(Ebook) Drugs in Palliative Care by Andrew Dickman ISBN 9780198746409, 0198746407

(Ebook) Drugs in Palliative Care by Andrew Dickman ISBN 9780198746409, 0198746407

There are few fields of healthcare which do not, at some point, involvecaring for the dying patient. Dying is the one clinical process that all peoplewill face, yet the evidence base to inform how we look after our patientsis woefully inadequate. This is not to say the medicines at our disposalare without evidence base; on the contrary, many have been rigorouslyevaluated in randomized clinical trials. However, such studies are usuallyconducted in patient populations with a better prognosis and performancestatus than those nearing the end of life. Patients under the care of genericand specialist palliative care services are rarely eligible for such studies andthe clinical outcome measures used are often of limited utility in the palliativecare context.