Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing, Sixth Edition

Palliative and hospice care is a specialty that is constantly evolving alongside the needs of its patients. Practitioners must navigate a rapidly growing field to best advocate for and deliver high quality primary and specialty palliative care to persons and families of those living with serious illness. The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing remains the most comprehensive treatise on the art and science of palliative care nursing available. This new edition of the textbook brings together more than 150 nursing experts to help answer real-world questions around the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs pertinent to a successful palliative care team. Organized within 9 Sections, this new edition covers the gamut of principles of care: from the time of initial diagnosis of a serious illness to the end of a patient’s life and beyond.

This sixth edition of The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing mirrors developments in Palliative Care, including several new chapters to support the delivery of palliative care to diverse populations. These chapters explore care for patients living with pulmonary, cardiac, liver, renal, and hematologic diseases, as well as chapters on health inequalities, LGBTQ+ communities, rural communities, and care of those with substance use disorders and serious mental illness. Each chapter is rich with tables and figures, case examples for improved learning, and a strong evidence-based practice to support the highest quality of care. The book offers a valuable and practical resource for students and clinicians across all settings of care. The content is relevant for specialty hospice agencies and palliative care programs, as well as generalist knowledge for schools of nursing, oncology, critical care, and pediatrics. Developed with the intention of emphasizing the need to extend palliative care beyond the specialty to be integrated in all settings and by all clinicians caring for the seriously ill, this new edition will continue to serve as the cornerstone of palliative care education.

Tara A. Albrecht, PhD, ACNP-BC, ACHPN, RN, is a nurse practitioner, nurse scientist and the Specialty Director of Palliative Care at Duke University School of Nursing. Her program of research is focused on ameliorating symptoms and distress with the goal of improving to patient-reported health outcomes in adults with cancer and specifically those with hematologic malignancies. Her research also explores how the diagnosis of a cancer impacts the family. She works with an interdisciplinary team of scientists and clinicians with the shared goal of advancing symptom science to improve outcomes for adults living with cancer and their families.

Vanessa Battista, DNP, MBA, CPNP-PC, CHPPN, FPCN, FAAN, is a board-certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) and currently serves as Senior Nursing Director of Palliative Care at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She is responsible for clinical operations and practice of the inpatient and outpatient adult and pediatric palliative care nursing team. Dr. Battista also works with an interprofessional leadership team to ensure the delivery of high-quality palliative care throughout the Institute with a focus on nursing education.She lectures and teaches at the local, national, and international level, and is a member of the ELNEC pediatric faculty.

Heather Coats, PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN, FPCN, is a palliative care nurse practitioner who many roles, including researcher, administrator, clinician, and educator. Currently, she is the Director of Research for Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) and an associate professor at the University of Colorado, College of Nursing, Anschutz Medical Campus, in Aurora, CO. With a well-founded based of palliative, oncology, and hospice care spanning over 28 years, her program of research investigates the use of person-centered narrative interventions to improve communication between patients, their identified care partners, and the clinicians who care for them. For this program of research, she has been funded by NIH and the Cambia Health Foundation. She was the 2021 HPNA Vanguard recipient, is a Fellow in Palliative Care Nursing, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and represents the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association on the NASEM Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness.

Abraham A. Brody, PhD, RN, FAAN, FPCN, is a palliative and geriatric nurse practitioner who has worked across settings to improve the quality of care and quality of life for seriously ill individuals. His research and implementation work centers on the intersection of geriatrics, palliative care, quality, and equity. This includes the development of interventions tailored for diverse and underserved older adults with serious illness and their caregivers that can be implemented in real-world conditions are tested for effectiveness in large multi-site clinical trials. His work leverages emerging technologies, including precision health and machine learning, to support the interdisciplinary healthcare workforce. His work has led to the development of the Aliviado Health Program, which seeks to help care delivery organizations provide evidence-based geriatric palliative care to persons living with dementia and their caregivers, which has been disseminated throughout dozens of hospices, home care agencies, nurse-led telephonic care programs, case management, and other settings, impacting care of over 50,000 individuals.