Help Ensure the Issues of the Hospice and Palliative Care Community Are Represented on the National Stage

By Richard S. Pieters, MD MEd FACR I am an AMA member, delegate and council member. I originally joined the American Medical Association (AMA) because, like it or not, the politicians in Washington consider the AMA the voice of American physicians. All of the specialty societies can speak for their specialty, but only the AMA … Read moreHelp Ensure the Issues of the Hospice and Palliative Care Community Are Represented on the National Stage

Measuring What Matters at Annual Assembly

It was an exciting Annual Assembly for the Measuring What Matters team, who presented both a preconference workshop and an concurrent session to the AAHPM/HPNA membership. Some of the supportive & challenging comments we received included: Measures are power. Quality measures will happen, and we need to be part of the process! Now I appreciate … Read moreMeasuring What Matters at Annual Assembly

Are You in Danger of Burnout?

Larry Beresford Are accumulated job stresses affecting your ability to provide high-quality hospice and palliative medicine to your patients? Do you have strategies for easing or managing the stresses of this work? Given this field’s ongoing workforce challenges, it can’t afford to lose a single practicing hospice and palliative medicine physician to job stress or … Read moreAre You in Danger of Burnout?

Highlights of the March Issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management (JPSM)

Listed below are a few articles from the most recent issue of the journal: Nurse-Led Follow-Up at Home versus Conventional Medical Outpatient Clinic Follow-Up in Patients With Incurable Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer: A Randomized Study Madeleen J. Uitdehaag, Paul G. van Putten, Casper H.J. van Eijck, Els M.L. Verschuur, Ate van der Gaast, Chulja J. Pek, … Read moreHighlights of the March Issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management (JPSM)

Physician Engagement & Influence in Organizational Management

So how is the leadership thing working out? Palliative care, hospice care and healthcare in general has evolved into the most complex team sport of all time. And getting people to move cohesively around a simple common ground effort should not be that hard…but it is. Some try the bull-horn approach (I did that for … Read morePhysician Engagement & Influence in Organizational Management

Highlights of the February Issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management (JPSM)

Listed below are a few articles from the most recent issue of the journal: Web-Based Symptom Management for Women with Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the WRITE Symptoms Intervention Heidi S. Donovan, Sandra E. Ward, Susan Sereika, Judith Knapp, Paula Sherwood, Catherine M. Bender, Robert P. Edwards, Margaret Fields, and Renee … Read moreHighlights of the February Issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management (JPSM)

Advance Planning: More Than Care Decisions

There is much talk in health care, especially in the fields of palliative and end-of-life care about “Advance Care Planning.” And rightly so. For those with advanced illness, this process is critical to patients receiving the treatment they want and only the treatment they want. The process done well clearly improves patient’s perceived quality of … Read moreAdvance Planning: More Than Care Decisions