Center to Advance Palliative Care

At the upcoming National Hospice and Palliative Care Ogn meeting in New Orleans there is an entire track devoted to palliatice care and one of the sessions is "Reaching Out to Communities about Palliative Care".

I've learned through mentoring the orgns that come through the Bluegrass Palliative Care Leadership Center training that it is consistently confusing for start up programs, but it does get better over time. Education is the key. It is typical that new programs get "hospice appropriate" referrals but the education process and their learning over time that referrals are appropriate at earlier stages, even at diagnosis and that the individuals issues change as the person meets different milestones in the course of their illness. For many, it is when the illness drives the person's life that they start thinking palliative care, while still getting curative treatment. Because the referring clinicians learn this over time as they learn what palliative care can do for their patients, it takes time for the process to progress. Which is why it is fine that a referral be written for "palliative care/hospice" and it is actually the consult team who make the determination at the time they meet with the patient/family as to which service is actually needed.

CAPC has the "getpalliativecare.org" web site that has materials to help sort through the difference. NHPCO through"Caring Connections"
caringinfo.org also addresses these issues, and are geared to the public.

Hope this helps.