Essential End-of-Life Education for Hospices & Healthcare Agencies
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“Gone From My Sight” — The Little Blue Book Trusted by Hospices for 35+ Years
For more than three decades, hospices, hospitals, and end-of-life organizations have relied on Gone From My Sight: The Dying Experience to educate families about the signs of approaching death. Written by internationally respected end-of-life educator Barbara Karnes, RN, this booklet—known as the “Hospice Blue Book”—has become the most widely used end-of-life education resource in hospice care.
If your agency is looking for hospice family education materials, tools for Medicare-compliant teaching, or resources to improve CAHPS scores, our booklets provide everything your team needs.
Ideal for:
Hospices, palliative care programs, hospitals, nursing facilities, doctors, healthcare professionals, end-of-life doulas, chaplains, social workers, volunteers, and caregivers.
What Is the Approaching Death Support Kit?
The Approaching Death Support Kit is a comprehensive set of hospice education booklets created by Barbara Karnes, RN. This kit helps families understand the dying process, the signs of approaching death, end-of-life symptoms, dementia, pain management, and the journey of grief. What to expect at end of life.
Hospice administrators consistently report that this kit:
Helps families have a positive experience at the bedside
Improves CAHPS Hospice Survey scores
Meets Medicare Requirements for consistent patient/family education
Reduces fear and confusion for families
Supports nurses during teaching moments
Improves family satisfaction and trust
Creates consistency across your entire organization
All booklets are written in large print, at a 5th-grade reading level, using simple, non-medical language.
*Agency quantity discounts available
*Custom covers & branding options available
End-of-life care is more than symptom management—it is also family education. Families who understand what to expect are calmer, more confident, and better able to support their loved one.
The Approaching Death Support Kit provides families with:
Clear explanations of end-of-life changes
Guidance on what is normal
Support in the last hours of life
Reassurance about pain management
Compassionate information about grief
These resources reduce fear and prevent misunderstandings that can lead families to feel unprepared or unsupported.
What’s Included in the Approaching Death Support Kit
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These hospice education booklets may be given together as a kit or individually depending on the patient’s stage of decline.
* A Time to Live: Living With a Life-Threatening Illness
For patients with a serious illness—from diagnosis to later stages. Widely used by palliative care teams.
* Gone From My Sight: The Dying Experience
The original and most widely used booklet on the signs of dying, explaining changes that occur months, weeks, days, and hours before death.
* The Eleventh Hour: A Caring Guide for the Final Hours
A practical, step-by-step guide for what to expect and what to do in the hours to minutes before death.
* Pain at End of Life: What You Need to Know About Comfort Care
Addresses myths about morphine, pain management, and comfort care vs. cure-focused treatment.
* How Do I Know You? Dementia at End of Life
This booklet discusses the challenges in providing end of life care when dementia is the main diagnosis.
* Always Offer, Never Force: Food at End of Life
This resource explains eating and not eating as end of life approaches. It is a “why” and “what to do about it” booklet.
* My Friend, I Care: The Grief Experience
A compassionate explanation of normal grief reactions—often used as a sympathy gift for bereavement follow-up.
* By Your Side, A Guide For Caring for the Dying at Home
This guide book provides valuable knowledge and guidance to help navigate the caregiving journey.
These hospice education booklets may be given together as a kit or individually depending on the patient’s stage of decline.
About Barbara Karnes, RN
Award-Winning Hospice Educator & Author
While working as a hospice nurse, Barbara Karnes, RN discovered that although each person’s death is unique, the signs of approaching death follow a recognizable, natural pattern. To help families understand these changes, she wrote Gone From My Sight, which went on to become the most trusted end-of-life education booklet in the world.
With the creation of the Approaching Death Support Kit, Barbara has provided millions of families and professionals with tools to reduce fear, increase understanding, and create sacred memories at the end of life.
Your organization becomes part of the BK Books community—a worldwide network of end-of-life professionals dedicated to compassionate, informed care.
What Hospice Professionals Are Saying
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“Gone From My Sight is a gift.”
“We receive rave reviews from families. The booklet demystifies the stages of dying and helps them feel prepared and at ease.”
— Betty Oldanie, RN, BSN, MS, Suncoast Hospice⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Essential for doulas.”
“The writing is clear and the topics are exactly what families need. I include them in every comfort kit.”
— Vanessa J.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I used these resources for 25 years as a hospice nurse.”
“They help families understand end-of-life changes in a way verbal teaching alone never could.”
— Patricia B.
Order the Approaching Death Support Kit
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