Hospice Medications 101: How Comfort Medications Work, Why They Are Used, Side Effects, and Best Practices. A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR HOSPICE CLINICIANS (The Hospice 101 Clinician Series)

Hospice Medications 101

Hospice clinicians make complicated medication decisions at the bedside, often at night, in a family's kitchen, with a tired caregiver watching. The drugs are familiar. The dying body is not.

Kidneys slow down. Swallowing fails. A dose that worked last week now causes twitching, confusion, or too much sleep. Hospice Medications 101 explains what is happening and what to do about it.

Written by a hospice nurse practitioner, this guide covers the medications you reach for every day, in clinical language you can use right away.

What this book does for you

Answers the question fast . Every major medication follows the same eight-part format: why hospice uses it, how it works in the body, pharmacokinetics, common indications, routes and onset, side effects, special considerations, and best practices. You always know where to look. Prevents the mistakes that cause suffering . Learn which doses to reduce in kidney and liver failure, which drugs build up in frail patients, and which side effects get mistaken for the dying process. Gives you the words. Plain-language teaching scripts explain morphine, sedation, and comfort kits to frightened families, so you are not inventing an explanation at midnight. Builds confidence if you are new to hospice . Opioid conversion, PRN use, comfort kit medications, and deprescribing are explained from the ground up, without assuming years of experience. Saves you time on every visit . Copyable caregiver worksheets, a medication log, a comfort kit guide, and a When to Call Hospice page are ready to hand to families. Supports your documentation . Chapters end with key points, situations that should prompt a call to the hospice team, and APA-style references you can cite. Inside you will find

Opioids, including morphine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, fentanyl, and methadone, with routes, onset, and safety principles. Medications for breathlessness, terminal secretions, nausea, constipation, anxiety, agitation, and terminal delirium. Corticosteroids, neuropathic pain medications, antidepressants, seizure medications, and fever management. Dosing decisions in kidney failure, liver failure, frailty, dementia, and loss of swallowing. Deprescribing, the hospice comfort kit, PRN use, medication emergencies, and the final days and hours. A medication quick reference, drug interaction notes, opioid conversion safety principles, a glossary, and family handouts. Who it is for

Hospice and palliative care nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, pharmacists, case managers, and clinicians new to hospice. Nursing students and educators will find it useful as well.

Read it straight through, or open it to the one drug you need at two in the morning.

The Hospice NP
Educate. Empower. Elevate.