Marjorie Schaffer, RN, BA, MS, PhD, and Linda Norlander, RN, BSN, MS

In Being Present: A Nurse’s Resource for End-of-Life Communication, authors Marjorie Schaffer and Linda Norlander offer strategies to help nurses talk with patients and families about their needs, hopes, and wishes as they face their own death or that of a loved one. The strategies are based on research by nurses in the United States and Norway.

Each chapter presents a real-life account of nurses dealing with near-death patients and their families and includes the best communication techniques. Chapters also include topics for discussion and further reflection that are useful for group learning.

In Being Present: A Nurse’s Resource for End-of-Life Communication, you will learn how to

• Respond to patient and family wishes and hopes
• Cope with conflict
• Help the patient say goodbye at the end of life
• Incorporate cultural needs in end-of-life care

About the Authors

Marjorie Schaffer, RN, BA, MS, PhD, is professor of nursing at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a Fulbright Senior Scholar, she lectured and conducted research on end-of-life care in Norway, and she is the recipient of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium Award. She has written 40 articles and book chapters and speaks nationally and internationally on end-of-life care and decision-making.

Linda Norlander, RN, BSN, MS, is manager of the Tacoma, Washington-based Group Health Home Care and Hospice program. An expert on end-of-life care, advance care planning, and hospice, she has written and spoken extensively on these topics at national nursing conferences. She is the author of To Comfort Always: A Nurse’s Guide to End-of-Life Care and is coauthor of Choices at the End of Life: Finding Out What Your Parents Want Before It’s Too Late. She received several national research grants to improve the quality of care for dying patients in Minnesota. Norlander is a former Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow.

Advance Praise for Being Present: A Nurse’s Resource for End-of-Life Communication

“The book Being Present is a valuable contribution to the growing awareness that all nurses are called to care for the seriously ill and dying. It reminds us that nursing is sacred work and provides thoughtful perspectives on essential acts of being present?having difficult conversations, confronting spiritual needs, and the vital topic of nurses caring for themselves. This scholarly work is a unique resource and is rich in narratives and reflective practices for nurses.”

–Betty Ferrell, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN
Research Scientist, Division of Nursing Research and Education
City of Hope
Duarte, California, USA

“Caring for patients at the end of life is one of the most challenging tasks in nursing practice. This is an excellent book to use in preparing nurses and nursing students to help alleviate the suffering related to death and dying. The book presents a public health perspective on dying and views the last journey as an important and healthy part of life, both for patients and their relatives. The combination of evidence from the literature, ethical knowledge, nursing stories, and questions for discussion and further reflection invites nurses into a deeper understanding of their own life, as well as providing tools to act accordingly with dying patients and their families. Reading the book with an open mind can be a transforming process for the nurse, personally as well as professionally. Using nursing stories from both the United States and Norway gives the book a cultural relevance and makes it interesting far beyond the US.”

–Berit Steren, RN, PhD
Associate Professor and Head of Postgraduate Studies in Nursing
Diakonova University College
Oslo, Norway

“Medical technology provides an incredible array of tools to employ in the mission to fix and cure disease and advance the science of nursing. Schaffer and Norlander help us to understand that, perhaps, one of the most valuable tools is our ability to communicate. Their work adds to the vital discussion of how to best care for the dying patient by teaching nurses the importance of actively listening and being present to patients and their families at the end of life. In doing so, they significantly enhance the knowledge of the art of nursing.”

–Kerstin McSteen, RN, MS, ACHPN
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Abbott Northwestern Hospital
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

“All too often, nurses and other clinicians learn the art and science of providing therapeutic interactions during the end-of-life process through complex, distressing experiences. Being truly patient- and family-centered requires coming into the caring processes as fully prepared as possible. The authors provide a framework for delivering expert compassionate care to patients and families during the end of life. The framework is action-oriented, iterative, and interactive, and it allows for the uniqueness of every patient, family, and situation. This book serves to guide clinicians at all levels—from novice to expert—in their own journey of professional identity and bolsters the strength that the clinician brings to the patient and family for end of life.”

–Patricia Reid Ponte, RN, DNSc, NEA-BC, FAAN
Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services
Chief Nurse, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Director, Oncology Nursing and Clinical Services
Brigham and Women?s Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

This book is also available as an e-book (electronic format). Click here for more information.

To view the table of contents, click here.

To view sample pages from this book, click here.