Current Issue
Spring 2013 Vol 3 Issue 2
End of Life Journal is free, online, peer-reviewed, quarterly journal that publishes articles on all aspects of nursing practice relating to end-of-life care.
It is primarily aimed at generalist nurses working in hospital, community and care home settings. However, many articles will also be of interest to the specialist palliative care nursing audience as well as members of the wider multidisciplinary team.
The journal focuses on care for patients with both malignant and non-malignant disease and their family and friends.
End of life journal ISSN 2047-6361 (online)
Nursing assignments on end-of-life care
End of Life Journal is keen to support the publication of nursing assignments and help first-time nurse authors throughout the whole publishing process.
If you have written an assignment on any aspect of end-of-life care and are interested in getting it published, then please email it to the Editor, Helen Scott, at journal@stchristophers.org.uk who will be happy to assess whether she thinks we could adapt your assignment into an article.
In this issue
Clinical review
Death and dying in intensive care: emotional labour of nurses
Published: 2013 Vol: 3 No: 2 Intensive care unit (ICU) nursing is associated with emotional labour. ICU nurses regularly care for dying patients. End-of-life care (EoLC) can be a major cause of stress in ICU, particularly in relation to the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, managing the transition from curative care to EoLC and dealing with the distress of patients, relatives/loved ones. However, ICU nurses receive...
Clinical skills
Encouraging/supporting dying parents to talk to their children
Published: 2013 Vol: 3 No: 2 Communicating with children about the anticipated death of a parent can be very challenging, even for experienced palliative care professionals. It can be particularly difficult for dying parents to discuss the fact that they are dying with their children. Consequently, they may adopt an overly positive stance in order to shield their children from the truth. When unable to understand what is...
Clinical practice development
Perception of dignity in older people and at the end of life
Published: 2013 Vol: 3 No: 2 The impact of illness, age, treatment and a terminal prognosis can erode a patient’s sense of dignity and reduce quality of life. Maintaining patient dignity has always been considered synonymous with nursing practice. However, there is minimal information relating to how best nurses can promote and maintain a patient’s sense of dignity among different patient populations and care settings....
Ethical/legal discussions
Advance decisions to refuse treatment in cases of dementia
Published: 2013 Vol: 3 No: 2 Evaluating someone’s mental capacity in relation to advance decisions to refuse treatment can be a challenge for health professionals, particularly in cases of dementia. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 clarifies and formalises the functional assessment of capacity. It aims to protect individual autonomy and counter the assumption that, just because an individual does not have capacity regarding one...
Nursing case review
Breathlessness, thirst and anxiety in the end stages of heart failure
Published: 2013 Vol: 3 No: 2 Heart failure is associated with a high symptom burden, which can have a negative effect on the life of the person with heart failure as well as their relatives/loved ones. One of the main symptoms of heart failure is breathlessness, which reduces the ability of the person to maintain independence and is associated with anxiety, fear and distress. When a patient in heart failure is approaching...
National end of life care programme update
New arrangements for the National End of Life Care Programme and recent publications
Published: 2013 Vol: 3 No: 2
Introduction
On 1 April 2013, a new improvement body, NHS Improving Quality, was established. It is hosted by the NHS Commissioning Board and brings together the combined knowledge and experience of a number of NHS improvement organisations:
National End of Life Care Programme
National Cancer Action Team
NHS Diabetes and Kidney Care
NHS Improvement
NHS Institute for Innovation...