Announcements & Resources

2019; Volume 20, No 3, March

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.

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.

Announcements

Apply Now for IAHPC Traveling Scholarships

The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) is pleased to announce it will provide Traveling Scholarships to support the travel of palliative care workers to attend the following educational events:

8 scholarships for the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference (OPCC) in Perth, Australia, 10-13 September 2019. The deadline to apply is May 10, 2019. Results will be announced in early June.
5 scholarships for the 6th International African Palliative Care Assocation (APCA) Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, 17-20 September 2019. The deadline to apply is May 10, 2019. Results will be announced in early June.

Applicants from all disciplines are welcome. In order to apply for a traveling scholarship, applicants must meet the following criteria:

Be current IAHPC members. If you wish to apply and are not an IAHPC member, you may join by clicking here.
Be current members at the time of the conference, workshop, congress or event.

Preference will be given to applicants who:

Have not received grants from IAHPC in the past 3 years.
Have been active IAHPC members for two or more consecutive years.
Whose institution is an active IAHPC member. To see institutional members click here.
Are living in Lower, Lower-Middle and Upper-Middle income categories as per the World Bank income classification data. To see click here.
Are dedicated full-time to palliative care in their current work.
Graduated less than 10 years ago from university.
Have an accepted abstract for poster/oral presentation. Proof of acceptance is required.
Describe in their applications long-term goals which lead to improvements in any or all of the following areas: service provision; education; availability of and access to medicines; and public policy.

This program offers funding for travel and registration only. Applicants need to secure funding from other sources to cover additional expenses. The IAHPC website has more detailed information on the application process and the online form.

MOOC: Improving Palliative Care in Care Homes for Older People

Examine how care homes are organized in six European countries, and how palliative care in care homes can be improved for older people, in a free online course given by Dr. Sheila Payne of Lancaster University. The massive open online course, or MOOC, available for 5 weeks as of April 1, is constructed to take 3 weeks to complete.

Using the PACE Steps to Success program, the course will focus on:

How to apply the six steps to success (discussing current and future care, mapping a patient’s changes, coordinating care, improving assessment and pain management, care after death)

How to enact change and keep it going
Key components of palliative care
Case studies involving good practices

Resources

New in this month’s IAHPC Calendar of Events

‘Tenemos que Hablar’ Serious Illness Conversation Workshop, 22-23 March 2019, Madrid, Spain

Cuidado Compasivo e Investigación Cualitativa, 25-27 March 2019, Madrid, Spain

Inaugural International Conference on Palliative Dementia Care (ICPDC), 8-10 May 2019, Belfast, Ireland

Pre-Conference Session: Enabling Leaders in Palliative Care, 22 May 2019, Berlin, Germany

2nd Interprofessional Train-the-Trainer Spiritual Care Education Curriculum (ISPEC), 9-11 July 2019, Honolulu, Hawaii

Art of Presence – 14th Annual Healthcare Renewal Retreat, 14-20 August 2019, Assisi, Italy

Do you have any questions regarding the IAHPC Calendar of Events?

Contact Ms. Julia Libreros

LivingOutLoud.Life: A platform for young adults with advanced illness

By Marissa Ambalina, VirtualHospice.ca

LivingOutLoud.Life is a free, international online platform dedicated to supporting and empowering adolescents and young adults (AYAs) living with advanced illness.

The site comprises young people sharing their stories about, relationships, daily life, decisions, sex and fertility, and more. The short video clips are unscripted, unfiltered and unforgettable. Leading health experts from Canada and the US have also contributed content to the site.

A French version of the site is expected to launch in May 2019.

LivingOutLoud.Life is currently partway through a 100-day social media campaign that began on February 4, 2019, inviting other ADAs to share their stories and posting them online.

Meet some of the AYAs:

Janelle: ‘Being a young adult with advanced cancer’
Denis: ‘It’s hard to start new relationships when you think you are going to die’
Katie: ‘The financial stress of being young and living with cancer’
Jayda: ‘Sex is often complicated’

This project was enacted when Virtual Hospice teamed up with young Canadians living with advanced illness, The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, The Thomas Sill Foundation, Young Adult Cancer Canada, and Team Shan Breast Cancer Awareness for Young Women.

Effective Australian Resource Yields Unexpected Results

‘My Toolkit’ was designed to bring about positive change to workplace behavior of health care professionals at the point of care; in other words, to change how people behave on the job.

In December, an evaluation was published in the BMJ Open Quality online journal after 439 kits were distributed throughout Australia; 65 responded to the survey.

Results were significant

93.7% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the toolkit was relevant to their profession
92.1% said it was relevant to them personally
Respondents felt more confident in discussing end-of-life matters with colleagues, and patients and their families.
Almost 60% of users reported they had implemented a change to their own workplace behavior in 4 weeks or less; others said they planned on making a change in the near future.

Surprising uses found

Unexpectedly, the researchers found that the toolkit, intended as a personal resource, was being used as an educational resource. It was also being used more widely than intended; 9.3% of requesters were educators, managers, volunteers, aged care workers, pastoral support workers, policy makers, project officers, a terminally ill patient, and an end-of-life doula.

The End Of Life Toolkit is available from the End of Life Essentials website. It is free to access but registration is required.

Cancer Blog: Expertise in research, prevention & support

The Australian-based Cancer Blog features about 200 blog posts. They bring you the latest from experts in the fields of cancer research, prevention, and support. Find out how to help reduce you and your family’s risk of cancer, information about managing cancer and survivorship, as well as research discoveries and stories from our volunteers and supporters.

The blog posts are arranged in categories, including: Coping with Cancer, Prevention & Screening, Research, Healthy Lifestyles, Survivorship, Sun Protection.

Reader Recommended

There are three main resources I use to stay current and stay inspired about palliative care:

Fast Facts, Palliative Care Network of Wisconsin. Every time I think about a particular challenge or am curious about a best practice I can usually find some guidance. Some days I'll have a particularly challenging patient case and what drops into my inbox? A Fast Fact for that exact situation!
When I'm not at a computer, I really enjoy the GeriPal podcast by Eric Widera and Alex Smith. Their insights help me think about how we can get palliative care more ‘upstream.’
Palliative Care Chat by Lynn McPherson, University of Maryland. As a pharmacist, I don't want to just pay attention to medications as the solution for every problem. The podcast does a great job interviewing diverse professionals. I was listening to it the other day and learned all about veterinary palliative care/hospice!

— Ryan C. Costantino, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

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