Literature Review

There aren't enough dementia providers in Arizona. This unique campus offers training KJZZ Phoenix, AZ; by Kathy Ritchie; 11/15/24 Arizona has the fastest growth rate of Alzheimer’s disease in the country. Yet there are not enough paid caregivers or even geriatricians — only 92 in the entire state — for this population. So how do you educate, even inspire, health care students to care about dementia? As the saying goes, if you build it, they will come. Judy Ward is chatting with three nursing students from Creighton University when a group of preschoolers toddle on by. ... The children attend a care center located at Hospice of the Valley’s Dementia Care and Education Campus in Arcadia. That’s also where Judy’s adult day club for people living with dementia is situated, along with a 12-bed assisted living community and a hospice unit. ...

Diagnosed with disease he studied, Stanford doctor puts his personal story at center of new class. NBC Bay Area; 10/24/24 Stanford Medicine physician Dr. Bryant Lin is the perfect professor to teach the course “From Diagnosis to Dialogue: A Doctor's Real-Time Battle with Cancer” at Stanford. And that’s not necessarily a good thing. The class focuses on the cancer journey of a non-smoking patient diagnosed with lung cancer. Dr. Lin is that patient. “I want to take something that is obviously very negative to me personally and get some benefit out of it for at least for other people,” Dr. Lin said. 20 years ago, Dr. Lin chose a career in medicine for a simple reason. “I wanted that personal connection and that satisfaction from helping people on a day-to-day basis,” Dr, Lin said. This same motivation led Dr. Lin to co-found Stanford’s Center for Asian Health Research and Education in 2018, with a particular focus on lung cancer in non-smokers. This is why Dr. Lin was (and in a way was not) surprised when earlier this year he found himself part of the 20% of lung cancer patients who have never smoked. ...  [Click on the title's link to continue reading this inspirational story.]

Palliative and hospice care in the prehospital setting

Improv for Caregivers receives a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts EINPressWire; by A. A. Cristi; 9/23/24 The New London Barn Playhouse received an arts in health grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts to continue and expand their Improv for Caregivers program through a larger umbrella program titled “Improv for a Cause.” “Improv for a Cause” will encompass two communication programs that use a similar process to reach different communities. The first, Improv for Caregivers, in partnership with Lake Sunapee Region VNA & Hospice, is an ongoing communication workshop series for those who care for loved ones with dementia and Alzheimer's. ... Each improv workshop session combines insight from healthcare professionals with improvisational theatre techniques, with a goal of developing new communication skills, strategies to cope with stress, flexibility in relationships, and an understanding of loved ones' changing perspectives. With guidance from the VNA and caregivers in the community, the team of actors prepare short scenarios that portray situations caregivers commonly face, such as sundowning, taking away car keys, collaborating with care staff, and hallucinations. ...

Global collaboration launches culturally inclusive palliative care education tool Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 9/16/24 An international collaboration has led to the development of a new palliative care training tool aimed at improving quality and equitable access. Health systems across the globe are recognizing a growing need to boost the supply of providers able to care for a swelling, aging population of serious and terminally ill patients. Rising demand was among the driving forces behind the newly unveiled COllaboratively DEveloped culturalY Appropriate and inclusive Assessment tool for Palliative Care Education (CODE-YAA@PC-EDU). The palliative care education tool was developed in concert by the Council of Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations. The organizations joined forces to design a sustainable training model that could build up the palliative workforce. The project is supported in part by the research network European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST).

Phoenix Home Care and Hospice shares Medicare Mondays on Silver Notes NBC KSNF-16,  Joplin, MO; byWendi Douglas; 9/12/24 News segment for community education about Medicare for seniors, provided by a local hospice nurse.

Nursing students learning to respect culture, tradition at the end of life St. Cloud Live, St. Joseph, MN; by Stephanie Dickrell; 9/6/24  It is called the golden hour — the hour before someone’s death. It’s a time of grief, but it’s also a sacred space. Two nursing instructors at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University are trying to make that time better for patients and their loved ones by better preparing their students who will be with them in their final moments. While the rituals surrounding death may vary by time, geography and culture, the program wants to make sure all cultures are respected. ... Julie Keller Dornbusch and Mary Pesch, both trained as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses ... received a prestigious grant from the Morgan Family Foundation of nearly $100,000 to create and test nursing simulations using culturally specific care for the Catholic community, Somali Muslims and Ojibwe people.Editor's note: This article indicates that "training material on culturally specific end-of-life care" is non-existent. This statement is misleading. Examine:

Sophisticated caregiver training remains an underutilized retention, ROI tool Home Health Care News; by Audrie Martin; 8/22/24 ... [Only] 43.8% of home-based care staff and 55% of home health and hospice staff feel prepared to care for new clients, according to the 2024 Activated Insights Benchmarking Report. As a possible result, the annual care staff turnover rate has climbed 14% in the last two years to almost 80%. Organizations demonstrating a commitment to continuing education improve employee satisfaction by allowing caregivers to hone their skills and grow in their careers. Investing in employees’ long-term success will impart a sense of purpose and possibility within a role known for turnover and burnout. “The average home-based care provider offers five hours of orientation and eight hours of ongoing training,” the report read. “Those who offer at least eight orientation hours and 12 hours of ongoing training see an increase of $1,103,291 in revenue. However, while establishing a clear path is one of the top strategies to retaining long-term employees, only 39% of providers have one.”

Elder abuse is unreported. City employees will now be trained to recognize it. San Antonio Report, TX; by Iris Dimmick; 8/21/24 City of San Antonio employees will soon be trained on how to identify and report elder abuse thanks to a collaborative effort to increase awareness of the underreported “crisis” gripping the community. City Council’s Public Safety Committee greenlit the policy Tuesday, which directs the city’s Department of Human Services and Texas Adult Protective Services (APS) to develop training curricula for staff. ... The largest share of elderly abuse cases in Bexar County is reported by medical personnel, followed by relatives, community agencies and the victims themselves. In 2022, a woman died in a local hospital after her three adult children allegedly neglected her hospice care. In 2018, a caretaker in San Antonio was charged with several felonies after police found an elderly, disabled woman was languishing in soiled clothes for months at a time.Editor's Note: What elder neglect and abuse training do you require for your hospice and palliative care interdisciplinary team members and volunteers? What incident reporting and follow-up systems do you have in place? The CMS Hospice Conditions of Participation requires the patient's comprehensive assessment to include "a thorough evaluation of the caregiver's and family's willingness and capability to care for the patient." Subpart A, § 418.3 

Education curricula need to incorporate whole-person care beyond electives Pharmacy Times; by Ashely Gallaher; 7/21/24“[Whole-person care is] simply caring for a person and not just their pills. It's making sure that we're focusing on medications as tools to help people live better, healthier lives, and not as the focus of their lives,” Kashelle Lockman, PharmD, MA, clinical assistant professor and clinical pharmacy specialist at the University of Iowa. ... 3 Key Takeaways:

Pain management in the wake of the opioid crisis Forbes; by Web Golinkin; 7/15/24 Pain is the single most frequent reason for patient visits in the United States. An estimated 20 percent of adults experience chronic pain, and nearly seven percent experience a level of chronic pain that limits their daily activities. However, most doctors and other healthcare professionals have very little education in pain management, according to Scott Fishman, MD, an internationally recognized expert in pain management, ... This lack of education was one of the main causes of the Opioid Crisis, Fishman says ... of the part of the crisis that was caused by the over-prescribing of opioids, many clinicians have become so wary of the medical-legal issues surrounding pain management that they have gone from an overly liberal approach to a restrictive one in which some prescribers are effectively abandoning patients who need to have their symptoms treated. Both extremes are frequently fueled by lack of knowledge and training, according to Fishman. ... The solution is to close the education gap ...

Penn Health CEO on piecing together the healthcare hiring puzzle Becker's Hospital Review - Leadership & Management; by Madeline Ashley; 6/17/24 ... Penn Medicine has introduced programs to students and young people that will not only inspire them to join the healthcare industry, but prepare and train them for the opportunities that lie ahead. "I think the world needs mission oriented people," Kevin Mahoney [CEO of Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania Health System] told Becker's. "You've got to believe in where you're working, otherwise you're just punching the clock." In late May, the health system partnered with Heights Philadelphia, an organization that connects middle schoolers and up with career and college opportunities, and Philadelphia City Council majority leader Katherine Richardson to hold a career event. ... "By introducing students to the field, we’re creating a pathway to careers that enrich lives and make a difference in others. Encouraging careers in health care also helps to strengthen the field overall, ensuring a pipeline poised to answer the needs of the future." [Click on the title's link to read more of this innovative solution, and other student-oriented programs.] 

Project ECHO: 5 years of fostering learning in your community Dartmouth Health; by Connections Magazine and modified for the web; 6/25/24 Teach, teach, learn, learn. That is the model Project ECHO® at Dartmouth Health uses to connect people and their communities in a virtual setting, sharing knowledge between participants and subject matter experts. The program is especially helpful for rural communities seeking expertise on a broad range of health and medical issues. ... ECHO is an acronym for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes. ... The past three cohorts of the Palliative Care ECHO have been very successful, and the program content has continued to evolve over time. The sessions have had an average of 70 participants and have received high scores on feedback metrics. Fifty percent of participants were repeat attendees. “Our mission is to improve palliative care throughout our region, and our leadership is committed to the model,” Kathleen Broglio, DNP says. “This was the culmination of what I hoped to do in my career.” Editor's Note: Memorable quote from this article, "“Everyone is a teacher, and everyone is a learner,” says Kathleen Broglio, DNP, associate professor of medicine and a nurse practitioner of palliative medicine. Broglio has co-led the Palliative Care ECHO with Robin Larson, MD, MPH through three courses (cohorts) and with the support of the Project ECHO team at Dartmouth Health.