Over the next few days, more than 2,400 physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals will be descending upon “The Big Easy.” This doesn’t include exhibitors, guests and staff members who will also join us for all or some of the program. Preparations for this conference starts more than a year in advance and onsite staging … Read moreBehind the Scenes: Setting the Stage for the AAHPM & HPNA Annual Assembly
Has this happened to you? Your elderly patient can’t sleep their last night in the hospital before being discharged home with hospice care so the on-call physician orders a sedative-hypnotic. When the patient becomes confused and agitated, a CT scan of the head is ordered. Or how about this one: Your patient with stage IV … Read moreChoosing Wisely in Hospice and Palliative Medicine
In my very first week as a home hospice physician, my mentor, a veteran home hospice doctor told me, “Start a feel-good file. It’s important.” I nodded in agreement, mentally documenting new EHR passwords and the location of the bathroom. I think about the words “feel-good file” often. Honestly, I once found it to be … Read moreThe Feel-Good File
Since 2010, I have been actively engaged The Personal Caring Initiative at Mayo Clinic Health System and I have given a lot of thought to the future of caring for seriously ill people and spent many hours in front of diverse audiences talking about health care and palliative care. Most recently, I have created a … Read moreA Paradigm Shift in Medicine
Soon over 2,400 people will be arriving in New Orleans for the AAHPM & HPNA Annual Assembly. While the attendees will be traveling to The Big Easy for the inspiring and captivating education sessions it would be hard to deny that many attendees are excited to get to explore the amazing city and all that … Read moreNew Orleans- Here we come
Drug shortages present more than a few challenges to the EOL community. Many constituencies, patients, clinicians, and the organizations that provide care, are affected. Challenges include consistent symptom management (very problematic when cascading supply shortages compel, what seems to be, continuous drug rotation), potential patient distress (you’re changing my pain medication AGAIN!), comfortable prescribing (what’s … Read moreDrug Shortages
On November 29, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) hosted a first-ever Quality Measures Summit to identify a set of cross-cutting quality measures applicable to all patients with cancer, irrespective of diagnosis or place along the disease trajectory. This meeting was in conjunction with the inaugural ASCO Quality Symposium, an educational and scientific meeting … Read moreQuality Matters: A View from the Seat at the Table
“You have a lot to learn,” he said sternly as the heat in his voice rose and his finger stood tremulously in front of my nose. “How old are you? I demand to know.” This is what my home visit to an 82 year old hospice patient devolved to as I told him that he … Read moreToo Few Gray Hairs?
Thanks to the generosity of the AAHPM’s “Research Scholars Program,” I had the opportunity to attend last week’s annual Kathleen M. Foley Research Retreat of the National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC, www.npcrc.org). Each year this retreat brings together nearly one-hundred senior researchers, junior faculty, and trainees alike, in an environment built to encourage mentoring, … Read moreNPCRC Foley Research Retreat Reflections
By Angela Hult, Cambia Health Foundation “If we want to transform something as huge as health care, we have to think big. We need to change the way the people we love are dying.” –Ellen Goodman That’s what Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman told the crowd at last week’s Cambia Health Foundation Sojourns Awards luncheon … Read moreCambia Health Foundation honors palliative care pioneers