Paediatric Palliative Medicine

Looking after children with life-limiting conditions is very difficult for both parents and health care professionals. This second edition of Paediatric Palliative Medicine is full of easily-accessible, detailed information , and covers all aspects of the care of children with life-limiting illnesses. It is designed to equip clinicians with the knowledge, and its evidence base, to improve clinical care.

Using the bestselling Oxford Specialist Handbook format to deliver practical and concise information, this handbook facilitates bedside delivery of effective palliative medicine to children. It includes a quick reference drug formulary and detailed information on medical conditions and symptom control. There are also specific management plans to guide professionals, whether the child is in their own home, in a hospital, or a hospice.

Many children with long term conditions have symptoms which need management, and the principles of palliative care for children need to be known by all who are involved in their care. The unique significance of this handbook is its capacity to guide professionals who have not trained or had experience of caring for the dying child, as well as for students and trainees interested in paediatric palliative care.

Children's palliative medicine encompasses symptom control but is not limited to it. This handbook also provides a wealth of information on the philosophy and models that support delivery of palliative medicine to children, as well as the learning and coping skills required in palliative care.

Fully updated with an expanded formulary and a new chapter on the intensive care unit, this new edition continues to be the authoritative reference tool in paediatric palliative care.

FEATURES

    Deals with all the common symptoms encountered by those who care for children with life-limiting conditions
    Discusses challenging areas of paediatric palliative care such as ethics, religious rituals, and legality around death
    Contains a detailed drug formulary for quick access to the latest drug dosages of medication

New to this Edition:

    New sections covering areas critical to paediatric palliative medicine, such as euthanasia, practical prescribing and symptoms in brain tumours
    Fully updated to reflect changes to WHO guidelines since the previous edition
    Includes a significantly revised and expanded forumulary
    Brand new chapter on the intensive care unit in paediatric palliative care

Table of Contents

1: Paediatric palliative medicine- philosophy and practice
2: Models of paediatric palliative care
3: Ethics in palliative care
4: Pain: introduction
5: Pain: evaluation
6: Pain step 3, major opiods
7: Adjuvants
8: Nausea and vomiting
9: Gastrointestinal symptoms
10: Mouth care, feeding and hydration
11: Dyspnoea
12: Neurological symptoms
13: Psychological symptoms
14: Skin symptoms
15: Palliative care emergencies
16: Malignant diseases
17: Specific non-malignant diseases
18: Palliative care in intensive care environments
19: Practicalities around time of death
20: Religion and ritual
21: Bereavement
22: Communication skills
23: Communication among professionals
24: Coping skills
25: Education and training
26: Formulary

Richard Hain, Consultant and Clinical Lead, Paediatric Palliative Care, Noah's Ark Children's Hospital, Cardiff, UK, and Satbir Jassal, Medical Director, Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young Adults, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK

Richard Hain is a Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine at the Children's Hospital for Wales, UK. Dr Hain's academic background is varied and includes postgraduate degrees in pharmacology, professional education and ethics and theology. He has co-authored over fifty research and review articles, four books on children's palliative medicine and a large number of book chapters. His primary research interest is in the principles and practice of paediatric palliative medicine, and he is increasingly focussing on clinical ethics in children at the end of life. He is honorary Senior Lecturer at Bangor University as well as Visiting Professor at University of Glamorgan.

Satbir Singh Jassal is the Medical Director of Rainbows Children's Hospice, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK. He is one of the UK's longest serving hospice doctors, and has honorary lecturer status at Cardiff Medical School. In addition, he chairs a number of national groups including the Association of Paediatric Palliative Medicine.