Improving Care for the End of Life
Price:
$75.00 $40.00 (05)Description
Using examples taken from a year-long collaborative on improving end-of-life care, Improving Care aims to equip readers with the best available advice on how to make substantial improvements in the delivery of health care to seriously ill people who are coming to the end of life. The books intended audience includes anyone working in health care management, ranging from doctors, nurse managers and social workers, to administrators, hospital chaplains, and directors of volunteer services. Improving Care describes the gains organizations have made, the changes they have attempted and the successes they have achieved. By offering step-by-step stories of successful efforts to provide good end-of-life care, the book provides a template for organizations interested in improving the way people die in Americas health care system and closing the gap between what is known about good end-of life care and what is actually done for patients. By seeing what didn't work, readers can avoid common pitfalls.Improving Care includes sections focusing on changes patients and families often demand or would most benefit from, environments that encourage better practice, opportunities for change in caring for patients with specific diseases, as well as a Getting Started chapter which offers specific tips on getting something done by next Tuesday. Content-specific resources are listed at the end of each chapter. An appendix provides instruments used by organizations in assessing various aspects of end-of-life care, and a detailed glossary explains those terms with which the audience may not be familiar. Ultimately, the writers hope to provide the insight and inspiration to address current problems in health care delivery and create excellent health care for everyone, regardless of their stage in life.
Reviews
"This book aims to equip readers with the best available advice on how to make substantial improvements in the health care system so that it serves the seriously ill person who is coming to the end of life. And that's just what it does. This book is the result of a year-long collaborative project, co-sponsored by the Center to Improve Care of the Dying and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, that included more than four dozen health care organisations committed to changing practices for the sake of real quality improvement in end-of-life care. This is an excellent resource and should be required reading for anyone in palliative care who is interested in improving any aspect of the care they give to patients and families. It is well written and immensely practical. Reading it leaves you feeling motivated to get out there and do something--this week! Highly recommended."--Roger Woodruff, Director of Palliative Care, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre , Melbourne, Australia
"The book resounds with a simple and do-able approach to getting the job done by knowing where you are and measuring improvements in specific domains. The book also includes an appendix with many valid and reliable instruments for measuring quality and standards of palliative care; tools to assess pain, spirituality, and grief; and multidimensional instruments. Improving Care for the End of Life is a sourcebook that is especially suited for managers and team leaders who are involved in end-of-life care. Others working in health care improvement will enjoy the book for its exemplification of a tried-and-true methodology for improving care."--Psychiatric Services
About the Author(s)
Joanne Lynn, Director at the RAND Center to Improve Care of the Dying, Arlington, VA , Janice Lynch Schuster, and Andrea Kabcenell, Senior Research Associate, Cornell University, College of Human Ecology
