Textbook of Palliative Care

Textbook of Palliative Care is a comprehensive, clinically relevant and state-of-the art book, aimed at advancing palliative care as a science, a clinical practice and as an art.

Palliative care has been part of healthcare for over fifty years but we still find ourselves having to explain its nature and practice to colleagues and to the public in general. Healthcare education and training has been slow to recognize the vital importance of ensuring that all practitioners have a good understanding of what is involved in the care of people with serious or advanced illnesses and their families. However, the science of palliative care is advancing and our understanding concerning many aspects of palliative care is developing rapidly.

The book is divided into separate sections for ease of use. Over 100 chapters written by experts in their given fields provide up-to-date information on a wide range of topics of relevance to those providing care towards the end of life no matter what the disease may be. We present a global perspective on contemporary and classic issues in palliative care with authors from a wide range of disciplines involved in this essential aspect of care. The Textbook includes sections addressing aspects such as symptom management and care provision, organization of care in different settings, care in specific disease groups, palliative care emergencies, ethics, public health approaches and research in palliative care.

This Textbook will be of value to practitioners in all disciplines and professions where the care of people approaching death is important, specialists as well as non-specialists, in any setting where people with serious advanced illnesses are residing. It is also an important resource for researchers, policy-and decision-makers at national or regional levels. Neither the science nor the art of palliative care will stand still so we aim to keep this Textbook updated as the authors find new evidence and approaches to care.

Roderick Duncan MacLeod is a Palliative Medicine Specialist at Harbour Hospice in Auckland, New Zealand, and Consultant to HammondCare in Sydney where he is also Honorary Professor in the University of Sydney, School of Medicine. He gained his primary medical degrees from the University of Dundee in 1976 and went on to train for general practice. He was a Principal in general practice for almost 10 years before moving to the discipline of palliative care. He was first appointed as Medical Director of the Dorothy House Foundation in Bath, England, in 1989 after having completed a period of prolonged study leave exploring palliative care in the community. In 1994, he was appointed Medical Director and subsequently Director of Palliative Care at the Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington, New Zealand. He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners (UK) in 1999. He was a Foundation Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine, in 2000. He received his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Glamorgan (Prifysgol De Cymru) for his work and publications on “Changing the Way that Doctors Learn to Care for People Who Are Dying.” In 2003, he was appointed to New Zealand’s first Chair in Palliative Care as the inaugural South Link Health Professor in Palliative Care at the University of Otago Dunedin School of Medicine and in 2013 was appointed Conjoint Professor in Palliative Care at the University of Sydney and worked clinically as Senior Staff Specialist in Palliative Care for HammondCare in Sydney. He has been a Member of the Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine Education Committee, the NZ National Health Committee –Working Party on Care of People Who Are Dying, the NZ Palliative Care Expert Working Group, and the Council of the Asia Pacific Hospice Network. He was appointed to the Expert Advisory Group (Physician Education) and the Chapter of Palliative Medicine Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the NZ Ministry of Health Palliative Care Advisory Group. He has also held a number of roles within Hospice NZ. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles in the field of palliative care in national and international journals and has written over 20 chapters for palliative care texts. In addition, he has been on editorial boards of international peer-reviewed journals in the field of palliative care and has reviewed manuscripts for over 25 different academic journals. He has also published two anthologies of poetry, exploring what it might be like to approach death and experience bereavement and loss. He is one of the authors of The Palliative Care Handbook, which has become a freely available standard text for healthcare professionals in New Zealand and parts of Australia. He was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen’s birthday honors in 2015.

Lieve Van den Block is Professor of Ageing and Palliative Care at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Chair of the Ageing and Palliative Care Research Programme at the End-of-Life Care Research Group of the VUB and Ghent University in Belgium. She holds a Ph.D. in Medical Social Sciences and a master’s in Clinical Psychology. Professor Van den Block has been involved in palliative care research for over 15 years, focusing on national and international public health and interventional research aimed at monitoring and improving palliative and end-of-life care. She has received several scientific awards for her work, including the 2014 Early Researcher Award of the European Association for Palliative Care. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles on palliative care and is editor and author of several books and chapters. Her work has been supported by grants from the European Commission, national fundamental and applied research foundations, and leading medical and health charities.