Reviewed by June G. Patton

From Greg’s story to Stacy’s, Linda Norlander transports the reader through To Comfort Always, a practical and insightful guide to end-of-life care. Vignettes throughout the book help describe what a nurse new to palliative care needs to know to give the best care possible. Embedded in its pages are the insights of an experienced practitioner who knows that holistic care at the end of life should include patients’ physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs.

Most chapters cover three aspects of palliative nursing: the nurse as skilled clinician, the nurse as advocate and the nurse as guide. The clinical part focuses on the assessment and technical skills needed to care for someone at the end of life. Assessing pain, utilizing the expertise of others on the health care team and providing comfort are all included. The nurse-as-advocate portion focuses on the complex role of representing patients when they are not able to represent themselves. Norlander provides helpful steps in each chapter to accomplish the important task of advocacy. Finally, in the nurse-as-guide section of the chapters, the author addresses preparing the patient and family for each step in the bereavement journey and provides tools to help them navigate without stumbling or becoming lost. Sidebars throughout the book provide sample questions to spark critical thinking and offer additional guidance for clients and families.

Each chapter begins with a quote and a vignette with which most nurses can identify. In addition to ethical issues, topics range from advance-care planning to active dying to what happens after death. The chapter titled “Suffering: It’s Not Just the Pain,” is particularly well done and much needed. Norlander states, “The first step in intervening in a patient’s suffering is to understand that it is multidimensional and sometimes difficult for a patient to articulate” (p. 48). She acknowledges that suffering can and should be assessed on a routine basis and provides the reader with the tools to perform the assessment.

The book is both a gentle and poignant read. Evident on each page is Norlander’s obvious care for the patient who has come to his or her final journey. In sharing a wealth of information, the author also pays tribute, in the book’s dedication, “to the fundamental richness and grace of the human spirit.” RNL

June G. Patton, RN, PhD, is chair of the Department of Nursing and associate professor at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, USA.

For more information about To Comfort Always, visit Nursing Knowledge International.