Drugs in Palliative Care

While palliative care has adopted a holistic approach to treatment, medication driven symptom management ostensibly forms the critical aspect of care. Pharmacological therapy can be extremely complex because these patients often have coexisting medical conditions in addition to symptoms caused by their terminal disease. The resulting polypharmacy can be daunting for professionals and can negatively impact on effectiveness of care. Fully revised and updated, the second edition of Drugs in Palliative Care is a detailed yet concise handbook that will appeal to a variety of healthcare professionals involved in the provision of palliative care and medicines information. Divided into three sections it begins with an overview of pharmacology and prescribing advice then contains over 160 monographs of palliative care drugs, in an easy to use A-Z format. Andrew Dickman, Consultant Pharmacist - Palliative Care, Pharmacy Department, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool and Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool, Marie Curie Hospice Liverpool, Liverpool, UK CONTENTS Chapter 1 - Clinical pharmacology overview - Introduction - Pharmacokinetics - Pharmacodynamics - Pharmacogenetics - Drug interactions - Chapter 2 - Prescribing guidance - Unlicensed use of medicines - Legal categories of medicines - Independent prescribing - palliative care issues - Travelling abroad with medicines - Drugs and driving - Management of pain - Selection of a NSAID - Managing nausea and vomiting - Managing constipation - Discontinuing and/or switching antidepressants - Continuous subcutaneous infusions - Use of drugs in end-of-life care - Chapter 3 - Drug monographs A-Z - Index