The conference emphasized the importance of integrating palliative care into all phases of a patient's medical care—whether it be critical care, pediatrics, or oncology. Dr. Randy Curtis, for example, emphasized how important addressing palliative and end-of-life care tenets are important in ICUs since less than 5% of patients in the ICU can participate in decisions about withholding treatment. Most of his communication occurs with families and loved ones, and if they (families and loved ones) were aware of patients' preferences for treatment decisions at the end-of life, this would be more helpful to quality end-of-life care for many people.
Many of the speakers addressed not only the importance of research in palliative and end-of-life care, but centered on patient and family involvement. Dr. Pamela Hinds of Children's National Medical Center presented on research she has been involved in about including children and their parents in the transition from curative to end-of-life care. She emphasized how important it is to include children and hear their voices and wishes in palliative and end-of-life care. Dr. Curtis also reminded the audience that it is important to affirm non-abandonment with patients and families at the end-of life.
I also spoke with some of the winners of the NINR research awards. Dr. Debra Parker Oliver's NINR funded research has looked at the use of video conferencing hospice patients and families into IDT meetings. Dr. Oliver's research project, ACTIVE (Assessing Caregivers for Team Intervention via Video Encounters), project proposes to strengthen hospice care for patients by enabling patient/family participation in hospice interdisciplinary teams through use of video conferencing. The intervention uses either videophone technology or secure Internet video conferencing to connect a hospice family virtually with the hospice staff as they meet to discuss the patients care. Preliminary results have been very positive and patients and families appreciate and benefit from the inclusion with hospice interdisciplinary team meetings.
Read more from The Oncology Report.
