2020; Volume 21, No 9, September
New Initiative: A Global Database on First Palliative Care Consults
In support of studies that show the use of electronic health records may improve healthcare quality and reduce the cost of care provision, IAHPC is collaborating with the Fundación Federación Médica de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (FEMEBA) to develop a global database of non-identifying information derived from first palliative care consults. Please keep an eye for the announcement in the next few weeks.
The database project has four objectives:
- Provide demographic, epidemiological information of adult patients at the time of admission to a palliative care service.
- Identify prevalent symptoms at the time of the first palliative care consultation.
- Identify therapeutic interventions recommended for the treatment and management of the symptoms identified in step 2. (Based on the essential package of palliative care medicines, equipment, and human resources identified in the Lancet Commission Report on global access to palliative care and pain relief.)
- Analyze similarities and differences, and prepare reports for publication.
The IAHPC will evaluate — and publicly report — the data annually, including types of services, countries, country income level (according to the World Bank Classification), gender, age groups, and disease etiology.
Clinicians interested in participating must:
- be an IAHPC member in good standing (to join the IAHPC click here),
- be a current provider of palliative care services to patients,
- be 18 years or older,
- have access to patients’ records,
- obtain permission from their institution to participate in this study, and
- obtain patients’ approval to share their data for this study.
To receive additional information on the Palliative Care Consult Global Database please contact Genevieve Napier, IAHPC Programs Officer.
A Little Something Can Mean a Great Deal
From September 14 through 18, Global Giving is doing it again: matching grants to make your donation dollars go further. “No amount is too small,” says IAHPC Projects Officer Genevieve Napier. “Every single dollar helps fulfill our mission to increase access to — and optimize the practice of — palliative care, to help reduce global health-related suffering, particularly in regions with the greatest need.”
One-time donations
matched by 50%
All one-time donations via the GlobalGiving website (up to $50) for IAHPC will be matched by 50%. Your donations fund projects to promote palliative care education, under the banner “Education Reduces Serious Health-Related Suffering.” This Little by Little campaign stresses how even small donations are important. That is particularly true during COVID-19, when IAHPC’s in-person fundraising activities have ceased.
Double bonus for
monthly donations
Regular monthly donations have an even greater impact. Those who sign up for new monthly donations from September 14-18 on Global Giving will trigger matching funds for four months.
Even better, these new monthly donations reap both matching grants: the immediate 50% Little by Little match (up to $50) and, as long as the donation remains active for a minimum of four payments, the 100% monthly match (up to $200).
Donation methods
You can donate online using a credit card, debit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, or individually purchased GlobalGiving gift cards, or make a mobile donation through M-Changa (and M-Pesa in Uganda).
Individuals who have signed up for IAHPC Special Announcements will receive an email on the first day of the campaign with details, and a reminder on the last day of the campaign.
10 IAHPC Members to Attend Online EAPC Congress
The European Association for Palliative Care has given the IAHPC a gift: access for 10 of our members to connect to its online 11th World Research Congress, being held October 7-9, 2020.
The 10 IAHPC members listed below were selected at random from the membership pool living in time zones within 2½ hours of the UK, seat of the congress broadcast. The time zone was restricted so that participants could participate in real time during reasonable hours.
The IAHPC members selected to attend the congress are:
- Artashes Tadevosyan, Armenia
- Deborah Ajulu, Uganda
- Emilia da Felicidade Venturas Pinto Miquidade, Mozambique
- Fad Abu-Farsakh, Jordan
- Grace Kivumbi, Uganda
- Nahla Gafer M. Saeed, Sudan
- Natalia Carafizi, Moldova
- Nicoleta Mitrea, Romania
- Ololade Maboreje, Nigeria
- Rose Gahire, Rwanda
Each member will write a report, which will be published in this newsletter.
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
CanSupport’s senior nurse Iftekhar Bi, on one of her home visits, moistens the dry lips of a patient with a nasogastric tube. Photo by CanSupport counselor Ashish Samuel. Used with permission.
Saturday, October 10, is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, a unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. The aims are:
- to share a vision to increase the availability of hospice and palliative care throughout the world by creating opportunities to speak out about the issues;
- to raise awareness and understanding of the needs – medical, social, practical, and spiritual – of people living with a life limiting illness and their families; and
- to raise funds to support and develop hospice and palliative care services around the world.
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is an activity of the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance in collaboration with partners around the world.
A 2-hour telethon in India
CanSupport has teamed with a television channel in India to do a two-hour telethon on October 10. “It will be an opportunity for us to share our vision of a caring society, to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of people living with cancer and their families, to appeal to policy makers to make palliative care part of mainstream medicine, and to raise funds for CanSupport's free-of-charge services for the less privileged,” says IAHPC Board Member and CanSupport president Harmala Gupta.
Send us your photos and reports, so that they can be considered for publication in the November newsletter.
Reader Recommended
Back in 2016, I was passionate about the discipline of palliative care. Nevertheless, the resources were scarce to learn much about it in Sri Lanka. The free-of-charge, online training course in palliative care devised by the Australasian Healthcare & Hospitals Association was beneficial for me to develop the fundamental knowledge on the discipline. The self-explanatory, six-module course was pivotal in inspiring me to take up palliative care in my career.
— Dr. Chamath Fernando, Lecturer/Family Physician,
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences,
University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
Reminder: IAHPC Members’ Recognition Awards
October is our Members’ Recognition Month, when we highlight the vital function that members play in the advancement of our mission, and formally acknowledge their support by awarding a prize in two categories.
1. Recognizing Loyalty
- Goal: To reward current members who have been loyal to the IAHPC.
- Eligibility: Current IAHPC members who have kept their membership in good standing for at least 3 consecutive years by October 31, 2020 are automatically included.
- Prize: One IAHPC Scholarship plus a one-year membership. The winner is randomly selected among eligible members.
2. Increasing Membership
- Goal: To increase the number of members by rewarding a current member who brings the highest number of new or renewed members.
- Eligibility: Current IAHPC members, including both individuals and institutions, in all countries of the world.
- Prize: One IAHPC Scholarship plus a one-year membership for the current member who has brought the highest number of new or renewed members within 12 months as of October 31, 2020.
The time to join or renew your membership is now! Winners will be featured in an upcoming issue of this newsletter
Longtime members share their reasons for joining in this issue’s section titled We Choose IAHPC!
What’s New in the Calendar
Argentina
Cuidados Paliativos Diálogos con Expertos: “El círculo de la vida en cuidados paliativos: estudiantes hoy, paliativistas mañana; los programas formativos de cuidados paliativos.'' Web streaming. September 8, 2020.
Canada: Congress postponed
The 23rd International Congress on Palliative Care, held in Montreal, Canada, has been postponed from October 2020 to October 18-22, 2022, due to COVID-19.
Japan
14th Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Conference, "Building Bridges: Hospice Palliative Care Beyond Borders.” November 10-13, 2021. Kobe.
USA
2021 Leadership & Advocacy Conference. March 20-24, 2021. National Harbor, Maryland.
Essentials of Palliative Care Chaplaincy. Virtual learning. September 2-October 21,2020
The 2020 Virtual Interdisciplinary Conference. National Hospice and Palliative Care Association.
October 12-30, 2020. On-demand sessions available until December 31.
Available online
Global Palliative Care and COVID-19 Series: A compilation of 14 webinars, slides, and 25 briefing notes available here. Presented by IAHPC, ICPCN, PalCHASE, and WHPCA.
Find a workshop, seminar, congress, or conference to interest you in the IAHPC Calendar of Events, updated monthly, that lists activities of special interest to those who work in palliative care. Or submit an event for consideration; it’s free!
Do you have any questions regarding the IAHPC Calendar of Events?
In other news
CAPC Offers Clinicians Sessions on COVID-19 Issues
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Center to Advance Palliative Care is offering “consultant calls” hosted by CAPC faculty for clinicians caring for patients with COVID-19. Sessions are being held throughout September, but more will be added as needed. Clinicians must register online, but the sessions are free and open to all. The topics are:
- Communications Coaching with VitalTalk [Editor’s note: The VitalTalk app was reviewed in last month’s newsletter.]
- Tele-palliative Care and COVID-19: Connection at a Distance
- Relieving Moral Distress in the Time of COVID-19
- Resiliency: Coping During COVID-19
- Managing Through the COVID-19 Crisis
Each month, we publish items that may be of interest to our global readership. Contributions are welcomed.
- Content should describe opportunities to advance palliative care and improve knowledge, skills, and networking, e.g., education and training, travel grants, access to online resources, etc.
- 150 words maximum.
- Copy deadline: 20th of each month.
- Please submit your copy to the editor together with any JPEG images. 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.