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CAPC Palliative Care Discussion Forum
Palliative Care in Long Term Care Settings
Re:A successful nursing home programAuthor: LWilliams
Date: May 29, 2009 12:54 pm
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The first step is to have administrative support for starting a program. The next step is educating staff. We spent almost a year getting the major players educated, but it certainly can be done in less time.
As the lead organizer, and NP, I went and obtained training certification in ELNEC. Then I delivered the entire ELNEC course to a large diverse group of staff from all departments in our facility. We divided the modules into weekly sessions on the day shift and evening shift so that all could attend. During that time we pulled together a "team" of champions from each department who were committed to forming up a program.
As we moved along, we began to meet weekly to develop our tools and infrastructore and process. At the same time I became certified in palliative care, and we secured a medical director for the program. We began operating on an informal basis to work out the problems, and then formally began the program in the fall of 2006. It has been a huge benefit to families and has changed our approach to end-of-life care.
Our program is staffed by our facility asst. medical director, myself (NP), social worker, dietician, activities person, pastoral care director, with input from wound care and behavioral health staff.
Hope this helps.
Annie Durkin, CRNP, ACHPN
Potomac Valley Nursing Center
Director of Palliative Care