Care for a patient at the end-of-life, whether it occurs suddenly or over an extended illness, causes distress for all involved. Selected information is posted on this page with additional links.
1. Growth House, Inc., “ provides education about life-threatening illness and end of life care.” Their mission is to “improve the quality of compassionate care for people who are dying through public education and global professional collaboration.” They offer a search engine that provides access to a comprehensive collection of reviewed resources for end-of-life care as well as a 16-hour Standford University/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJ) faculty development course designed to be used by physicians in any area of expertise. This web-based curriculum is an adaptation of materials developed for that course and covers the following topics:
- Overview: Death and Dying in the U.S.A.
- Pain Management
- Communicating with Patients and Families
- Making Difficult Decisions
- Non-Pain Symptom Management
- Venues and Systems of Care
- Psychiatric Issues and Spirituality
- Instituting Change
In addition, the Growth House acts as a repository for the reports and tools created for the RWJ Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care national program which has now ended.
4. Hospice Care
5. National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC), is a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The following is included in the clearing house and just one of many guidelines offered: Recommendations for end-of-life care in the intensive care unit: a consensus statement by the American Academy of Critical Care Medicine. Society of Critical Care Medicine – Professional Association. 2001 Dec (revised 2008 Mar). 11 pages. NGC:006550
6. The National Cancer Institute of the U.S. National Institutes of Health offers a page titled, End of Life Care: Questions and Answers. The information is not specific to cancer patients and is a useful overview of what to advise families to expect.