Palliative care focuses on the management of disease symptoms that produce discomfort and pain, compromise function, or otherwise undermine the quality of life of patients with progressive medical disorders. It is a fundamental part of clinical practice, the necessary companion to therapies directed at the prolongation of life and the cure of disease. As a clinical specialty, palliative care is just beginning to define itself in the United States. The appearance of Topics in Palliative Care meets the growing need for information in this rapidly evolving field.
This first volume in...

The rapidly evolving field of Palliative Care focuses on the management of phenomena that produce discomfort and that undermine the quality of life of patients with incurable medical disorders. The interdisciplinary clinical purview includes those factors - physical, psychological, social, and spiritual - that contribute to suffering, undermine quality of life, and prevent a death with comfort and dignity. Palliative Care is a fundamental part of clinical practice, the "parallel universe" to therapies directed at cure or prolongation of life. All clinicians who treat patients with chronic...

This is the fourth book in a series devoted to research and practice i n palliative care. This rapidly evolving field focuses on the manageme nt of phenomena that produce discomfort and that undermine the quality of life of patients with incurable medical disorders. To highlight th e diversity in this field, each volume is divided into sections that a ddress a range of issues. Various sections discuss aspects of symptom control, psyshosocial functioning, spiritual or existential concerns, ethics, and other topics. The 4 sections in this volume are Survial Es timation in Palliative Care,...

THIS TEXT EXPLORES THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, ASSESSMENT, PRESENTATION, AND MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC PAIN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PRACTITIONER.