Thursday, December 10, 2009
1:30-2:30 PM Eastern
Details and registration.

SWHPN is co-sponsoring this conference with the Center to Advance Palliative Care. This session will demonstrate how palliative care programs benefit with a social worker on the team, as well as the financial logistics of supporting the position.

Featured Speakers:

• Amy Bauer, LISW, LISWS – 
Medical Senior Social Worker, Palliative Medicine Unit, Harry R. Horvitz Center for Palliative Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Health Systems
• Bill Mejia, LCSW – 
Palliative Care Social Worker, Palliative Care Consult Service, Huntington Hospital

The topic of the audioconference is the social work role in palliative care teams. Speakers include:

• Amy Bauer, LISW, the Harry R. Horvitz Center for Palliative Medicine,
Cleveland, OH
• Bill Mejia, LCSW, Huntington Hospital, Pasadena, CA

As the event date approaches, stay tuned to swhpn.org and our updates for further details and registration information.

Early Bird Registration Rates (before January 31, 2010)

Participants from Developed Countries/Regions: €500
Participants from Developing Countries/Regions and full-time students: €250

Standard Registration Rates

Participants from Developed Countries/Regions: €550
Participants from Developing Countries/Regions and full-time students: €275

Register before January 31, 2010, for savings. For more information visit: www.changinghealthdublin2010.com.

Member satisfaction is high: about 90% of respondents consider this new organization valuable and would recommend SWHPN to their colleagues. Become a SWHPN member today.

How useful are we?

According to the survey, the most useful member services we provide are online access to the Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care, and the articles and resources posted in our online community.

What do members want?

There is a significant amount of interest in webcasts, teleconferences and e-learning seminars about palliative and end-of-life care, especially if they include CEUs. We are focusing our resources on developing these educational opportunities as new member benefits. Many of our members also want more discounts on existing opportunities.

Frequently asked questions?

We’ve developed a FAQ page for members who are having some technical difficulties and other questions. As always, feel free to contact us if you have any unresolved membership issues or general input.

Throughout the month of August on the SWHPN LinkHealthPro discussion forum, Karen Bullock has been posting discussion topics, resources and commentary on current issues on culture and disparities in social work in end-of-life and palliative care. This topic is widely debated in current literature and is often misunderstood by practitioners of all disciplines. Karen presents recommended approaches to close the gap between ethnic minorities and non-minorities accessing hospice and palliative care and examines how the culture of particular groups can affect their understandings of life, death and end-of-life decision making.

This Month’s “Hear from the Expert” Objectives:

• Provide an overview of culturally variant worldviews and perspectives
• Explore diversity in communication, social interaction and family structure/functioning
• Promote strategies for cultural proficiency in end-of-life care

We want to hear from you. Follow Karen’s discussion on the LinkHealthPro SWHPN community. Click here to sign in and join in the discussions!

The SWHPN Executive Committee recently finalized details with AAHPM to host the 3^rd Social Work Preconference to the AAHPM Annual Assembly. This one-day conference will have separate registration from the full AAHPM meeting.

At this meeting, the 2010 PDIA Social Work Leadership Award will be presented to a leader who demonstrates excellence in research, education, practice or policy work. Preconference speakers and topics will be announced at a later date. The full brochure for the AAHPM conference will be made available in September. Click here for more information on the AAHPM Annual Meeting.

Visit the Member Dashboard to access audio recordings from the SWHPN preconference at the 2009 AAHPM Annual Assembly and other SWHPN conferences.

In August 2009, SWHPN Members received a policy update from SWHPN Vice Chair Gary Stein clarifying the challenges presented by recent health care reform bills promoting advance care planning.

Legislation and reports included in this update are:

• Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act of 2009, introduced on May 21, 2009, by West Virginia Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV. Click here to review the bill online. The SWHPN Executive Committee has sent a letter of endorsement to Senators Rockefeller and Susan Collins of Maine and other senators co-sponsoring this bill.
• The Senior Navigation and Planning Act, introduced by Sen. Mark Warner. Click here to review online.
• The House “Tri Committee” Bill. Click here to review online.
• Advance Directives and Advance Care Planning: Report to Congress. Click here to review online.

This policy update can serve as a guide for our members to better understand the recent political discussions on health care reform and how these proposed bills can affect social workers in hospice and palliative care.

Please review this policy update and the endorsement letter to the Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act of 2009 on the new Legislative Review section of the Member Dashboard. Forgot your SWHPN password? Click here. You may also print or copy the endorsement letter and send it to the bill co-sponsors and/or your senator or representative.

We encourage members to get involved in the discussion on the SWHPN online community. Log on to LinkHealthPro. Forgot your LinkHealthPro password? Click here.

In the letter, SWHPN suggests wording that incorporates social workers in palliative care teams and health care providers involved in advance care planning and advance directives decisions. Specifically, SWHPN is advocating for social workers to be eligible for the professional education and reimbursement opportunities proposed in this bill.

These amendments would include social workers in the a workforce promotion program as critical providers of psychosocial supports for patients and authorize the National Center on Palliative and End-of-Life Care to promote research on psychosocial care.

SWHPN also suggests that social workers be eligible to receive reimbursement for advance care planning conversations with patients, required to receive continuing education on end-of-life care and advance care planning, and be added to the team of providers offering long-distance, or telemedicine, services for patients and communities lacking access to skilled care.

SWHPN Members can review this letter and join the discussion on the SWHPN online community.

Call for manuscripts for special thematic issue on BEREAVEMENT

A range of psychosocial issues can influence the bereavement process and may vary by type of illness and death/dying experience. Manuscripts submitted for consideration could include issues of bereavement for people of all age groups and relationship types; diverse populations; anticipatory grief/bereavement issues; bereavement counseling; bereavement groups; hospice bereavement program issues or any other related topic. Manuscripts should address practice implications for social work/mental health professionals regarding the issue identified.

Call for manuscripts for special thematic issue on THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN END-OF-LIFE AND PALLIATIVE CARE

Culture and ethnicity plays a significant role in all aspects of the dying experience, the provision of care at the end of life and addressing issues of pain and palliative care management by health professionals. This issue will focus on how culture affects interactions/interventions with individuals and families dealing with life-limiting illnesses. Manuscripts submitted for consideration could include issues of cultural or ethnic disparities in access to end-of-life and palliative care or pain management; cross-cultural comparisons examining differences in communication, decision making, coping with death and bereavement; effectiveness of interventions designed for working with specific cultures; or other related topics. Manuscripts should address practice implications for social work/mental health professionals regarding the issue identified.

Manuscripts must follow APA style of writing and should be no more than 20-25 pages (longer manuscripts may be considered).   Address questions about this call (such as whether your topic/idea is appropriate) to Ellen L. Csikai, editor at 205-348-4447 or ecsikai@sw.ua.edu. Submissions should be sent electronically to:

Ellen L. Csikai, Ph.D, ecsikai@sw.ua.edu, The University of Alabama, School of Social Work, Box 870314, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487-0314

Advance care planning and the use of advance directives provide mechanisms for ensuring individual autonomy at the end of life. Three key findings of the study are:

• Effective advance care planning is an ongoing process best accomplished through continuing communication among individuals, clinicians and family members.
• Interventions for advance care planning can be carried out successfully; replication and implementation via health information technology hold promise for improving care toward the end of life.
• Advance care planning must shift from a focus on formal written advance directive forms to a developmental discussion process.  Specific attention could be given to models such as the POLST (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) program paradigm.

Full report [PDF]