The Quagmire : How American Medicine is Destroying Itself. CALLAHAN D, NULAND S. New Republic [serial online]. June 9, 2011;242(8):16-18. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed August 30, 2011.
Link to Full-text Article.
Summary : The article discusses what the authors consider to be an unsustainable trajectory in American medicine. In their view too many resources are being committed to the pursuit of cures for chronic illnesses not likely to be remedied for many years to come. They believe that medicine should adopt new priorities, starting with the goal of bringing everybody's life expectancy up to the age of 80. They maintain that geriatric care should focus less on postponing death and more on increasing the quality of life during one's final years.
What's New at Affinity Palliative Care : Dr. Nancy Homburg shares interesting new things related to Palliative Care she comes across in her reading and web surfing. Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Pain Resource Team Topics
Affinity Health System’s Pain Resource Nurse Team consists of RNs from the hospitals and clinics working to promote pain education for all staff at all sites and improve patient care. Dr. Nancy Homburg co-chairs this team and provides valuable input for us.
The Team has developed several topics to address some of the common side effects of opioids, treatment of pain in the older adult, and the Fentanyl patch. These evidence-based practice topics are for your reference and will also be available at each Nursing station and in the Clinics.
The Current Pain Topics are linked below on the "Pain Resource Team" Webpage (35708)
Treating Pain in the Older Adult (35702)
Opioid-Induced Constipation (35706)
Transdermal Fentanyl (35707)
If you have any questions or suggestions for other topics, please contact:
Caroline Alterman, MSN, RN, CNL - AHS Pain Management
Office phone: 223-1229 - Mercy Medical Center
738-2089 - St. Elizabeth Hospital
calterma@affinityhealth.org
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Concurrent Care for Children Implementation Tool Kit by the NHPCO
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law enacting a new provision, Section 2302, termed the “Concurrent Care for Children” Requirement, the CCCR. This means all children with a life threatening illness can receive full treatment and still have the support of hospice care. See links below for the tool kit.
Nancy
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization has a wonderful resource on concurrent care for children. You can find their toolkit on their website, or use this direct link.
This can be a wonderful resource for developing guidelines, policies or procedures for implementing concurrent care for children.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
EOL Coalitions - Training Materials for Caring for Veterans at the End of Life
Hello all,
Thought I would send out a small introduction to a training tool that we have developed under a grant that is available free of charge to address the unique needs of veterans at end of life. The finishing touches are being put on the DVD and audio CD so it will be a month or so before we will be mailing out the Tookit.
If you are interested, or know of anyone else that would have a use for these materials be send me your mailing address. We will put one in the mail to you when the DVD and audio CD is complete.
There will also be a presentation at the HOPE (the state hospice association) Annual conference that is scheduled for Oct 26 & 27 in Appleton where hospice providers will receive the completed toolkit. For a review of some of the materials, you can also look at the HOPE of Wisconsin web site at https://hopeofwisconsin.org/ProgramsToolkits.aspx and select Veteran Partnership.
[Offerings include some of the following documents : ]
Thank you for caring for our veterans
Teri Rostberg, Exec Director
Hope Hospice and Palliative Care
Medford WI
715-748-3434
[Posted with Teri's permission and encouragement.]
We are finding agencies that may use some of the materials useful as well beyond Veteran clients and their families.
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