Crossing Over

"The text would be an excellent addition to any collection on death and dying. In a non-judgemental manner the authors have examined the individualism of dying while maintaining the clinical aspects."--Bibliotheca Medica Canadian, 2000 Winter "All the narratives are engrossing. They are also instructive, illustrating how the issues that arise in palliative care can be addressed through a team process."--JAMC, March 20, 2001 "The affective void of traditional medical writing gives way to the richly varied texture of lived existential experience. The narrator's voice is also clear. Qualitative research posits that the researcher is a dunamic, interactive element in the human equation."--Annals, March 2001 "This text is an excellent reminder that when we die, we will be able to decide what is right for us. For clinicians and lay people, and a must for the library of any clinician who deals with end-of-life issues."--ChoiceMiddletown, CT, May 2001 "A welcome addition to the fast-growing literaturein this field of human need and response." --Dr. Derek Doyle "Too many times clinicians and caregivers alike want to decide what is good and what is bad about a death experience. This text is an excellent reminder that when we die, we will be able to decide what is right for us. While others may make suggestions or offer information, they must allow the patient to decide how this event should procede.... Weighted Numerical Score: 100 - 5 Stars!" -- Doody's "Crossing Over is an impressive collection of 20 'narratives' of people facing the end of their lives alongside their professional and informal careers. What makes this book quite outstanding is the wealth of clinical experience contained within its pages - covering the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual issues of dying. This book emphasizes all aspects of holistic care with equal importance in the day-to-day work of end-of-life care. Because the text is about the actuality of 'crossing over', it is not surprising that spirituality and religious ritual play an important part in the text. This book will be extremely helpful for all disciplines working within the field of special palliative care. The emotional energy that many of the narratives must have consumed just to work with, let alone write down, is enormous. The authors need to be congratulated for bringing together an extremely coherent masterpiece in an easy-to-read style." -- Progress in Palliative Care, Vol 8 Num 4 "Crossing Over is written with the education and training of physicians, nurses, chaplains, therapists, and social workers in mind. The author-investigators have taken pains to capture and convey the perspectives of patients and their families. This is cinema-verité projected in written word: the experience of illness, dying and caregiving photographed with available light, through clinical lenses. Crossing Over reads as biography, ethnography, comparative socialogy, and medical anthropology. However, true to its intention, it remains a clinical report. The book ultimately succeeds in conveying the essence of palliative care." -- Ira Byock, Hastings Center Report, Nov-Dec 2000 "This work is a collection of narratives that each provide a glimpse into the later stages of a terminal illness. The narratives cover a wide range of concerns, touching on the emotions of both patients and caregivers, physicial symptoms, spiritual concerns, stress on family relationships, and the challenge of providing adequate hospice and palliative care. At the end of the book, the authors of each narrative provide commentary and raise questions for discussion. Additionally, the book is complete with an index of themes and an extensive list of further reading." -- Journal of Social Work Education, Winter 2001 "...an insightful and challenging attempt to document the gap that exists between the theories of palliative care and the realitites of its day-to-day practice...this book is refreshing in its avoidance of false hope and tidy resolutions."--Journal of Palliative Care "provides an extraordinary portrait of the processes of giving and receiving palliative care... ideal for practitioners and trainees in medicine, nursing, gerontology, ministry, counseling psychology, allied health, and social work."--End of Life Physician Education Resource Center (EPERC) January 2001 "...provides a much needed service by supplying us with rich tales of dying in North America and, in doing so, they have given more realistic and contemporary alternatives to Ivan Ilych...fascinating, important additions to palliative studies."--Theoretical Medicine2001 "...undoubtedly moving, and provide some ral insights into the experience of those dealing with dying and death."--Social Sciences & Medicine 55(2002) "This book is about the human side of palliative care, viewed in depth and from a variety of perspectives. For students of palliative care and their teachers, this is a wonderful resource, complete with lists of questions and discussion topics in the final chapteer. For those who work in palliative care, this book will stimulate professional self-reflection and challenge such basic tenets as to whether or not all the things we do and regard as "good" are really beneficial to the patients and their families. Highly recommended."--IAHC website, Nov. 2002