Volume 23, Number 9: September 2022

IAHPC Comprehensive Symptom Assessment & Management Course Begins September 30

Module 1 of the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care’s Comprehensive Symptom Assessment and Management Course takes place on September 30. The eight-module course is free for members, who will be notified about registration in an upcoming email. Participants can attend the Zoom modules live, or view the recordings later.

There will be a module for each of the following symptoms or related symptoms:

• fatigue
• delirium
• gastrointestinal symptoms (two modules): anorexia/cachexia, constipation, diarrhea, malignant bowel obstruction, oral symptoms
• dyspnea, cough, and death rattle
• insomnia
• psychological distress

This course is designed to increase the knowledge and skills necessary to provide patient-centered management of symptoms other than pain that are common in adult palliative care. Upon completion, participants should be proficient in assessing and evaluating symptoms and identifying pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment options based on disease states and other factors.

The course is being taught by the chair and three professors of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine, as well as Chitra Venkateswaran, MD, an IAHPC board member and clinical director and founder of the MEHAC (Mental Health Care and Research) Foundation. The MD Anderson faculty are: Eduardo Bruera, MD, (department chair); Aimee Christie, MS, PhD; David Hui, MD, MSc; and Donna S. Zhukovsky, MD, FACP, FAAHPM.

Drs. Bruera and Zhukovsky are teaching the first module, comprising an introduction to palliative care integration around the globe and the approach to symptom assessment.

The course takes approximately 10 hours to complete; modules will roll out weekly, ending in November. It is a corollary to IAHPC’s Comprehensive Pain Assessment and Management Course that ended in August.

Editor’s note: An overview of the final three modules of the pain assessment course is in this issue of the newsletter. Read an overview of Modules 1-3 in our July Newsletter, and of Modules 4-6 in the August Newsletter.

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A New Advocacy Tool

The International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care’s Senior Advocacy and Partnerships Director, Katherine Pettus, PhD, has created a Palliative Care and Essential Medicines Table of Authorities and Resources now available on the IAHPC website’s Advocacy page.

This Table of Authorities is a living document designed to provide advocates with easy access to the many international agreements their governments have approved authorizing palliative care provision and access to medicines. It includes resolutions by the World Health Organization and Commission on Narcotic Drugs, reports of the International Narcotics Control Board, statements on access to controlled medicines, Palliative Care Atlases, and more. As a living document, the list of resources will continue to grow over time.

Dr. Pettus is working on a sister document, a Table of Authorities of Policies and Guidelines from different countries and regions.

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World Day: An opportunity to support palliative care globally

A celebration of the power of palliative care to produce “Healing Hearts & Communities” is the theme of this year's World Hospice & Palliative Care Day, being held on Saturday, October 8.

World Hospice & Palliative Care Day, called the snappier World Day in communiqués by organizer the Worldwide Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance, has matured from one woman’s project in 1989 to raise awareness for a local hospice into an international unified day of action to raise public awareness and fundraise globally. The WHPCA invites participants to list their event on its world map, and suggests that they use the hashtags #HealingHeartsandCommunities, #GoodGrief, and #WHPCDay22.

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Sign Up in September for 20% Off Your IAHPC Membership!

Join or renew your membership in the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care now to enjoy all the benefits for 20% less. Here are just a few of the many ways that IAHPC serves its members:

• Supporting palliative care systems, projects, and advocacy—especially in lower-income countries. This is the goal of everything that IAHPC staff members do: from one-on-one advice for those in the front lines of care, to supporting training programs for groups or institutions, to advocating for palliative care to be written into national legislation, budgets, and international guidelines…and so much more.
• Teaching and practicing palliative care advocacy. Members have access to a master class by Senior Advocacy and Partnerships Director Katherine Pettus. They also have the opportunity to apply to become part of IAHPC delegations to regional and international meetings.
• Detailing how best to assess and treat pain, and how to use opioids safely and effectively. Members also have access to IAHPC’s most recent course: Comprehensive Pain Assessment and Management. (A course on symptoms other than pain is imminent!)

This discount is for all levels of membership, both individual and institutional. If you have been wondering how to make a difference in this world, or want to improve care for your own patients, joining IAHPC is an excellent step. Do it soon! The discount ends September 30.

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Tidbits

Info-tainment

On Instagram, #forhospicenurses is a compendium of tips by Shelley Henry, who has spent 20 years nursing in palliative care settings. Her videos include:

• information that coroners ask for when you report a death
• benefits of a Macy (rectal) catheter
• using nebulized morphine to reduce extreme air hunger for patients with end-stage pulmonary diseases
• how to reduce the need for frequent linen changes for incontinent patients

One drawback? You don’t know the topic until you click!

TikTok’s hospicenursepenny, Penny Lang, has several short—highly entertaining—videos, but also longer videos with detailed advice on subjects (identified by their white-on-black titles) such as:

• always narrate your care, even for unresponsive patients;
• what the last hours/days are like for a person dying a natural death and what you can do to support them;
• the “3P”s of end-of-life care: needing to poop, needing to pee, feeling pain—and why you need to assess and treat them all.

Two new resources

The Nepali version of the Palliative Care Toolkit, created by the
Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, was launched in August. As with other lower-income countries, the demand for palliative care in Nepal is increasing along with the rate of noncommunicable diseases. This edition of the toolkit marks its 10th language. All are available here.

In July, the International Children’s Palliative Care Network released a free e-learning course on care in humanitarian settings that “looks at ways health care workers, community volunteers, and family members may integrate a children’s palliative care approach during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Dates & deadlines

September 11, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. Central European Time is the deadline to contribute to the World Health Organization stakeholder survey, “Assessing barriers, enablers, and priority actions for improving access to morphine for medical use.”

Friday, October 14, 2022, is Hats On for Children’s Palliative Care Day, aka #hatson4cpc. Register your event with the organizer, the International Children’s Palliative Care Network.

October 15, 2022, is the deadline to submit an abstract for the European Association of Palliative Care’s 2023 World Congress.

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What’s New in the Calendar

New listings

Access all items in the IAHPC Calendar of Events.

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