This book brings together the knowledge, skills and attitudes of specialists in both Respiratory Medicine and Palliative Medicine to focus on the palliative care of patients with respiratory diseases. It deals not only with end of life care but also with symptom control and supportive care to improve the quality of life of those living their lives with advanced progressive lung disease.

The second edition of this book brings together the knowledge, skills and attitudes of specialists in both respiratory and palliative medicine to focus on the palliative care of patients with respiratory diseases. It deals not only with end of life care but also with symptom control and supportive care to improve the quality of life of those living their lives with advanced progressive lung disease. Integrated Palliative Care of Respiratory Disease builds on the previous edition introducing new models of care for patients with advanced lung disease. These models emphasize the introduction of palliative and supportive care at an earlier stage in the disease, and running disease-modifying and palliative treatments in parallel. There is a new chapter on the role of palliative care in lung transplantation’. The book highlights significant new research into key respiratory diseases and some on-going controversies about issues such as best models of care for different diseases and advance care planning. This book is an invaluable reference for doctors, trainees and clinical nurse specialists in respiratory and palliative medicine, and is of interest to anyone who wishes to gain a better understanding of the complex nature of palliative care in respiratory disease.

Palliative care provides comprehensive support for severely affected patients with any life-limiting or life-threatening diagnosis. To do this effectively, it requires a disease-specific approach as the patients’ needs and clinical context will vary depending on the underlying diagnosis. Experts in the field of palliative care and oncology describe in detail the needs of patients with advanced cancer in comparison to those with non-cancer disease and also identify the requirements of patients with different cancer entities. Basic principles of symptom control are explained, with careful attention to therapy for pain associated with either the cancer or its treatment and to symptom-guided antineoplastic therapy. Complex therapeutic strategies for palliative cancer patients are highlighted that involve both cancer- and symptom-directed options and address a range of therapeutic aims. Issues relating to drug use in palliative cancer care are fully explored, and a separate section is devoted to care in the final phase. A range of organizational and policy issues are also discussed, and the book concludes by considering likely future developments in palliative care for cancer patients. Palliative Care in Oncology will be of particular interest to palliative care physicians who are interested in broadening the scope of their disease-specific knowledge, as well as to oncologists who wish to learn more about modern palliative care concepts relevant to their day-to-day work with cancer patients.

This book details the benefits of palliative care to improve the lives of patients with serious lung disease and their caregivers. Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness, and is often described as “an extra layer of support” for patients and their caregivers, as patients with malignant and nonmalignant lung disease experience great symptom burden and have advanced care planning needs. This book has three main objectives: Define the role of palliative care in advanced lung disease Incorporate a patient-centered perspective in describing symptom burden and interventions to improve quality of life Provide current initiatives to expand evidence-based practice and improve access to palliative care Written by leading experts in palliative care and respiratory medicine, the chapters seek to answer those objectives by first defining and describing palliative care, advanced lung disease, and inadequate palliative care in this patient population. Patient reported outcomes, quality of life, and interventions to help deal with the psychological toll of serious illness are then detailed, as well as pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for symptom management. Detailed information is additionally provided on current research studies and management for several lung diseases, including COPD, ILD, Lung Cancer, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Neuromuscular disease, and pediatric lung disease. The more administrative aspects of palliative care programs are then covered with an example of a specialty palliative care program for advanced lung disease and advice on how to address policy that promotes palliative care. Finally, palliative care's role during a pandemic is thoughtfully considered. This book is an ideal guide for clinicians, nurses, hospital administrators, teachers, students to help them understand and fill unmet care needs that many patients with serious lung disease experience.

Breathlessness is increasingly recognised as a common, disabling symptom of many advanced diseases and one that is very difficult to treat. There is now an understanding that a multi-disciplinary approach to management can make a significant impact on the severity of the symptom improving both the patient’s and their carers’ quality of life. Breathlessness is one of the most difficult conditions that palliative care (and other clinicians who care for patients with advanced disease) have to treat. With the improvements in pain control, it is possibly now the most difficult symptom for clinicians to manage: many feel frustrated at not being able to give their patients better care. Many patients and families are enduring terrible suffering. There has been little progress in improving the symptom, in spite of an increase in the amount of research and interest in it over the last twenty years. The Cambridge Breathlessness Intervention Service (CBIS) has been established since 2004 and is a research-based service which has being evaluated since its inception: its model of caring has been shaped by the patients and families who use it and the clinicians who refer to it. CBIS has firm evidence of its effectiveness with patients with breathlessness with both malignant and non-malignant disease. This book will help others to manage breathlessness in their day-to-day clinical practice and, if so desired, set up their own breathlessness service. There is a well-established website which can be used in conjunction with the book. The book is written to give practical help in the clinical management of breathlessness and written so that the information is easy to access in clinic, ward or home.

This groundbreaking book explains prognosis from the perspective of doctors, examining why physicians are reluctant to predict the future, how doctors use prognosis, the symbolism it contains, and the emotional difficulties it involves. Drawing on his experiences as a doctor and sociologist, Nicholas Christakis interviewed scores of physicians and searched dozens of medical textbooks and medical school curricula for discussions of prognosis in an attempt to get to the core of this nebulous medical issue that, despite its importance, is only partially understood and rarely discussed. "Highly recommended for everyone from patients wrestling with their personal prognosis to any medical practitioner touched by this bioethical dilemma."—Library Journal, starred review "[T]he first full general discussion of prognosis ever written. . . . [A] manifesto for a form of prognosis that's equal parts prediction-an assessment of likely outcomes based on statistical averages-and prophecy, an intuition of what lies ahead."—Jeff Sharlet, Chicago Reader "[S]ophisticated, extraordinarily well supported, and compelling. . . . [Christakis] argues forcefully that the profession must take responsibility for the current widespread avoidance of prognosis and change the present culture. This prophet is one whose advice we would do well to heed."—James Tulsky, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine