Volume I Issue 7. November 3, 2009.
In This Issue
Partnership Updates:- GWP Palliative Care Presentation Series for Medical Residents at Howard University Hospital
- Comfort Care Order Training for Healthcare Professionals
- ELNEC training to continue in Spring 2010
- Marketing GWP
News and Announcements:
- The National Palliative Care Registry
- Be Counted! Enter your program into the National Palliative Care (TM) Registry for 2009.
- Join FCAME for their 2009 Annual Meeting!
Health Care in the Media:
- 'Death Panel' debate casts end-of-life decisions in confusing shadow
- Hand Washing: A Simple Step to Prevent Hospital Infections
- Where medical, spiritual worlds meet at life's end
- Wellness: Re-evaluating life after 50
Professional Education Committee
The Professional Education Committee has been working on the planning of their second ELNEC training at Howard University Hospital on October 22 and 29 as well as the Howard University Hospital palliative care presentation to medical residents on October 26 and 27. They are also partnering with organizations to develop new educational opportunities.
Join us at the next meeting of the Professional Education Committee on November 17 at 4:00 pm. Get involved with the Committee for more details.
Public Education Committee
Diane Lewis has stepped down from her role as Committee Chair so that she can concentrate on her new role as GWP's Board Chair. At their last meeting, The Partnership's Board of Directors voted for YaVonne Vaughan, committee member and Program Director with the DC Cancer Consortium to be the Committee Chair. Current tasks include translating the new CCO brochure into Spanish, developing a palliative care toolkit and the Palliative Care Presentation Series for Seniors.
Find out more by signing up for the Public Education Committee.
Public Policy Committee
At its last meeting, the Committee determined that they would begin to look at the possibility of supporting POLST - Physicians' Order for Life Sustaining Treatment - in the District of Columbia. A feasibility report is currently being prepared. In addition, the Committee is working with area pharmacists on the Opioid stocking issue in low income neighborhoods.
The next meeting of the Public Policy Committee will take place on November 4 at 4:00 pm. Join the Committee to share your thoughts on the DC Comfort Care Order and pharmacy stocking.
The Partnership is coordinating a directory of experts in palliative care who are willing to share their knowledge at speaking engagements.
Boost your CV while helping to spread the word about palliative care by joining our Speakers Bureau today!
Download the sign-up form and fax it to 202-895-9438.
Help Improve the Comfort Care Order
The Partnership has progressed in collecting feedback from healthcare professionals and community members about how the DC Comfort Care Order can made be easier for patients and families. Having heard from staff at most DC hospitals and hospice providers, we have developed preliminary findings on how to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Comfort Care Order.
We will be continuing to conduct interviews and solicit input on this issue throughout the summer, so that our recommendations represent the voices of as many of DC's diverse communities as possible.
We would love to hear from you.
Send us your feedback over our online feedback form for health care professionals or our online feedback form for patients and families, or call us at 202-895-9489 to schedule an interview.
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Partnership Updates:
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Hear from Healthcare Leaders Leaders at Howard University Hospital and Washington Hospital Center have high expectations for the Palliative Care presentations at Howard University Hospital. Find out why they feel these presentations to the medical residents are important: Robin Newton, MD, FACP, Director of Graduate Medical Education and Associate Senior Vice President of Health Sciences at Howard University Hospital, is instrumental in bringing these presentations to Howard. According to Dr. Newton, "It is my belief that medical residents should receive training in palliative and end-of-life care. Having worked with GWP, I am confident in their ability to deliver this training that has otherwise not been covered in a standard, traditional medical curriculum to our residents." George Taler, MD, Director of Long Term Care at Washington Hospital Center fully outlines his intentions for these presentations: "The purpose of our series of presentations is to open the eyes of young physicians to the idea that palliative care is at the heart of medical care as our population ages and as our general health improves." |
GWP Palliative Care Presentation Series for Medical Residents at Howard University Hospital
Howard University Hospital had asked The Partnership to provide palliative care presentations to all their medical residents. On Monday, October 26 at 5:30 PM and Tuesday, October 27 at 7:00 AM, Dr. George Taler, MD, a GWP Board member, presented the first presentation to 150 medical residents on the topic of Palliative Care. Robin Newton, MD, Director of Graduate Education at Howard University Hospital requested that this first presentation be on Palliative Care is Not Just for Cancer Patients. "When Robin first brought this suggestion to me, I was thrilled with this opportunity to partner with Howard and I commend their initiative to bring this information to doctors as they are beginning their careers," said Yolande Nanayakkara, Executive Director of GWP. As an area of specialized medicine not often understood, these presentations allow healthcare professionals to enlarge the services available to them as they care for patients with serious illness. Working with Howard, the Partnership will be providing additional presentations on various topics as they pertain to palliative care in the 2010 academic year. To learn more about this program, or to begin discussions of holding a similar program in your institution, please contact the Partnership at info@gwpartnership.org or visit our website at www.gwpartnership.org.
Comfort Care Order Training for Healthcare Professionals
On October 27, the Partnership offered training for health professionals on the DC Comfort Care Order (CCO) law and its requirements. Held at IONA Senior Services, the session was offered to an intimate group of professionals representing healthcare organizations such as The Washington Home and Community Hospice, Kaiser Permanentae, and DC FEMS. Dr. Barbara Supanich, RSM, MD, FAAHPM, Medical Director of Palliative Care/ Seniors at Holy Cross Hospital lead last week's training session.
This one-hour training session seeks to educate healthcare professionals on DC Law 13-224, Emergency Medical Services Non-Resuscitation Procedures Act of 2000, known as the Comfort Care Act. It covers topics such as what the legislation entails, how it applies to healthcare professionals, and how to discuss the end of life with a patient. The Partnership intends on coordinating this session again in the near future. Case managers, social workers, emergency personnel and discharge nurses are encouraged to attend, however, this training is pertinent to any healthcare professional who would like to understand the DNR extension law.
Click here to learn more about the CCO training sessions!
ELNEC Training to continue in Spring 2010
The Partnership held its second ELNEC Training registration on October 9 with 115 registrants! The Partnership has trained over 200 healthcare professionals in its 2009 ELNEC Training program. If you missed the opportunity to register for this training, GWP plans to offer it again in the Spring of 2010. "We will continue to offer the basic 8 modules until all those who need the training have received it," explained Yolande Nanayakkara, Executive Director of the Partnership, "once most have received this training, we will begin to offer specialty modules to continue to provide and expand palliative care skills and knowledge in the DC area." Specialty modules would include such topics as gerontology and quality achievement at the end-of-life.
The April ELNEC training sessions were a great success, and the sessions for October were just as successful with more registrants in attendance. One of the registrants who attended the ELNEC sessions in October described them as "very refreshing, educational, and will help my practice." The Partnership was pleased to offer this training at the affordable value of $65.00. The pricing for this two-day training, which included meals, was intended to make the training affordable to healthcare professionals while giving ELNEC registrants the pleasure of earning 12 CEUs without having to pay an exorbitant amount of money. In addition, the Partnership is working with the National Catholic School of Social Services (NCSSS) at the Catholic University of America to acquire CEUs for Social Workers who take the training in 2010. For more information, please visit the GWP Website.
The Partnership spent a busy summer working to develop a Comfort Care Order brochure and other marketing collateral to ready itself for several exhibiting opportunities. GWP exhibitied at the Stone Soul Picnic, the Virginia Hospital Center's Family Fun Day, and the Teal event. In addition, GWP worked on and exhibited at the Survivorship Jubilee day that was held at the United Medical Center, and was responsible for securing a palliative care panelist. All events were well attended and out materials all taken.
News and Announcements:
The National Palliative Care Registry
By Lena Aburdene, GWP Staff Writer
The National Palliative Care Registry, created by the CAPC (Center to Advance Palliative Care) and the NPCRC (National Palliative Care Research Center) is a registry that gives palliative care programs a premium listing in the Provider Directory at www.getpalliativecare.org. The National Palliative Care website states that the Registry was created to guide local palliative care leaders in the development and sustainability of their programs, to help standardize structures and processes of care, and to demonstrate the reach and impact of palliative care in the nation’s hospitals and beyond. Read More ...
Be counted! Enter your program into the National Palliative Care (TM) Registry for 2009
Less than three months remain to be counted in the National Palliative Care (TM) Registry. Over 500 programs have already participated. Data will be archived on December 31. Your program's data is strictly confidential, and all reporting is aggregate and anonymous. Joining the registry is free.
Visit the GWP website at www.gwpartnership.org for more information or to sign up!
Join FCAME for their 2009 Annual Meeting!
The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maryland & Environs (FCAME) will be holding their 2009 Annual Meeting on Saturday, November 7 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at the Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, MD. Ronald Wade, Director of the Maryland State Anatomy Board will be the guest speaker for that afternoon. He will discuss Maryland's body donor program, which has been lauded as the best in the country. Click here to get details about the annual meeting and to learn more about FCAME.
Health Care in the Media:
'Death Panel' debate casts end-of-life decisions in confusing shadow
(from ContraCostaTimes.com, 10/1/09)
Dr. Kempe Jacobowitz-Arnes heard it from a local doctor who had consulted with a sick patient. It wasn't the first time.
"They're getting those questions: 'Are you here from the death panel?'" said Jacobowitz-Arnes, medical director for Hospice of the East Bay.
Hand Washing: A Simple Step to Prevent Hospital Infections
(from The CDC Foundation "The Frontline Newsletter, Fall 2009)
"Imagine checking into the hospital with a simple case of tonsillitis, and checking out with a life-threatening infection. It could happen. In fact, healthcare-associated infections are among the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths each year. These dangerous infections can strike in your bloodstream, in surgical wounds, in the urinary tract and in your lungs."
Where medical, spiritual worlds meet at life's end
(from the Baltimore Sun, 10/4/09)
"Inflammatory rhetoric about 'death panels' and 'rationing' sheds little light on health care reform, but it unintentionally reveals another important issue: our collective illiteracy and fear of death and dying.
These politically charged issues present a critical opportunity to think about how we die, how we wish to die, and what we can gain by listening to those who spend time with people at the end of life. Because of their unique role bridging the spiritual and medical worlds, hospital chaplains could play a crucial part in helping society deal in a more positive and constructive way with these issues."
Wellness: Re-evaluating life after 50
"There's something about hitting the half-century mark that causes most of us to take a deep breath and give some thought to who we are, where we've been, where we seem to be going with our lives.
'We have new freedoms -- the kids move out, for example -- and new hardships -- maybe a loved one dies -- and suddenly we discover we can and want to focus on our new future,' says Ken Dychtwald, the psychologist and gerontologist who first identified the longevity trend in the seminal book, Age Wave.
He is defining future potentials for those 50-plus."
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