Palliative Care Australia brings you this youtube video which you can share with patients, families and friends…
Jean Kittson says it’s important to complete the Dying to Talk Discussion Starter and encourages you to speak to your loved ones about your end-of-life care wishes.
If you make any advance care plans, bonus points for documenting something in writing it and sharing it with your substitute decision maker, your MyHealthRecord, your GP and local hospital!
“You matter, your care matters,” was the key message from his Excellency Sir Peter Cosgrove, Governor-General of Australia in declaring National Palliative Care Week 2017 open today. Palliverse was lucky enough to be in attendance for the event held on a stunning Canberra Autumn morning at Government House.
NPCW17 at Government House
Embarrassingly, I didn’t know about this until I heard it at a RACP conference last week.
EVOLVE is a physician led initiative to ensure the highest quality patient care through the identification and reduction of low-value practices and interventions. Many specialties have created their own lists.
ANZSPM, the Australian and New Zealand Society for Palliative Medicine, have nominated 5 interventions which they recommend against in palliative care.
Curious?
We think delirium is a pretty big deal here at Palliverse, having devoted quite a few blog posts over the years to discussing this important issue in palliative care.
Well, delirium will be the focus of the first session at the upcoming 4th Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine (ANZSPM) Medical & Surgical Update for Palliative Medicine (#ANZSPM17), which will be held between June 23-24th at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
Chaired by @Meera_Agar – the lead author of the seminal paper examining the role of antipsychotics in the management of delirium symptoms in the palliative care setting, which was published in JAMA Internal Medicine earlier this year – the session will feature presentations from Professor Agar, as well as:
After the presentations, a panel discussion involving the speakers will offer the audience plenty of opportunities to further explore this hot topic in palliative care.
Of course, delirium is just one of the many great topics that will be examined in detail during the fourth iteration of this biennial meeting. To find out more about the #ANZSPM17 Update, and to take advantage of the early bird registration rate until May 24th, go to: https://willorganise.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/2017-anzspm-update/update
The team at @Palliverse are huge fans of Prof Jenny Philip, an inspirational speaker and all round wise and skilled person!
Come along to Monday Lunch (it’s a good lunch) next week and see Jenny share her thoughts on
Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre
Lecture Theatre B, Level 7
305 Grattan St, Melbourne, VIC 3000
[Image by Nick Youngson]
Well, when you break it all down, advance care planning is all about respect. Respecting the values, goals and preferences of the person making the plan. And palliative care is really big on respecting people’s preferences and values, especially when it comes to their end-of-life care.
Unfortunately, when it comes to respecting people’s choices around their health care, the law has been lagging behind. Existing laws around advance care plans and medical decision making are often confusing for patients and families, as well as their treating clinicians. Fortunately, this is all about to change in Victoria. Continue reading
Have you checked out the new online education resources available from Advance Care Planning Australia? If not, read on…
Many of you who are regular Palliverse readers will be aware of our ongoing promotion regarding the need for the community as a whole to support open discussions about death, dying and end-of-life care. A group of researchers from the University of Alabama have recently published on a novel approach to this issue. In this study, they report on the effects of training lay community members as ‘health navigators’, who work with patients in hospital to help them understand the process of advance care planning, and to facilitate their further discussions with their family and healthcare team.
Whatever will be, will be.
He tells me, with a tear in his eye, “She’s my sweetheart.”
She smiles weakly, and her eyes brighten.
He gently kisses her hand in a loving manner.
“No, I am ready.”
“Are you scared?”
“I think I’m dying.”
The authors concluded that it is feasible to elicit and record serious illness goals in this patient population. They noted that the diverse range of goals that were identified related to global aspirations and many facets of the whole person, which presents an opportunity to individualise assessments and care planning processes and assist decision-making that more fully reflects current health status and psychosocial and spiritual aspects of patients’ lives.
Sandra Ellen Schellinger, Eric Worden Anderson, Monica Schmitz Fraser and Cindy Lynn Cain, Patient Self-Defined Goals: Essentials of Person-Centered Care for Serious IIlness, American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, published online 23 March 2017, doi:10.1177/1049909117699600.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1049909117699600
Reflecting on my own practice, it’s easier to concentrate on physical issues and it’s a timely reminder of the importance of non physical issues for holistic patient care.
Thanks to the PCV newsletter for the heads up….
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