The Hospice Companion: Best Practices for Interdisciplinary Assessment and Care of Common Problems During the Last Phase of Life

More than ever it is incumbent upon those who provide care to those with life-limiting illnesses to be keenly aware of both the extent and the limits of technological advances that can add either great burden or great benefit to seriously ill patients and their families. The Hospice Companion has been created to operationalize the mission and values of modern-day hospice through the individual and combined efforts of our most valuable asset, the hospice professional.

The Hospice Companion is intended as a guide through which some mastery of the seemingly complex, challenging, and oftentimes chaotic world of advanced disease may be derived. Use of this "tool" to direct processes of care during the intensive interpersonal experiences of hospice work should allow the greatest opportunity for personal and professional growth and a deeply gratifying sense of accomplishment as you proceed in the all-important work of caring for the dying.

The second edition features a thoroughly current guide to clinical processes and symptom management, providing hospice professionals with a concise summary of changes that have influenced clinical practice over the last several years. Moreover, each chapter now concludes with a list of recommended readings, culled from the complete literature searches were done for each symptom complex.

Perry G. Fine is Professor of Anesthesiology, Pain Research Center, University of Utah Medical School, Salt Lake City, Utah. Matthew Kestenbaum is Chief of the Medical Staff, Capital Caring, Washington, DC.