Barbara Karnes, RN

This booklet is short and easy to read. It 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.

This booklet discusses the problems that are unique to dementia and end of life. The aim is to provide information about approaching the end of life to those people (family, friends, or professionals) who are caring and making decisions for someone with dementia.

New Rules For End of Live Care DVD Kit is a 2015 winner of the Telly Awards. 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. "New Rules For End of Life Care" is an educational kit that teaches people how to care for their loved one during the end of their life.
Package includes DVD supplement and two Booklet supplements.

DVD: New Rules
Important information on… Show more

New Rules For End of Live Care DVD Kit is a 2015 winner of the Telly Awards. 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. "New Rules For End of Life Care" is an educational kit that teaches people how to care for their loved one during the end of their life.
Package includes DVD supplement and two Booklet supplements.

DVD: New Rules
Important information on end of life care that addresses behavior changes as they pertain to food, sleep and pain management, 25 minutes.

Blue Booklet: Gone From My Sight
Detailed information on what you should expect to see in the months, weeks, days and hours approaching death from old age or disease.

Pink Booklet: The Eleventh Hour
Advice and ideas for living and interacting with the person you’re caring for as they approach death.

New Rules For End of Life Care is an educational kit to be read and viewed at the patient’s home, in a nursing facility, hospice/palliative care unit or hospital. This kit will give you the valuable information you need to understand the dying process. Show less

Volume 1 of a compilation of 29 of Barbara's blog articles.
Believing that knowledge reduces fear and that in our society there is considerable lack of knowledge about the normal, natural dying process, Barbara Karnes, RN writes weekly blog articles on end of life issues and answers questions or addresses comments submitted to her web site. As the number of articles increased so have requests for an easy to read printed collection of the articles, hence the compilations.

Guidelines for care of the dying patient during the days to hours before death.
The hours to minutes before imminent death are generally filled with fear and helplessness for anyone at the bedside. Most of us have no realistic experience in this realm. Our tendencies are to want to “fix” things, even when the time for fixing has passed.

“The Eleventh Hour” is a booklet that offers information, ideas and support for caregivers in the hours to minutes before death and just after. Having… Show more

Guidelines for care of the dying patient during the days to hours before death.
The hours to minutes before imminent death are generally filled with fear and helplessness for anyone at the bedside. Most of us have no realistic experience in this realm. Our tendencies are to want to “fix” things, even when the time for fixing has passed.

“The Eleventh Hour” is a booklet that offers information, ideas and support for caregivers in the hours to minutes before death and just after. Having this information empowers the caregiver and reduces fear.
The goal of this booklet is to help those present at the bedside create a meaningful, comforting experience for their loved one’s journey from life in this world. That experience will be their sacred memory forever.

Written for the hands-on-caregiver, family or professional, “The Eleventh Hour” is a guiding resource. It is appropriate as a textbook for volunteer training in Transitional, Vigil and No One Dies Alone programs, for nursing facilities, parish nursing and Hospice/Palliative Care teaching. Most of all, it is for families faced with caring for their loved one in the hours approaching death.

Like its companions, “Gone From My Sight,” “My Friend, I Care,” and “A Time To Live,” “The Eleventh Hour” is written in large print and the information is conveyed in a simple, direct yet gentle manner. Show less

End of life caregiving professionals face unique challenges. Hospice pioneer Barbara Karnes, RN offers insights to help overcome these challenges and avoid burnout.

We will all be affected by dying, death, and grief at some time in our lives. Final Act of Living is an end-of-life resource that offers knowledge and clarity to ease fear and misinformation about dying and death.
It reads like a novel, yet has the content of a textbook. It explores the topics of living with a life-threatening illness, understanding the signs of approaching death from disease, the normal grieving process, living wills, and other end-of-life issues.

The Final Act of… Show more

We will all be affected by dying, death, and grief at some time in our lives. Final Act of Living is an end-of-life resource that offers knowledge and clarity to ease fear and misinformation about dying and death.
It reads like a novel, yet has the content of a textbook. It explores the topics of living with a life-threatening illness, understanding the signs of approaching death from disease, the normal grieving process, living wills, and other end-of-life issues.

The Final Act of Living is used as:

A resource on end-of-life issues;
A training handbook for hospice volunteers;
A reference book for anyone working with end-of-life issues (lay ministers, social workers,counselors, nurses, and chaplains);
An easy read for anyone interested in dying and grief;
A text book in college and university classes. Show less

A booklet for a person with a life threatening illness.
When a person receives the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, life as they know it ceases. They find themselves in uncharted territory with no script to follow. Too often they withdraw from the world, as if they have already died. All activity becomes centered on their disease and treatment. Fear and uncertainty replaces confidence and self identity.

“A Time To Live” is a booklet for anyone faced with the unpredictability… Show more

A booklet for a person with a life threatening illness.
When a person receives the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, life as they know it ceases. They find themselves in uncharted territory with no script to follow. Too often they withdraw from the world, as if they have already died. All activity becomes centered on their disease and treatment. Fear and uncertainty replaces confidence and self identity.

“A Time To Live” is a booklet for anyone faced with the unpredictability of their future due to a life threatening illness.
It offers guidance for living and explains comfort control, nutrition and sleep as they relate to a serious illnesses.

“A Time To Live” is written in the same short, direct yet gentle manner as the companion booklets, "Gone From My Sight," "The Eleventh hour," and "My Friend, I Care."

“A Time To Live” is literature for the newly diagnosed with a poor prognosis and the palliative care patient. Show less

A booklet on normal grieving. Often used as a sympathy card.
Grief 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.


“My Friend, I Care” addresses the normalcy of grieving while offering suggestions for moving forward into living. It is often… Show more

A booklet on normal grieving. Often used as a sympathy card.
Grief 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.


“My Friend, I Care” addresses the normalcy of grieving while offering suggestions for moving forward into living. It is often used as a sympathy card. It offers an expression of caring while giving support and guidance.



Like its companions, “Gone From My Sight,” “A Time To Live,” and “The Eleventh Hour;” “My Friend I Care” is written in a simple, and direct voice. Show less

Also known as “The Hospice Blue Book,” this is the primary source and most widely used booklet on the signs of approaching death.

The biggest fear of watching someone die is fear of the unknown; not knowing what dying will be like or when death will actually occur. The booklet “Gone From My Sight” explains in a simple, gentle yet direct manner the process of dying from disease.

Dying from disease is not like it is portrayed in the movies. Yet movies, not life, have become our role… Show more

Also known as “The Hospice Blue Book,” this is the primary source and most widely used booklet on the signs of approaching death.

The biggest fear of watching someone die is fear of the unknown; not knowing what dying will be like or when death will actually occur. The booklet “Gone From My Sight” explains in a simple, gentle yet direct manner the process of dying from disease.

Dying from disease is not like it is portrayed in the movies. Yet movies, not life, have become our role model. Death from disease is not happenstance. It doesn't just occur; there is a process. People die in stages of months, weeks, day and hours.

“Gone From My Sight” is literature used to reduce fear and uncertainty; to neutralize the fear associated with dying. It is designed to help people understand dying, their own or someone else’s. Show less

With over 36 million copies sold, the Hospice Blue Book is the most beloved and widely used resource of its kind. Hospice pioneer Barbara Karnes, RN, wrote Gone From My Sight to help people understand the normal, natural stages of dying.
The most frequently asked question Barbara gets from families is “How long?” Gone From My Sight will give as close and accurate an answer to that question as can be provided.
This booklet is included in the End of Life Guideline Series bundle.