Palliative Medicine: A Case-Based Manual

Palliative medicine is the medical care provided for people who have a life limiting illness or condition. It encompasses both the physical symptoms a person may experience but also the psychosocial, emotional, and ethical issues that may arise.

Now in its fourth edition, Palliative Medicine: A Case-Based Manual walks clinicians through the management of the most common situations found in palliative medicine, from diagnosis and managing symptoms through to grief and bereavement. Using real patient case scenarios and an easy-to-read question and answer format, it gives students and medical professionals an accessible, evidence-based entryway to gain the skills and knowledge needed to provide high quality palliative and end of life care to patients and their families.

This new edition has been fully updated to cover the latest guidance, including new chapters dedicated to medical cannabis, opioids, grief and bereavement, and wider issues including palliative care in the community, structurally vulnerable populations, and public health.

Written by over 50 experienced palliative care clinicians and educators, this book will be a welcome guide for palliative care workers, medical and nursing students, and medical professionals of any specialty where palliative needs might arise.

Susan MacDonald, Associate Professor of Medicine and Family Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Canada,Leonie Herx, Associate Professor and Chair, Division of Palliative Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Medical Director of Palliative Care, Kingston Health Sciences Centre & Clinical Director of Palliative Care, Providence Care Hospital; Past-President, Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians,Anne Boyle, Associate Clinical Professor McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada; Enhanced Skills Program Director, Division of Palliative Care, Department of Family Medicine McMaster University; Co Head of Service Palliative Care, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton Ontario, Canada; President Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians

Susan MacDonald completed her nursing and medical training at McMaster University. She completed a residency in Family Medicine at Queen's University and two Fellowships in Palliative Medicine, one at the University of Alberta and the other at Harvard. She has worked as a consultant in palliative care since 1999. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Family Medicine at Memorial University and had a very active role in teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has won six teaching awards, including the CAME award of Merit. She was the President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians, and a member of the Canadian Council of Academies Panel on Advance Requests in MAID. She was awarded Founder's Status with the Royal College for her work in the development of Palliative Medicine as a Specialty.

Leonie Herx is Associate Professor and Division Head of Palliative Medicine at Queen's University. She completed her MD-PhD at the University of Calgary followed by Family Medicine and Palliative Medicine. Over the past 14 years, Leonie has been actively involved in growing and building the discipline of palliative care at a national level. She co-founded the Royal College Subspecialty in Palliative Medicine and is now the Chair of the Royal College Specialty Committee for Palliative Medicine. She has been on the board of the Canadian Society for Palliative Care Physicians (CSPCP) for over 8 years, just completing a 2-year term as President and is now Past-President of CSPCP. Leonie has contributed to many national initiatives including the development of the Framework for Palliative Care in Canada, a CSPCP staffing model for planning palliative care programs and co-leading the development of a national set of competencies for palliative care for all postgraduate medical education programs.

Anne Boyle is President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians, Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, and a palliative care physician. With roots in outpost nursing and family medicine, she has devoted her academic career to palliative care education. In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Ottawa, they developed a Team Based Objective Structured Clinical Encounter tool (TOSCE) focusing on interprofessional education for undergraduate health sciences students and developed similar tools for primary care clinicians. Anne lead the Canadian medical school palliative care undergraduate medical education competencies revamp and collaborated with the team creating the competencies for post-graduates. Anne and her colleagues have also developed curriculum for noncancer palliative care subspecialty education. She has spent the last 10 years working on The 3 Wishes Project and has enjoyed watching its philosophy of caring spread around the world.

1. Advance care planning and goals of care discussions, Jessica Simon and Jeff Myers
2. Opioids overview, Pippa Hawley
3. Somatic pain, Sharon Watanabe, Yoko Tarumi, and Megan Sellick
4. Visceral pain, Michael Downing
5. Neuropathic pain, Srini Chary, Susan MacDonald, Leonie Herx, and Anne Boyle
6. Dyspnea and lung disease, Danielle Kain, Susan MacDonald, and Shalini Nayar
7. Nausea and vomiting, Bernard J. Lapointe
8. Constipation, Tim Hiebert and Stefan Riel
9. Malignant bowel obstruction, Carl Bromwich
10. Anorexia-cachexia, Neil Macdonald and Vickie Baracos
11. Cancer fatigue, Martin Chasen and Ravi Bhargava
12. Delirium, Shirley H. Bush, Bruno Gagnon, and Peter G. Lawlor
13. Anxiety and depression, Madeline Li, Gilla K. Shapiro, and Gary Rodin
14. Grief and bereavement, Alexandra Farag
15. Wounds in advanced illness, Cheryl Hurley and Vincent Maida
16. Urological symptoms and complications in palliative care, Jos? Pereira
17. Mouth care, Samir Azzaria, Marie-Andr?e Fournier, and M?lanie Simard
18. Lymphedema, Anna Towers and Marie-Eve Letellier
19. The last days and hours, Dave Henderson and Leonie Herx
20. Continuous palliative sedation therapy (CPST), Leonie Herx
21. Radiation therapy: Advancing technologies, Crystal Hann, Anand Swaminath, and Jonathan Sussman
22. Chemotherapy, Rachel Rudney and Paul J. Daeninck
23. Palliative care in heart failure, Michael Slawnych
24. Neurological disorders, Tenille Gofton
25. Renal failure, Hasitha Welihinda
26. Cirrhosis and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, Tim Hiebert
27. Palliative care in the community, Anne Boyle and Dave Henderson
28. Palliative care in the intensive care unit (ICU), Valerie N. Schultz and James Downar
29. Pediatric palliative care, Dave Lysecki and Christina Vadeboncoeur
30. Palliative care for structurally vulnerable populations (SVPs), Naheed Dosani and Anna Voeuk
31. Methadone, Pippa Hawley
32. Medical cannabis, Pippa Hawley and Vincent Maida
33. Interventional analgesic techniques, Philip Chan and Kelly Shinkaruk
34. Useful apps and websites, Stephen B. Singh
35. Response to suffering, Deborah Dudgeon, Leonie Herx, and Susan MacDonald
36. Public health palliative care, Denise Marshall and Doris Barwich