Round-up in Hospice and Palliative Care - February 9

• Pallimed hosts the first edition of Palliative Care Grand Rounds. This is a "monthly blog carnival bringing you the best and most interesting blog posts about hospice, palliative care, death and dying, grief, quality of life, communication in the medical arena, and anything else that strikes the fancy of the host that month."
  

• A blog written by Judi Chamberlin that is worth reading, Life as a hospice patient. She began the blog in December 2008, after enrolling in hospice a week earlier. She writes in one post, "What hospice means to me,"
  

  Since I've been a hospice patient, I have experienced genuine peace of mind. I feel confident that I will be taken care of, in accordance with my wishes. There will be no more trips to the hospital, trips that, with few exceptions, accomplished very little. There will be no more needles or invasive procedures. My comfort is the center of hospice philosophy. This is totally in line with the model of the mental health system we've been promoting all these years, with very limited success.



• An APPEAL (A Progressive Palliative Care Educational Curriculum for the Care of African Americans at Life’s End) training program is being held March 6-7 in Atlanta, Georgia. The program is designed for those working with African American patients and families facing serious illness in hospitals, hospices, outpatient clinics, nursing homes and office-based settings and was developed at the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life (ICEOL), where HFA 2009 teleconference panelist Richard Payne, M.D. serves as director.


• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is holding the next Home Health, Hospice & DME Open Door Forum on February 18, 2009. See the Medicare Update blog for times and instructions to participate.


• A Vermont legislative study committee found that Vermont health care providers need better education about end-of life care, pain management and palliative care. Read more on Vermont's Public Radio website.


• End-of-life care for pediatric cancer patients can vary greatly according to a study published in the journal, Pediatric Blood & Cancer. Researchers examined the cases of 1,466 subjects treated at 33 hospitals between 2001 and 2005, using data from the Pediatric Health Information System.


• A new coalition addressing eldercare was announced last week, the Eldercare Workforce Alliance (EWA). The group consists of 25 organizations representing older adults and the eldercare workforce and aims to address "the critical shortage of health care providers and caregivers who are adequately prepared to meet the unique care needs of older adults" and "supports programs to increase workforce capacity, strengthen workers' competencies, and improve coordination of care."