocket-sized manual leads radiation oncology trainees and clinicians through the basics of radiotherapy planning and delivery for all major malignancies in a step-by-step manner. Organized by body site or system, each chapter provides technical details and clinical updates to planning as a result of practice-changing paradigms as well as new and updated equipment and techniques. Specialized topics such as palliative radiotherapy and pediatric radiotherapy round out the final chapters. With over 40 new images in addition to detailed accounts of advances in the field, this highly anticipated third edition provides important updates while retaining the valued, practical features of the previous editions. Written by members of staff in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic, this edition continues to be a valuable resource for training as well as a reliable quick reference for professionals in the field such as radiation therapists and technologists, radiation nurses, dosimetrists, physicists, and practicing physicians. It presents concise summaries including target definitions and dose constraints for planning all major disease sites, provides updated coverage of planning associated with stereotactic body radiation therapy for prostate, pancreas, and liver cancers, and includes over 190 full color images. It also outlines new practice standards for hypofractionated radiation therapy in breast and prostate cancers and explains specific technical aspects important for the appropriate clinical delivery of radiation treatment.

This book is addressed to nurses, administrators, nursing academics, nursing students, as well as other health care professionals, and to the interested general reader. Nightingale was far ahead of her time in setting out the core principles of the new nursing profession, with demanding ethical standards and continuing education to keep up with best practice. The book is organized into two parts containing twelve chapters. Part I, Nightingale’s Nursing: Then and Now, presents what she wrote and did in key areas of nursing and health care: patient care, health promotion, ethics, infection control, pediatric nursing, long-term and palliative care, administration, and research and policy development. Part II, In Nightingale’s Own Words, takes the reader into Nightingale’s best writing itself. It provides selections of Nightingale’s most important writing from 1858 to 1893, thus facilitating the tracing of her ideas as they evolved. Nightingale’s writings are categorized into Nightingale’s early writing on hospitals and nursing, Nightingale’s writing on nursing for the poorest, and Nightingale’s late writing on nursing, hospitals, and disease prevention. The book shows how Nightingale interacted with leading physicians and other health science experts. The prime purpose of this book is to bring Nightingale’s ideas and work to the attention of nurses today, not as a historical figure but as a source of principles, vision, and sound practice in the here and now.

This newly updated, quick-access guide for critical care nurses covers the most common admitting diagnoses and reviews their causes, signs and symptoms, and interventions. Critical care nursing requires astute assessment, adept communication, and the ability to multitask, as well as a high degree of adaptability. In the ICU, patient status and plan of care change constantly, presenting multifaceted problems for nurses and healthcare providers. This book provides the most current evidence-based guidelines and standards for the busy critical care nurse. Organized by body system, this reference presents the latest treatment modalities and provides quick access to lab values and hemodynamic parameters. Part I reviews the foundational aspects of critical care nursing, including the critical care environment, the electronic medical record, and specialty certifications for the critical care nurse. Part II progresses by body system to cover common procedures and interventions. Starting with neurological care and proceeding through each system, the chapters begin with an assessment and then provide the most common admitting diagnoses. Each diagnosis is presented with a cause, signs and symptoms, and interventions. Each chapter discusses the critical aspects of caring for a patient presenting with a specific diagnosis. Part III ends with patient- and family-centered care, discussing palliative directives and organ donation. The book provides quick access to essential information needed on a daily basis and includes Fast Facts boxes to help guide the reader.

Cancer affects 1.7 million new lives each year. Over 60" of those diagnosed with cancer will undergo radiation therapy at some point in their disease process–whether for curative intent or for palliation. Radiation oncologists take great care to accurately target tumor and minimize normal tissue irradiation. This book provides a concise summary of the presentation and management of both acute and late radiation side effects. The ability to effectively manage the acute effects on patients undergoing treatment is critical for radiation oncology professionals as well as other medical fields, as patients are treated in multidisciplinary fashion. Most late-appearing effects from radiation are uncommon. The book is a collection of the experience of disease site experts who see and treat both acute and late effects with frequency. Their summarized evidence-based practice provides guidance to anyone whose practice touches cancer patients and survivors. The book is a useful and practical guide in practice, whether it be daily management or as reference for the occasional patient with a history of radiation. The book is divided into thirteen chapters. The first chapter addresses radiation therapy effects on the central nervous system. The second chapter presents radiation therapy effects in head and neck cancer. The third chapter describes radiation therapy effects on the thorax. The fourth chapter analyzes radiation therapy effects in breast cancer. The next three chapters presents radiation therapy effects on the abdomen, pelvis, and on skin and extremities. Chapter 8 reviews radiation toxicity management in children. The ninth chapter discusses the systemic effects of radiation therapy. The tenth chapter analyzes radioprotection for radiation therapy. Chapter 11 discusses the risk and prevention of radiation-induced cancers. Chapter twelve describes the approaches and challenges in cancer survivorship. The final chapter talks about maximizing the health and wellness of cancer survivors through healthy lifestyle behaviors.

This third edition, has been written as a reference and certification test review guide for registered nurse (RNs) preparing for gerontological certification. It is also a useful text for students who are studying gerontology, teachers preparing gerontology classes, and RNs working with older adults. The book presents information about preparing for the certification exam, a comprehensive compilation of content specific to gerontology, and a test bank of questions specifically developed for the RN preparing for certification in gerontology. It focuses on topics specific to the aging population, such as demographics, myths about aging, theories of aging and nursing, communication skills geared for the older adult, teaching–learning principles that work well with older adults, and the history of gerontological nursing. The book identifies the health promotion needs of elders, such as nutrition, exercise, primary and secondary prevention strategies, and alternative and complementary healthcare practices used with older adults. It describes the environment, including safety and security, relocation, transportation, the importance of space, community-based resources, and residential facilities. It discusses spirituality and dying with special attention to advance directives, hospice and palliative care, and the grieving process. The book describes the acute and chronic physical illnesses most frequently experienced by older adults and discusses the cognitive and psychological disorders experienced by elders, including dementia, delirium, and depression. It covers common medications used by older adults, as well as discussions about polypharmacy, issues related to pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, noncompliance, and adverse drug effects. It also discusses special topics such as pain, sexuality, and elder neglect and abuse, and covers descriptions of health policy issues and organizations that advocate for older adults. The book finally discusses the scope and standards of geriatric nursing practice relating to leadership and management, research, ethical and legal issues, and professional competency.

Long-term care (LTC) involves a continuum of care required to meet the differential needs of older adults. This book provides multifaceted insights to address the ever-changing world of the LTC industry, and contains effective practices and quality programs in eldercare. It provides the necessary tools and tips to maximize the quality of care and quality of life for older adults living in LTC communities. The book covers the most crucial aspects of management, including federal and/or state regulations overseeing the operation of LTC facilities. It offers advice on care at home, naturally occurring retirement communities, and continuing-care retirement communities; client care, staff retention, preventing elder abuse and neglect, and anticipating and managing litigation and arbitration in LTC; aging and human diversity, Alzheimer’s disease, palliative care, and care transitions; and much more. This book consists of 3 parts and 18 chapters. Each chapter includes helpful pedagogical features such as learning objectives, an introduction, case studies, effective practices, and/or model programs in eldercare that are useful in the administration of LTC communities, as well as a chapter summary and references. Figures and/or tables are used when warranted. The book will serve as a helpful reference for professionals who are associated with Leading Age California, the American College of Healthcare Administrators, the American Society of Aging, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, the Gerontological Society of America, and other aging and LTC administration organizations.

This book provides a concise and practical resource to assist in real-time, clinical decision making for managing lung cancer. The first two chapters deal with epidemiology and etiology of lung cancer, lung carcinogenesis, lung cancer genetics, epigenetics, and tumor microenvironment. Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) is associated with a 20% to 40% increase in lung cancer risk. The third chapter provides an overview of several of the driver oncogenes that are important in the pathogenesis of non–small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and have emerged as targets for therapeutic approaches. The advent of molecular profiling and targeted therapy renewed interest in the distinguishing between the major subtypes of NSCLC: adenocarcinoma (ADC), squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) and large cell lung carcinoma (LCLC). The fourth and fifth chapters deal with screening and diagonosis of lung cancer. This is followed by four chapters which describe the management of early stage, locally advanced stage, advanced stage, and recurrent NSCLC, and their respective treatment therapies such as video-assisted thoracic surgery, robotic-assisted thoracic surgery, sequential induction chemotherapy, necitumumab, maintenance therapy, and sequential single-agent therapy. Chapters 10 and 11 discuss the management of limited-stage and extensive-stage small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and the treatment therapies. Lung cancer is a disease of the elderly, and accordingly chapter 13 covers the management of elderly and high-risk patients suffering from this disease. This is followed by a focus on the management of neuroendocrine tumors (NET), pleural mesothelioma, and thymic tumors. The book ends with a discussion on palliative care in thoracic oncology.

This book begins with several chapters on the background and efficacy of palliative radiation therapy (RT), along with crucial information on patient selection and assessment of life expectancy. Following these introductory chapters, the bulk of the book contains chapters on site-specific malignancies, containing comprehensive literature reviews, treatment plans, toxicity information, and symptom management. Life expectancy estimates for advanced cancer patients are necessary considerations in the fields of oncology and palliative care. To address the heterogeneity in patients with advanced cancers, numerous groups have proposed different multivariable life expectancy models using combinations of known tumor factors, patient factors, and laboratory tests. The most common indications for palliative RT include painful bone metastases, spinal cord compression, and brain metastases with the goals of symptom relief and/or local control. Radiation oncologists have long understood the potential benefit of RT in palliating the distressing symptoms of advanced abdominal and pelvic cancers. For abdominal malignancies, bony landmarks are less reliable for treatment planning, as compared to pelvic malignancies. The book discusses some case scenarios to illustrate the role of palliative RT in the treatment of bladder cancer, vaginal bleeding, rectal cancer, vulvar cancer, and liver metastasis.

This “Handbook of Geriatric Oncology” arrives at an optimal time for the practicing physician, as the number of older adults with cancer is on a steep rise globally. Care of the older patient with cancer is now the “bread and butter” of not only oncologists and geriatricians, but also primary care providers, subspecialists, and members of the multidisciplinary team. The book weaves together the best practices from geriatrics and oncology in order to optimize the care of older adults with cancer. First, this Handbook describes how to assess the older adult and gain a better understanding of the patient’s “functional age” rather than just the chronological age. Second, it provides insight into these patients’ unique areas of physiologic, functional, and social vulnerability, and suggests interventions to help the patient. Third, this Handbook summarizes cutting-edge data that inform best practices in the care of older adults with cancer. Last, and most important, this Handbook suggests how to communicate these findings to a patient. This book is divided into nine sections. The first section gives an overview of Geriatric Oncology. The second section describes Geriatric Syndromes. The third section deals with Geriatric Assessment. The fourth section focuses on Select cancers in the elderly. The fifth section talks about Communication with the older cancer patient. The next three sections review the Nursing home patient with cancer, Models of care: Survivorship and Palliative Care. The final section is an overview of Integrative Medicine. This integration of knowledge and skill sets results in a collaborative informed decision that is in line with the patient’s goals and preferences, maximizing the benefits and minimizing the risks of cancer therapy.

This book presents a way of thinking about clinical inquiry, reasoning, judgment, and experiential learning in clinical practice. It illustrates the educational implications by providing a thick description of nurses’ thinking-in-action and reasoning-in-transition. The book provides a window to central areas of experiential learning required for the development of expertise in nursing practice. Throughout the book, numerous and varied suggestions and examples are provided to assist in the development of nurses toward expertise. Critical and acute care nursing practice is intellectually and emotionally challenging. The book describes two pervasive habits of thought and action in Chapters 2 and 3, clinical grasp and clinical forethought, and then nine domains of practice, in Chapters 4 through 12. While the fourth chapter provides a brief description of the clinical judgment and skillful interventions of excellent nurses as they manage the physiological functions of acutely and critically ill patients, the fifth illustrates how comforting patients forms a backdrop for clinical judgment. Encouraging family involvement in care-giving activities is an essential aspect of family care. Acute and critical care clinicians normally believe that patients who are dying should be admitted to palliative or hospice care. Chapter 11 describes the frontline system design and repair done daily by expert nurses, and chapter 12 presents a view of leadership based on directing and shaping excellent clinical practice. The last chapter presents pedagogical implications and uses of this work, both in schools of nursing and in practice settings.

This book is offered to hospice and palliative care nurses to assist their preparation for taking the Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse (CHPN^®) certification examination. Interest in demonstrating expertise through certification as a hospice and palliative care nurse has continually grown, as recognition of one's expertise brings not only professional satisfaction but also personal pride. Since this text is a practice and certification review for hospice and palliative care nurses preparing for the CHPN certification examination, the book follows the test outline offered by the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center. In seven sections, the book offers tips on test-taking, an outline of the CHPN certification examination, a review of life-limiting conditions in adult patients, a review of pain and symptom management, a review of education and advocacy in patient and family care, a review of practice issues, and a full-length practice test with answers and rationales. It also presents practice questions at the end of the chapters. This must-have study guide for nurses seeking to obtain CHPN status provides state-of-the-art information about all aspects of this specialty. It features 300 carefully selected Q&As that offer a detailed rationale for each question, along with tips and strategies to promote exam mastery and frequently asked questions about the exam. Brief topical reviews address hospice and palliative care nursing practice in all of its dimensions, including physical, spiritual, and psychosocial. The resource highlights information that forms the basis of end-of-life care, such as communication and family-centered care. Additionally, the book covers high-level skills used by hospice and palliative care nurses, such as drug and dosage conversion and the use of infusion therapy.

This book is an interdisciplinary resource on clinical hypnosis research and applications in psychology and medicine. It encompasses state-of-the-art scholarship and techniques for hypnotic treatments along with hypnosis transcripts and case examples for all major psychological disorders and medical conditions. This book addresses hypnotic theories such as socio-cognitive and neo-dissociation theories, neurophysiology of hypnosis, hypnotherapy screening, measurement of hypnotizability, professional issues, and ethics. Chapters present hypnotic inductions to treat 70 disorders including asthma, anxiety, depression, pain, sleep problems, phobias, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), menopausal hot flashes, Parkinson’s disease, palliative care, tinnitus, addictions, and a multitude other common complaints. The book examines the history and foundations of hypnosis, myths and misconceptions, patient screening, dealing with resistance, and precautions to the use of hypnosis. It also examines a variety of hypnotherapy systems ranging from hypnotic relaxation therapy to hypnoanalysis. For each application, the text includes relevant research, specific induction techniques, and an illustrative case example. Additionally, this book covers professional issues, certification, hypnosis in the hospital, and placebo effects.

This is a valuable textbook and resource for those serving the healthcare needs in rural and frontier areas. It focuses on the health of rural dwellers, the provision of healthcare in rural settings, and the skills and knowledge required for effective nursing practice, education, and research within this context. The sixth edition contains ten new chapters, content on the effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on rural populations, seminal chapters on Rural Nursing Theory and rural nursing, and updated chapters retained from previous editions. The text is divided into five sections. Section 1 focuses on theory and research and presents an overview of the theory development process and the seminal work on Rural Nursing Theory. It includes rural nursing concepts, and chapters on conducting research in rural and frontier settings. Section 2 describes the nature and scope of rural nursing practice and expands one’s understanding of the experiences of rural nurses and nurse practitioners. Section 3 focuses on healthcare delivery in rural settings and includes chapters on health behavior, suicide, nurses as primary care providers, emergency services, telehealth, palliative care, and complementary and alternative therapy use by rural dwellers. Section 4 addresses education and provides insight into learning opportunities in rural clinical settings; interprofessional, collaborative, and transcultural service-learning education; and the skills and competencies nurses and nurse practitioners need to care for rural populations. Section 5 focuses on the care of select vulnerable populations including migrant and seasonal workers, neonates experiencing opiate withdrawal, palliative and end-of-life care for American Indians, and the conduct of research with vulnerable populations. The book highlights the realities of rural nursing from bedside to advanced practice. It not only identifies the challenges, but also highlights opportunities in rural healthcare and innovative practice.

This book provides the critical information gerontology nurses need to synthesize the health conditions affecting older adults with education about and access to vital community-based services. It discusses health delivery in regard to cultural diversity, the physical and psychological changes of aging and how to adapt to them, and different types of community-based health options including home health services, independent and assisted living, long-term care, and hospice and palliative care. The book first provides an overview of psychosocial-cultural health and the potential financial and mental drain that occurs when an aging family member loses independence. Then, it offers insight into a variety of theories about the physical and psychological changes of aging. The information progresses from the physical and physiological changes, to the signs and symptoms that reveal the approach of physical and mental decline. The book further provides key information about assistance and living options found in the community when decline is evident. Various optional living situations are described, including how much supportive care is actually provided by the facility or community. Clients and their personal health manager (family, friend, and/or case manager) need to be empowered to advocate for quality health care. There are tactful ways of addressing concerns, but if it appears that the concerns are not taken seriously, then it may be time to bring in backup and a list of concerns and expectations. Recreation therapy offers many health benefits for clients and caregivers.

This book distils the collective wisdom of foremost scholars and practitioners who together have nearly a millennium of experience in the death and dying movement. It bears witness to the evolution of the movement and presents the insights of its pioneers, eyewitnesses, and major contributors past and present. The authors intend the book for all who have been interested or actively engaged in the movement through the years, and especially for those relatively new to the field as students or practitioners who share these convictions and passions and will carry on, extend, and creatively transform the efforts discussed here. They trace the development of thanatology as an interdisciplinary field of study and organizational and practice developments in response to the diverse needs of dying, bereaved, suicidal, and traumatized individuals, families, and communities. Topics covered in the book include: hospice and palliative care, funeral practice, death education, and caring of the dying, suicidal, bereaved, and traumatized. A unique feature of the book is a detailed chronology that includes many, though of course not all, of the most important milestones of the last 60 years. It is intended to serve as an overview as well as the foundation for understanding this burgeoning field and as a guide for readers who wish to understand in detail its short, but rich, history.

Nurse practitioners in the critical care environment deserve an authoritative resource for the care of critically ill patients, written by experts with diverse educational backgrounds and perspectives predominantly from within the discipline of nursing. The acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) programs address the care of patients with urgent problems and those who may require hospitalization or other specialized care. This book contains the insights and first-hand experience of clinicians actively working in critical care, many of whom are considered experts on a national and international level. Significant emphasis is given to the complex pathophysiology and appropriate management of common problems encountered in the critical care environment, including trauma, infections, and disease. One chapter is also dedicated to the medical, legal, and ethical aspects of critical care. The book covers the role of the ACPN in acute and critical care, pulmonary management, cardiac concepts in acute care settings, liver, kidney, and kidney pancreas transplant management in the intensive care unit (ICU), burn management, multisystem organ failure, end-of-life and palliative care, and family-centered care.

This book provides content required to deliver the best care for critically ill or injured children. It reflects the increasing acuity in all inpatient departments and the fact that these children are cared for in a variety of settings, including many specialty units in hospitals and in the emergency department, cath lab, diagnostic testing, and more. Pediatric acute and critical care nurses find themselves handling not only their patients, but care of their families and management of an interprofessional team of caregivers. With emphasis on evidence-based care and professionalism, this essential resource captures the professional role of the pediatric critical care nurse and the nurse’s contributions to the process of continuous quality improvement. The book comprises of ten chapters. Chapter one discusses caring for critically ill children and their families. Chapters two through nine are systems focused (pulmonary, cardiovascular, neurologic, renal, endocrine, gastrointestinal, hematologic, and immunologic systems). Each chapter reviews developmental anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology and defining characteristics of neonatal and pediatric disorders, clinical assessment, pharmacology, monitoring, diagnostic testing, pain and palliative care management, and a multidisciplinary approach to the plan of care. Each health problem is discussed along the continuum of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Synergy Model for Patient Care and family-centered care with integration of ethical, legal, and environmental issues. Chapter ten discusses professional issues and includes content on quality, safety, communication, teamwork, work environment, and personal wellness.

By focusing on the individual professional in relation to team health and success, this book shows how to develop high-quality, high-performing palliative care teams. It explores the types of providers involved in palliative care, their roles, possible conflicts, and the opportunity to amplify their work as a team while overcoming the stigma that may be attached to palliative care. The book focuses on the foundational role of communication in leadership, team building, and the delivery of patient care. Palliative care continues to be a rapidly growing area of medicine. The book is designed to help us avoid common pitfalls while starting a team or correct issues in an already formed palliative care team. Unlike most books about palliative care, the book is geared toward equipping practicing healthcare professionals or soon-to-be-practicing students with practical solutions for working within complex, multifaceted palliative care teams. Departing from the traditional foci of provider–patient rapport and pain and symptom management, the book offers pragmatic solutions to common organizational headaches and unique palliative care team issues by helping practitioners consider the intricacies of interdisciplinary team dynamics, occupational culture, and self-care in emotional, labor–intensive positions. While this book will be especially attractive for the working palliative care professional, it will also be a useful socialization tool for medical and nursing schools, as well as graduate communication and social work programs and advanced undergraduate courses in health communication, nursing, and sociology. The text’s driving theme is an emphasis on the foundational nature of communication for individual and collective performance within palliative care teams. The authors frame communication as constitutive; in other words, our unique experience in our organization is based on how we approach communication in our interpersonal, group, and organizational relationships.

This much needed Adult/Gerontological Nurse Practitioner (AGNP) specific textbook provides comprehensive, evidenced-based practice approaches to both common and complex health issues AGNP’s may face in primary care. Many of the chapters are written by practicing clinicians; their expertise is an essential contribution that integrates the best available evidence with a current clinical practice application and a focus on high quality, cost-efficient, person/family-centered, safe care. An innovative feature of this textbook is the way it is organized with five distinct sections that incorporate the entirety of the AGNP role to include fundamental concepts of AGNP practice, AGNP practice in various primary care practice settings, special health conditions for adolescents and older adults, practice-wide systems management, and disease specific conditions. Many providers anticipate an AGNP to have the basic skills of billing when they are hired, so this chapter prepares the AGNP to have basic information that can be made more specific to their practice. Also unique is the focus on patient safety and quality improvement starting with a dedicated chapter to these topics but also with these skills applied in the chapters on common health conditions. The book is organized into five parts. Part 1 details the Fundamental Concepts such as healthy aging, person-centered care, patient safety and quality improvement, interprofessional teams/team-based care, care coordination, and promoting wellness in AGNPs. Part II is focused on the AGNP role across healthcare settings, concepts in palliative and end-of-life care, and the role of AGNPs in disasters. Part III examines the explicit health issues for older adults and adolescents. Part IV provides a unique view of ensuring that AGNPs are ready for practice and the practice environment. Part V includes chapters that focus on common health conditions the AGNP may encounter in primary care no matter the setting.