Section 1: Encountering illness. Overview. History, gender and culture in the rise of palliative care. What's in a name? A concept analysis of key terms in palliative care nursing. User involvement and palliative care: rhetoric or reality? Referral patterns and access into specialist palliative care. Acute hospital care. Transitions in status from wellness to illness, illness to wellness - coping with recurrence and remission. Communication, the patient and the palliative care team. Approaches to assessment in palliative care. Section 2: Transitions into the terminal phase. Overview. Good for the soul? The spiritual dimension of hospice and palliative care. Working with difficult symptoms. Pain: theories, evaluation and management. Balancing feelings and cognitions. Working with family caregivers in a palliative care setting. Supporting families of terminally ill persons. Social death - the impact of protracted dying. Ethical issues at the end of life. A very short introduction. The impact of socialisation on the dying process. No way in: including the excluded at the end of life. Palliative care in institutions. Section 3: Loss and bereavement. Overview. Nursing care at the time of death. Loss and bereavement. The care and support of bereaved people. Bereavement support: the perspective of community nurses. Risk assessment and bereavement services. Bereavement support services. Families and children facing loss and bereavement: childhood bereavement services - a diversity of models and practices. Section 4: Contemporary issues. Overview. Professional boundaries in palliative care. The cost of caring - surviving the culture of niceness, occupational stress and coping strategies. Specialist professional education in palliative care: how did we get here and where are we going? Information and communication technology in nursing - current role and future scope. Research and scholarship in palliative care nursing. Developing expert palliative care nursing through research and practice development. Policy, audit, evaluation and clinical governance. Leading and managing nurses in a changing environment. Conclusion.
