This volume offers a profile of when, where, and how Americans die. It examines the dimensions of caring at the end of life:

• Determining diagnosis and prognosis and communicating these to patient and family.
• Establishing clinical and personal goals.
• Matching physical, psychological, spiritual, and practical care strategies to the patient's values and circumstances.

Approaching Death considers the dying experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings and the role of interdisciplinary teams and managed care. It offers perspectives on quality measurement and improvement, the role of practice guidelines, cost concerns, and legal issues such as assisted suicide. The book proposes how health professionals can become better prepared to care well for those who are dying and to understand that these are not patients for whom "nothing can be done."

• Front Matter
• Summary
• 1 Introduction
• 2 A Profile of Death and Dying in America
• 3 Caring at the End of Life
• 4 The Health Care System and The Dying Patient
• 5 Accountability and Quality in End-Of-Life-Care
• 6 Financial and Economic Issues in End-Of-Life Care
• 7 Legal Issues
• 8 Educating Clinicians and Other Professionals
• 9 Directions for Research to Improve Care at the End of Life
• 10 Conclusions and Recommendations
• References
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C
• Appendix D
• Appendix E
• Appendix F
• Appendix G
• Appendix H
• Appendix I
• Appendix J
• Index