Coordinating Care at the End of Life: The Role of Hospice
A New Electronic Self-Study Course

The American Hospice Foundation (AHF) announces a new electronic self-study course for nurses, social workers and other health professionals who provide case management or discharge planning services for people with terminal illness. Available on CD-ROM, the course is designed to help healthcare professionals better understand the role of hospice in providing high quality care in the last stage of life. The course focuses on communication skills to initiate advance care planning and to reach consensus on end-of-life care decisions with patients, families and physicians.

AHF developed this course for clinicians who are strategically positioned to facilitate referrals to hospice and to improve the management of pain and other end-of-life complications. A study reported in the January 7, 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that “bereaved family members of patients with home hospice services (in contrast to the other settings of care) reported higher satisfaction, fewer concerns with care, and fewer unmet needs.” (Teno et al., pp 88-93) In this study, care provided to patients receiving home hospice services was rated by their family members as “excellent” more than 70% of the time “compared with less than 50% of those dying in institutional settings or with home health services.”

Yet, despite the fact that it is widely available, hospice is underutilized across the country. (Last Acts, Means to a Better End: A Report on Dying in America Today, November 2002) Among the most significant barriers to hospice care are: 1) lack of public awareness and understanding of hospice, and 2) the reluctance of health professionals to discuss end-of-life options with their patients. To address these barriers, AHF designed this course to provide health professionals with an in-depth understanding of hospice care and to equip them with tools that will help them discuss end-of-life issues with their patients and families.

The course comprises lectures by Dr. Gerald Holman, a renowned hospice educator, supported by PowerPoint slides, reference material, exercises and job-related tools. With an introduction by Naomi Naierman, AHF’s President and CEO, the course is offered in nine modules:

• The Need for Hospice
• What is Hospice
• Symptom Management
• Hospice Insurance Benefits
• Planning Ahead
• Discussing Hospice
• Comprehensive Assessment for Hospice
• Cultural Issues
• Looking Forward

Learning Objectives

The nine modules are built on learning objectives, which will enable participants to:

• Cite specific study results that demonstrate the need for hospice.
• Describe how the length of stay is decreasing while the number of hospice programs is growing.
• Identify common misperceptions about hospice.
• List and discuss the principles of hospice care.
• Describe historical patterns of illness and goals of care.
• Explain the goals of hospice care and why early intervention is desirable.
• Identify common end-of-life symptoms.
• List effective drugs and other therapies.
• Identify common misperceptions about drug therapies.
• List Medicare covered services.
• List services that are not covered by Medicare.
• Compare typical commercial insurance coverage with Medicare benefits.
• Distinguish the types of advance care planning and the associated documents.
• Explain how to use advance care planning as an opportunity to introduce hospice to patients and families.
• Describe how and when to introduce the idea of hospice care to patients, family members, physicians, and other healthcare team members.
• Identify common myths about hospice and ways to dispel them.
• Demonstrate ways to gain consensus and facilitate decision-making about end-of-life care.
• Describe the use of whole-patient criteria to determine readiness for hospice care.
• Identify patients who are appropriate for hospice care.
• Identify some ways cultures differ on issues related to end-of-life preferences.
• Explain the importance of treating each patient as an individual within the context of a cultural group.
• Identify barriers to good end-of-life care and ways to address them.
• Describe a new vision of hospice care.

Faculty

Dr. Gerald Holman is a distinguished hospice physician with extensive experience in hospice and end-of-life care. His depth of experience includes the following:

• Hospice medical director for 19 years
• Nationally recognized EPEC trainer (Education for Physicians on End-of-Life Care)
• Past President of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
• Founding Chairman of the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
• Formerly the Chief of Staff at the Amarillo, TX, Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Medical Center, where he was involved with the VA’s National Hospice Initiative
• Certified by the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the American Board of Pediatrics, the American Board of Pediatric Endocrinology, and the American Board of Human Genetics (Clinical Genetics)

Continuing Education (CE) Credit

Nurses:
The material presented in the education sessions represents the opinions of the speakers and not necessarily the views of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). NHPCO is approved as a provider of continuing education in nursing by the Virginia Nurses Association, which is accredited as an approver of continuing education in nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. VNA-CEA Provider Number 03-03-03. Accredited status by ANCC and VNA refers only to continuing nursing education activities and does not imply endorsement of any commercial product. This course is approved for 7.8 continuing education contact hours.

Social Workers:
This program was approved by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) (provider #886407430) for 6.5 continuing education contact hours.

Case Managers:
This program has been approved by the Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC) for 6.25 continuing education contact hours.

Cost of CD-ROM Course: $120, plus 15% shipping and handling (volume discounts are available).

CE Certificates may be purchased for $10 each after passing the final exam and completing the course evaluation

Refund policy: Full reimbursement is guaranteed for unused materials returned within 2 weeks.

Technical Requirements

Note: CD-ROM is PC compatible only.

A brief demonstration of the course may be viewed at http://www.americanhospice.org/roh-demo/bestsettings.htm

To order, call 202-223-0204

CAUTIONARY NOTE:
Unauthorized duplication and distribution of these copyrighted materials may subject you to penalties for infringement. Only purchasers of this course may apply for CE credit. Each course sold is assigned a tracking number. Only one course completion certificate may be purchased per tracking number. Course completion certificates are sent within two weeks of purchase.
Please note that you may not be certified more than once for this program. We maintain a test history file, which keeps track of tests you have passed and the date when the test was successfully
completed.