Chapter 1: Goals of Care: Ideal and reality
Overview:
- Critically evaluates palliative care as a choice for nursing home residents who are dying
- Lists and explains, with examples, many ideals and realities of caring in a nursing home
- Other issues are outlined briefly and set up for other chapters to clarify
- A list of quality issues for enhancing nursing home practices
Description: This chapter explains in depth numerous ideals and realities of caring in a nursing home and lays a foundation for the other chapters in the book.
Topics:
- Goals of care: ideal and reality
- Other issues
Speaker / Author:

Rosalie Hudson Rosalie Hudson is Director off Nursing at Harold McCracken House in Melbourne, Australia, where a palliative care philosophy provides the framework for the care of residents who are dying, and a partnership philosophy guides all relationships. Rosalie’s postgraduate research in gerontic nursing and theology has stimulated further insights for several journal articles and for this second book on living and dying in a nursing home. Personhood, death and community are the themes for her PhD thesis, inspired by the ordinary and extraordinary experiences in a rather special nursing home. Rosalie is married with a daughter, two sons, two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren.

Jennifer Richmond Jennifer Richmond’s first career was in nursing. In hindsight, she says, the highlight of her nursing years was a long association with Melbourne’s Harold McCracken House. During this time her creative partnership with Rosalie yielded a valued friendship and a number of nursing publications. At Harold McCracken House Jennifer worked with many extraordinary and gifted staff, one of whom is novelist Michel Faber whose photographs appear in this book. After the privilege of an editing association with Ausmed Publications and a postgraduate qualification in editing and writing, Jennifer now writes fiction and works part-time as an in house medical and scientific editor for a major publisher. She lives in inner city Melbourne with her family, which includes dogs Minnie and John.
|