End of life education resources for families and professionals

With over 30 million sold the "Little Blue Book" is the first, most beloved and widely used resource of its kind. Written by American hospice pioneer Barbara Karnes, RN, Gone From My Sight explains the signs of approaching death from disease and old age.

Booklet - Gone From My Sight: The Dying Experience French Translation

End of Life Guideline Series informs people on how to live with a life-threatening illness, what to expect when someone is dying, what to do to help, managing pain, how to address the fear of death and dying and how to grieve.

End of Life Guideline Series: A Compilation of Barbara Karnes Booklets

Booklet - How Do I Know You? Dementia At The End Of Life - Caring for someone with dementia presents different challenges than caring for people with other health care issues. It doesn’t “play by the rules” that signify approaching death from disease or old age. This booklet outlines the issues and progress that a person with dementia will probably follow.

How Do I Know You? Dementia at the End of Life

“The Eleventh Hour” is the companion booklet to "Gone From My Sight: The Dying Experience" together they have been shown to significantly improve CAHPS scores, family survey results and meet Medicare requirements for consistent family education. Agencies/hospices put these two booklets together in their initial family packets to inform families on the signs of approaching death and how to care for a loved one who is dying.

Booklet - The Eleventh Hour: A Caring Guideline For The Hours To Minutes Before Death

“My Friend, I Care” is a booklet intended for the newly grieving. It addresses the normalcy of grieving and stages of grief while offering suggestions for moving forward into living. The grieving process is as foreign to us as death. The experience is forced upon us by life situations that have been beyond our control. We become angry, depressed, fearful and anxious. We do not know that all these feelings together represent grief; a normal, natural response to the loss of someone or something.

Booklet - My Friend, I Care: The Grief Experience in Spanish

There is much fear and misconception surrounding pain management at end of life. Pain at End of Life addresses, in fifth grade, non-medical terminology: pain as it relates to the dying process fear of overdosing and addiction standardized dosages around the clock administration laxatives uses of morphine sedation as it relates to dying supplemental therapies

Pain at End of Life: What You Need to Know About End of Life Comfort and Pain Management

“A Time To Live” is literature for the newly diagnosed with a poor prognosis and/or the palliative care patient; for anyone faced with the unpredictability of their future due to living with a life threatening illness. It offers guidance for living and explains comfort control, nutrition, sleep, pain medications, overdosing and addiction possibilities as they relate to a serious illnesses as well as the fear of death that we all bring to this final experience.

Booklet - A Time To Live: Living With A Life-Threatening Illness

Booklet - You Need Care Too: Self Care For The Professional Caregiver This booklet is filled with ideas and guidance for the nurse, social worker, nurse’s aide, chaplain, physician, end of life doula, or Eleventh Hour volunteer. Anyone who is immersed in the responsibilities of supporting, educating, and guiding a person and their family through the dying experience can find insight into making their work healthier.

A Place In My Heart, When Our Pet Dies is an explanation of the dying process, signs that often occur as death approaches, and ideas for what can be done during that time.

By Your Side, A Guide for Caring for the Dying at Home by Barbara Karnes

End of life education for families & professionals

Hospice Pioneer Barbara Karnes, RN, offers compassionate end‑of‑life education designed to guide families and professionals through the final stages of life.

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End of Life Guideline Series: A Compilation of Barbara Karnes Booklets

$15.00

Gone From My Sight: The Dying Experience

$4.00

The Eleventh Hour: A Caring Guideline for the Hours to Minutes Before Death

$4.00

Pain at End of Life: What You Need to Know About End of Life Comfort and Pain Management

$4.00

How Do I Know You? Dementia at the End of Life

$4.00

Excellent! This series of books are so helpful for the caregiver, the Loved One and the Loved Ones family! Reading together daily is so comforting! Thanks!

Grover S.

Hospice had given me this booklet when my father was dying of leukemia it helped us understand what his body was going through towards the end of his life.

Cynthia R.

I ordered a copy of each of Barbara Karnes' books. I find them all to be beautifully written and easy to understand. What an invaluable gift she has made in bringing such helpful information to readers in compassionate, bite-size pieces. Thank you!

Mary K.

Books arrived in a couple weeks and I grabbed almost every print. These will be helpful for me as I dive deeper into my Death Doula role. Thank you!!

Shelly P.

Read what caregivers and families are saying about our resources.

“There’s a normal, natural way of dying. My materials are written to guide and support anyone who is addressing end of life situations. The goal is to help people have a positive experience so families will have a sacred memory to carry with them.”

- Barbara Karnes, RN

About Barbara

“There’s a normal, natural way of dying. My materials are written to guide and support anyone who is addressing end of life situations. The goal is to help people have a positive experience so families will have a sacred memory to carry with them.”

- Barbara Karnes, RN

About Barbara

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New Rules for End of Life Care DVD Kit

Caring for someone as they approach the end of their life is not the same as caring for someone who is going to get better. Unfortunately, most people don't know this. Barbara Karnes, RN created "New Rules For End of Life Care" an educational kit that teaches people how to care for their loved one during the end of their life.

Whether the patient is at home, in a nursing home or hospital this kit will give you the valuable information you need to understand the dying process.

Package includes 25 Minute DVD supplement and two Booklet supplements.

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