Communication as Comfort: Multiple Voices in Palliative Care

"This work explores the complexities of communication at one of the most critical stages of the life experience - during advanced, serious illness and at the end of life. Authors Sandra L. Ragan, Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles, Joy Goldsmith, and Sandra Sanchez-Reilly posit palliative care - medical care designed to comfort rather than to cure patients - as an antidote to the experience of most Americans at the most vulnerable juncture of their lives. Applying communication theories and insights to illuminate problems and to explain their complexities, the authors advocate a patient-centered approach to care that recognizes and seeks to lessen patients' suffering and the many types of pain they may experience (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) during life-threatening illness." "Multiple voices are present here: the patient, the medical professional, the family-caregiver, and the interdisciplinary health care team. The authors supplement their observations and analyses with ethnographic data gathered from clinical consultations with patients; palliative care team meetings; and interviews with team members as well as with physician fellows in a palliative care fellowship program."--BOOK JACKET.Ragan/Goldsmith is the author of 'Communication as Comfort: Multiple Voices in Palliative Care', published 2008 under ISBN 9780805858099 and ISBN 0805858091.