Patients nearing the end of their lives face different needs and concerns as they seek relief from the pain and suffering associated with their illness. There is a growing national movement toward better understanding end-of-life issues in our traditionally death-averse society and preparing health-care professionals to better treat those for whom the goal is not cure, but care, and a "good death."
The Wayne State University Center to Advance Palliative-Care Excellence, with co-sponsors Hospice of Michigan's Maggie Allesee Center for Quality of Life, Hospices of Henry Ford, the Oakwood Health System and the John D. Dingell Veteran's Administration Medical Center, is hosting a special day-and-a-half conference to educate physicians, nurses and other health professionals in more effective end-of-life practice by combining the best of two nationally acclaimed curricula.
"All Things Fall: EPEC and ELNEC Collaborative Palliative and End-of-Life Training for Physicians and Nurses" will take place from 8:15 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, and 8 a.m.-11:45 a.m. or 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center, 18101 Oakwood Blvd., in Dearborn.
In both medicine and nursing, efforts are focusing on the development and use of national education programs to train students and practitioners in the principles and practices of skillful end-of-life and palliative care. The Educate Physicians on End-of-Life Care Project was prepared by the American Medical Association in cooperation with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the parallel End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium was developed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the City of Hope Medical Center in Los Angeles. Both have been refined through several years of testing and evaluation and have proved effective in raising the knowledge levels of providers in caring for the seriously ill.
Content from both programs will be covered in interdisciplinary sessions conducted by physicians and nurses who have been certified as trainers. Health-care professionals who complete the day-and-a-half program will receive a Certificate of Training in either EPEC or ELNEC along with curriculum materials that can be used in their practice settings.
Participants who also attend the half-day session Saturday afternoon on teaching methods will be certified as either EPEC or ELNEC trainers and receive appropriate instructional materials. Also on Saturday afternoon, Dr. John Finn, of Hospice of Michigan, will lead a discussion on the EPEC curriculum for oncology and review additional specialty practice modules that are becoming available. Dr. Finn's session is open to physicians and other interested health-care providers.
Registration is $125 per person for the ELNEC training, including CEUs, and $300 per person for the EPEC training, including CMEs. Both fees also include all related program materials. Students with proof of enrollment may register for a reduced fee of $100, but will not receive CEUs or CMEs. There is an additional fee of $75 for the "Train the Trainer" session Saturday afternoon or to attend Dr. Finn's EPEC modules presentation. Payment may be made by check, Visa, MasterCard or American Express.
To register, contact Kathleen Kadau, of the Maggie Allesee Center for Quality of Life at Hospice of Michigan, at (313) 578-6301 or kkadau@hom.org. For more information on the conference, contact Dr. Stephanie Myers Schim, CAPEWAYNE associate director for education, at (313) 577-4034 or s.schim@wayne.edu.