Care of the Imminently Dying

Book excerpt: Palliative care is an essential element of our health care system and is becoming increasingly significant amidst an aging society and organizations struggling to provide both compassionate and cost-effective care. Palliative care is also characterized by a string interdisciplinary approach. Nurses are at the center of the palliative care team across settings and populations. The seventh volume in the HPNA Palliative Nursing Manuals series, Care of the Imminently Dying provides an overview of symptom management when a patient is reaching the end of their life. This volume covers delirium and the advantages of early diagnosis, determining the presence of dyspnea, death rattle, or cough, urgent syndromes that may appear the end of life, palliative sedation, and the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies. The content of the concise, clinically focused volumes in the HPNA Palliative Nursing Manuals series is one resource for nurses preparing for specialty certification exams and provides a quick-reference in daily practice.