Transforming Palliative Care in Nursing Homes

Mercedes Bern-Klug is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Iowa and a John A. Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar. She is a gerontological social work scholar interested in finding ways to help nursing home residents and their family members cope with emotional issues related to living in a nursing home, and she sees the skills of social workers as a good match for meeting residents' psychosocial needs, especially as the end of life approaches.

• Foreword: Looking Back on the Nursing Home Experience of My Mother, by Msgr. Charles Fahey Foreword, by Virginia Richardson Introduction, by Mercedes Bern-Klug 1. The Need to Extend the Reach of Palliative Psychosocial Care to Nursing Home Residents with Advanced Chronic Illness, by Mercedes Bern-Klug 2. The Structure and Process of Advanced Chronic Illness and Palliative Care in Nursing Homes, by Sarah Thompson and Lisa Church 3. Paying for Advanced Chronic Illness and Hospice Care in America's Nursing Homes, by Michael J. Klug 4. Trends in the Characteristics of Nursing Homes and Residents, by Mercedes Bern-Klug 5. Anticipating and Managing Common Medical Challenges Encountered at the End of Life, by Ann Allegre 6. Identifying and Addressing the Psychosocial, Social, Spiritual, and Existential Issues Affecting Nursing Home Residents at the End of Life, by Jean C. Munn 7. Identifying and Addressing Family Members' Psychosocial, Spiritual, and Existential Issues Related to Having a Loved One Living and Dying in a Nursing Home, by Patricia J. Kolb 8. Identifying and Addressing Ethical Issues in Advanced Chronic Illness and at the End of Life, by Charles E. Gessert and Don F. Reynolds 9. Final Discharge Planning: Rituals Related to the Death of a Nursing Home Resident, by Peggy Sharr and Mercedes Bern-Klug 10. Grief, Self-Care, and Staff-Care: Repeated Loss in the Nursing Home Environment, by Sara Sanders and Patti Homan 11. The Future of Palliative Psychosocial Care for Nursing Home Residents with Advanced Chronic Illness, by Mercedes Bern-Klug Appendix Index

This book certainly fills a niche for a well-deserved population that is often ignored. -- Donna Wang Activities, Adaptation, and Aging