Palliative Care in Emergency Medicine

Many emergency clinicians encounter a gap in knowledge and skills when presented with serious life-threatening illness, particularly in patients with advanced and terminal illness. Over the last decade, studies have shown that patients who receive palliative care in the emergency setting have improved clinical outcomes with better symptom management, improved goal concordant care, and more effective resource utilization that delivers improved patient centered outcomes. Palliative Care in Emergency Medicine is intended to serve as a practical resource to the essential clinicians on the frontlines of emergency care.

Dr. Quest brings together emergency medicine clinicians and palliative care subspecialists to discuss common, challenging cases that clinicians struggle with daily regarding care for patients and families experiencing serious, life threatening, and terminal illnesses. Each chapter opens with a typical emergency department clinical case, followed by a discussion, conclusion, and suggested readings that explore the topic in more depth. Palliative Care in Emergency Medicine equips emergency clinicians to meet seriously ill patients and family wherever they are and provide the best care possible.

• Serves as a practical resource to emergency clinicians managing patients with serious, life threatening, and terminal illnesses
• Provides effective, up-to-date information about common palliative care cases in emergency care settings
• Advice is included in the form of conversational responses from palliative care specialists, outlining their thought processes and pointing towards diagnostic testing and treatment options