Book Review
Communicating with Dying People and Their Relatives
Jean Lugton
ISBN: 978-1-57755-84-8 2003 120 pages Radcliffe Medical Press
Susan Bardy
Hospice Nurse Clinician, Mary Potter Hospice, North Adelaide SA
Jean Lugton is an experienced palliative care nurse clinician, teacher and academic who has combined her talents in presenting a welcome addition to palliative care literature. While communicating with dying people and their relatives has been a frequently addressed issue in previous texts however it has been rarely done much better than in this book. I am convinced that here is a text that will be valued by all who are involved with end of life care of patients. Busy clinicians should find this volume easy to read, as it is jargon free and relevant to clinical work and practice. While it is primarily directed to nurses most health care professionals will recognise useful hints when communicating with the people they care for.
Lugton is strongly and reliably informed by her clinical experience when expounding common problems with communication in dying settings making it relevant to the "here and now" of nursing practice.
The central argument of this book is that effective and useful communication is a necessary component of human connection and should be used effectively - especially where it concerns dying people and their families.
This book begins by discussing terminal illness concentrating on good communication, maintaining hope and promoting quality of life in that context. Lugton then goes on to explain the needs of staff caring for terminally ill people. It is good to find so early in a text on nursing issues a mention of 'care for the carer'. In fact she expounds "relentless self care" as the way to nurses' mental and physical health. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of clinician self-care in palliative nursing.
Subsequent chapters in this book address communication issues in a broad sense with vignettes of actual nursing experience. The breaking of bad news, assessing continuing needs for information and support, planning support for family and friends and preparation for family bereavement are examples of specific points discussed. At the centre of the discussion in this book is the making of communication more effective and minimising potential miscommunication problems. Both are acknowledged as difficult management issues to be dealt with using understanding and compassion.
Chapter 9 contains Lugton's three-stage model of support that could easily pass as a summary of the book. Here under the one umbrella are topics discussed in preceding chapters and grouped as support systems. The substantive issues at the core of this model could benefit nurses who, because of time constraint cannot read the full text, can dip into as required I was struck by the effective ways in which the exercises at the end of each chapter in the form of questions serve to encourage the reader to reflect on and discuss the contents facilitating a critical learning style.
In summary I would like to emphasise the value of this book to all nurses and health professionals as well as those dealing with their own communication problems. Rarely have I come across a text that is as user friendly, clinically relevant and educational as this one. Her background in nurse education and empathy for the area is truly outstanding and this is reflected in this work.
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