An Extraordinary Journey (ePub)

Today, with most deaths in developed countries occurring in hospitals and the likely exponential increase of this over the coming decades, it is an opportune time to reflect on the care of patients in the hospital setting and how the quality of care can be optimised to ensure that patient needs and expectations are sufficiently met.

Written by Teik E. Oh, author of the internationally acclaimed Oh's Intensive Care Manual, this timely new title addresses the clinical, ethical, societal and legal imperatives of end-of-life care. Oh includes considered reflections on death and dying in hospitals, which address issues in hospital end-of-life care and the choices that patients, families and healthcare professionals face during this extraordinary journey - all of which improve understanding of dying and end-of-life care in hospitals.

• Provides 'road maps' of critical illness and dying in our hospitals that will guide you through end-of-life processes and issues
• Covers essential topics including treatment choices, rights, ethics, living wills, informed consent, communication, advanced care directives, the dilemmas doctors face, why and how decisions are made, evaluating prognoses and concepts of futility, withdrawing treatment, and how religion and culture influence care
• Corrects misconceptions of conditions associated with death and dying, including withdrawing treatment, brain death and persistent vegetative states, euthanasia, organ donation, consent and patient autonomy

This is an indispensable and contemporary guide to understanding hospitalbased end-of-life care.