2018; Volume 19, No 3, March

Announcements, Resources & Dates to Note

Each month, we publish a selection of items that may be of interest to our global readership. Contributions are welcomed; we reserve the right to edit content.

Please also consider promoting your education and training events in the IAHPC Global Directory of Education in Palliative Care. It’s quick and easy — just submit your content online.

Announcements

Symposium Goal: Take action on access to palliative care

A Global Launch Symposium on The Lancet’s Commission Report, ‘Alleviating the access abyss in palliative care and pain relief — an imperative of universal health coverage’ is being held 5-6 April 2018. The University of Miami is hosting the free symposium (RSVP required), which will be available as a webcast; student and civil society attendance is highly encouraged.

Dr. Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, issued a call to action for the global health community to remedy the appalling global inequities in access to palliative care and pain relief. The Symposium serves as a response to this call, offering the opportunity to design projects and programs for national, regional, and global implementation of the key recommendations outlined in the report.

The event will focus on projecting the research contained in the report, and defining an implementation agenda. A half-day of invitation-only workshops, led by IAHPC, will assist countries and global health institutions in moving forward efforts to improve access to palliative care and pain relief.

Background resources — including factsheets, data appendix, and a recorded presentation on the key findings and recommendations of the report — are available at www.miami.edu/lancet.

Apply Now To Attend Free Train-the-Trainer Conference in Spiritual Care

The goal of the first Train-the-Trainer Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum (ISPEC) leadership conference is to prepare physicians, nurses, and other clinicians from a variety of clinical settings to advocate spiritual care at their institutes and cultivate organizational change.

The conference takes place 10-12 July 2018 in Washington, D.C., USA. Attendees will be chosen through a competitive selection process. Successful applicants attend for free. The deadline for applications is 2 April 2018. Access the online application form here.

GWish (The George Washington Institute for Spirituality & Health) together with the City of Hope and the Fetzer Institute developed the ISPEC program. ISPEC is touted as ‘the first curriculum to be developed at the global level and offers a theoretically and research-grounded curriculum.’

The ISPEC curriculum prepares clinicians and chaplains to attend to patients’ spiritual needs and resources as an integral part of their practice.

Eligibility criteria:

If selected, attendees will receive: free registration; all course supplies, including syllabus, workbook, and resources; breakfast, lunch, and snacks; and 16.75 Continuing Education Credits (CME, Nursing credit hours, CEU). In addition, each organization selected to attend will receive unlimited, free access to the ISPEC online course for healthcare providers of their organization for one full year.

Travel costs and accommodations are not covered.

Full-Time Position To Teach New BSc Course in Palliative Medicine in Malawi

Expressions of interest are now being accepted from medically qualified doctors with expertise and/or interest in education and palliative care in low-resource settings, to lead the development and delivery of a BSc in Palliative Medicine beginning mid-August 2018 at the College of Medicine in Blantyre, Malawi. This new three-year full-time course is being offered within the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, run by the Department of Family Medicine.

Funding is available for a full-time academic position (approximately $1,000 USD per month, paid in Malawi Kwacha). Seniority and remuneration depends on prior experience and availability. Those with a background in Family Medicine are particularly welcome to contact us. A minimum two-year commitment is required. Volunteers available for short-term support of the course are also encouraged to contact us.

This website gives more information about the Palliative Care program and the Department of Family Medicine. For further details, contact Dr. John Parks, Head of the Department. Submit your CV and a cover letter describing your preferred role to: [email protected].

Feature Film on One Family’s Grief and Recovery Seeks Funding

Director Rodolfo Bisatti and his production house, Kineofilm, seeks to further the conversation about palliative care, death, and grief with a feature-length movie, The Unknown God. The film focuses on one family following the death of a young daughter.

Shooting is schedule to begin March 26, but Kineofilm seeks additional support to cover the estimated €1.1million budget. Support can come in different forms: unencumbered cash; or payment for product placement, brand logos, or publicity during the film’s presentation.

‘Art is the highest and most powerful way of communicating,’ says Laura Pellicciari, who is both producer of the film and a lead actor in it. She plays the mother, a professional nurse, who starts working with palliative care patients during her journey of coming to grips with her terrible grief. Her dawning realization of the meaning of life, the ‘true cure,’ eventually helps herself, her husband, and her son.

The Unknown God ‘would help spread the palliative care message from medical professionals to the public,’ says Pellicciari. ‘It is vital to support this film production that aims to spread the Cure’s civilization, by not only taking our life back but also our death.’

For more information about the film, go here and here. If you wish to offer support, contact Laura Pellicciari directly by email: [email protected].

Death Education for All Ages

End-of-Life University has announced that its focus for 2018 is the importance of Death Education for people of all ages, in all walks of life.

‘If we truly want to change the way we care for the dying in our society,’ its press release states, ‘each of us must do our part to become teachers for those who are uninformed and unaware of end-of-life issues.

‘We need death education for parents so that they can help their children learn about death. We need death education in high schools and colleges, medical schools and hospitals, churches and workplaces. Are you able to teach others in one of these settings?’

If you are interested in teaching a death and dying class, sign up for Teaching Guidelines for a Death & Dying Class to receive the guide. When you download the guide you'll be invited to join a group that supports one another in the creation and implementation of a death and dying class.

Interested in more information? Listen to the podcast ‘How to Teach Death Ed to College Students with Stacy Smith’ or ‘Why We Need Death Education for Everyone Right Now!’

U.S. National Palliative Care Registry

Two U.S.-based organizations have banded together to structure a national registry of palliative care programs. By submitting information on its palliative care program, an institution or agency can then measure its progress and track its operational capacity and reach.

The registry, organized by the Center to Advance Palliative Care and the National Palliative Care Research Center, is now collecting 2017 data on hospital-based, home-based, office/clinic, and long-term care programs. Program-specific reports for hospitals are available as soon as data is entered.

Benefits of joining the registry include:

To learn more, visit registry.capc.org or contact the registry help desk by email at [email protected] or by calling 212-201-2689.

Study Explores Potential of Virtual Reality in Hospice Care

In September, Royal Trinity Hospice in England reported its launch of a research study to explore the potential of virtual reality as a therapy for people at the end of life. The year-long study, run in partnership with Flix Films, will assess the impact of virtual reality on 20 people’s experience of physical and psychological symptoms.

Letizia Perna-Forrest, Head of Patient and Family Support at Trinity, said, ‘Our initial trials with VR enabled people to achieve their bucket list wishes from their bed in the hospice, like walking in the desert or seeing the northern lights. But the more we researched into the world of VR, the more we felt there was scope to use this as a therapy.

‘Through our study we aim to understand how VR impacts on the symptom management of people receiving palliative care. We believe VR has the potential in future to be included in the holistic suite of supportive therapies, alongside counselling, reiki, art therapy, and physiotherapy.’

Resources

Resources for Bereavement Professionals, Carers, and Families

The U.S. National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization devotes part of its website to professionals and others caring for those enduring a period of grief and loss. Grief, it states, may be due to physical loss, such as death, or a symbolic or social loss, such as divorce or losing a job.

‘There is no right way to grieve,’ the site states. ‘It is an individual process and a natural part of life... Experiencing your grief will allow you to adjust to life after loss. Grief lasts as long as it takes to adjust... It can be for months, or even years. Grief has no timetable.’

Free resources available here include: supporting someone who is grieving, a description of different aspects of the grief experience, and ways in which support can be offered to both children and adults.

End-of-Life Care in Prisons: A compilation of articles

For anyone interested in palliative care in prison systems, Media Watch’s Barry Ashpole maintains a compilation of articles he describes as a 'Prison Hospice Backgrounder.' Periodic updates continually add new articles to the compilation available on the Palliative Community-e website here. Updates are typically done once every three months.

Oncologist-Approved Online Information on 128 Cancers and Cancer Syndromes

Cancer.net provides ‘timely, comprehensive, oncologist-approved information from the American Society of Clinical Oncology,’ offering expertise and resources to people living with cancer, those who care for them, and those who care about them. It aims to help patients and families make informed health care decisions. The ‘Types of cancer’ section describes more than 120 cancers and cancer-related syndromes. Other sections include: Research and Advocacy (with ‘patient-friendly summaries’ of research studies in ASCO journals), Coping with Cancer, and Survivorship.

Palliative Care Researcher Describes the Healing Power of Ghosts

On 6 February 2018, the Discover Society published an opinion piece by Mary Ellen MacDonald, medical anthropologist at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. The article is titled, ‘Why Should the Bereaved Give Up Their Ghosts?’ This is how she begins:

‘Come autumn, I spend a lot of time thinking about ghosts.

‘The fall marks a number of deathiversaries for me. Ten years ago, I missed my young daughter’s Halloween excitement because I was on a train to the funeral of the mother of Nadia, my best friend. Nadia’s mother had to be removed from life-support after a fall in a nursing home. Then, a few years later, the doorbell of trick-or-treaters pierced the silence of own my family’s grief, raw after my mother’s death from ovarian cancer. And last fall, the day after the memorial service for Nadia, dead at 48 after three decades with Wegener’s Granulomatosis, I had to bury my 16-year-old cat.

‘What do the bereaved have left, after the death? Memories, certainly. But what is memory? When I walk by someone wearing Chanel No5, I’m a child again, ready to wrap around my mother as she leaves for an elegant evening with my father. When my cat died, my arms ached for the phone to call Nadia, the only person who really could comfort me. Our bodies remember and enact our grief.’

The entire text is available here. It concludes with a short list of books and articles for further reading.

DiscoverSociety.org (its motto is: Measured - Factual – Critical) is a website published by Social Research Publications, a not-for-profit company for the publication of social research, policy analysis, and commentary.

Tools & Training for Members of U.S.-based Center to Advance Palliative Care

Much of palliative care's growth has been in hospitals, but studies show that people facing serious illness prefer to be — and do better — in their own environment. In 2017, the CAPC launched two new resources for those starting or expanding community-based palliative care programs:

These resources give CAPC members nuts-and-bolts operational guidance to create successful outpatient palliative care programs through existing delivery systems, such as home care and hospice agencies, as well as collaborative partnerships with service agencies and individual clinicians.

The cost of membership for organizations is between $600 and $6,000 per year, depending on the institution or group. Discounts may apply.

Expansion of Online Training Curriculum

This year, CAPC also launched what is describes as its ‘most successful online training courses to date.’ The members-only Online Training Curriculum consists of case-based, interactive courses focus on the palliative care approach to relieving suffering across the disease trajectories of heart failure, dementia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The CAPC also unveiled new courses for care managers and direct care workers. These discipline-specific courses are focused on embedding palliative care knowledge and skills in every link in the care chain — from bedside personal care, to care managers, to frontline nurses and doctors.

Dates to Note

Denotes a new listing

Calls for Abstracts

The submission deadline is 12 March 2018 for poster abstracts for the 17th World Congress on Pain being held 12-16 September 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Poster Abstract Guidelines are available.

The deadline for poster abstract submissions is 20 March 2018 for the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Conference, a Learning Institute being held 14-16 June 2018 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Additional spaces have opened up for abstract submissions (oral, symposium, workshop, and poster presentations) for The International Federation on Ageing, which is hosting the 14th Global Conference on Ageing 8-10 August 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The IFA is seeking abstracts under these themes: Combating Ageism, Toward Healthy Ageing, Age-Friendly Environments and Addressing Inequalities. The deadline is 6 April 2018.

The ‘late-breaking abstract’ deadline is 20 April 2018 for the MASCC/ISOO Annual Meeting on Supportive Care in Cancer being held 28-30 June 2018 in Vienna, Austria.

The 7th annual International Conference on Opioids (ICOO 2018) takes place 10-12 June 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The theme is ‘Opioids in medicine: Perception and reality.’ The deadline for poster abstract submissions is 20 April 2018.

The deadline to alert the ESMO with an intent to submit a late-breaking abstract is 9 May 2018 for the European Society for Medical Oncology 2018 Congress, taking place 19-23 October 2018 in Munich, Germany. Only abstracts for which no conclusive data are available at the time of the abstract submission deadline of 9 May 2018 will be considered for late-breaking status.

The 22nd International Congress on Palliative Care is being held 2-5 October 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The deadline for poster abstract submissions is 31 May 2018.

Conferences

2018

The US-based Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network is holding its 6th Annual General Assembly from 11-13 March 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The theme is ‘Forging New Models of Hospice and Palliative Care through Practice, Research, and Education.’

The 2018 Annual Assembly by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) is being held 14-17 March 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

The Malaysian Association for the Study of Pain (MASP) Biennial Scientific Meeting takes place 17-18 March 2018 at the National Cancer Institute, Putrajaya Malaysia. The theme is ‘Delivering Better Relief for Cancer Pain.’

IX Congreso Latinoamericano de Cuidados Paliativos de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Cuidados Paliativos (ALCP) takes place in Santiago, Chile, 11-14 April 2018.

10th World Research Congress of the European Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care will be held 22-24 May 2018 in Bern, Switzerland. Early bird registration deadline is 15 March 2018.

The 3rd International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) Conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, from 30 May-2 June 2018. The theme of the conference is ‘Inspiration, Innovation, Integration.’

The Journal of Opioid Management will hold its 7th annual International Conference on Opioids (ICOO 2018) on 10-12 June 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Early bird registration ends 15 April 2018.

The 23rd Congress of the Japanese Society for Palliative Medicine takes place 15-17 June 2018 in Kobe, Japan.

The MASCC/ISOO Annual Meeting on Supportive Care in Cancer takes place 28-30 June 2018 in Vienna, Austria. Early bird registration ends 10 April 2018.

Hong Kong’s Community End-of-Life Care International Conference will be held 20-21 June 2018. The theme is ‘Innovation and Impact: The Review and Vision of Community End-of-Life Care.’ The four major foci are: Palliative and Healthcare Environment, Quality of Care, Human Resources, and Community Engagement. Registration is free; first come, first served.

The International Federation on Ageing is hosting the 14th Global Conference on Ageing 8-10 August 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The theme of is ‘Toward a Decade of Healthy Ageing – From Evidence to Action.’ The early bird registration deadline is 6 August 2018.

The 17th World Congress on Pain is being held 12-16 September 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Early bird registration deadline is 21 May 2018.

Registration opens mid-May 2018 for the 23rd Hospice New Zealand Palliative Care Conference, being held 18-21 September 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. Early bird registration deadline is 27 July 2018.

The International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care’s International Conference on Cancer Nursing takes place 23-26 September 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. The theme is ‘Global Actions: Working Toward Unity and Excellence in Cancer Care.’

The 22nd International Congress on Palliative Care is being held 2-5 October 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. One of the five plenary sessions is on Global Palliative Care. Early bird registration deadline is 31 March 2018.

The European Society for Medical Oncology 2018 Congress takes place 19-23 October 2018 in Munich, Germany. The theme is ‘Securing Access to Optimal Cancer Care.’

The International Conference on Hospice and Palliative Care (ICHPC) 20th International Conference on Palliative Care is scheduled for 3-4 December 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Early bird registration deadline is 2 November 2018.

The Palliative and Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium is scheduled for 16-17 November 2018 in San Diego, California, USA. Abstract and poster deadlines have not yet been determined.

2019

The 6th International African Palliative Care Conference is being held 17-19 September 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda. The theme is ‘Palliative Care and Universal Health Coverage.’ A website has not yet been set up.

The 8th Association of Southeast Asian Pain Societies (ASAPS) Congress is scheduled for 11-14 April 2019 in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. The theme is ‘Building Collaboration in Pain Management.’

The 13th Asia Pacific Hospice Conference is scheduled for 1-4 August 2019 in Surabaya, Indonesia. The theme is ‘Bringing Hope to Those in Despair.’ The call for abstracts has not yet been announced.

The 2019 biennial Australian Palliative Care Conference (APCC) is scheduled for 10-13 September 2019 in Perth, Australia.

The 6th Public Health Palliative Care International conference is scheduled to take place in Sydney, Australia in 2019.

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