Palliative Care Blog

Healing Through Art: Art Talent Not Required!

In a society where perfect records are admired when achieved, like winning the Tour de France, claiming an Oscar, or becoming a billionaire, coloring “outside of the lines” is not very often seen as the ultimate achievement. Yet, letting our individual thoughts or feelings come out through the creation of art can be immensely therapeutic for people who’ve experienced trauma, loss, or difficult change.

Stress is on the Rise

Surveys conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association in late 2016, noted in a US News article, said that stress is on the rise among Americans, not only due to political tension domestically and internationally, as well as due to increased acts of violence and over-saturation from electronic information. People are experiencing these tensions through their external world, but also experiencing stress personally, through domestic violence, PTSD, increasing levels of chronic illness, caring for family members, and more.

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What Does “Palliative Care” Mean in the Academy?

Faculty Explore Vastly Different Research to Alleviate Suffering

When researchers gather at the National Symposium for Academic Palliative Care Education & Research September 28-29 in San Diego, we’ll see how different their perspectives and experiences are – which underscores that “palliative care” exploration and pedagogy varies widely in the academy. But their work has the common denominator of easing the suffering of fellow humans.

The Symposium is a place where conversations among members of the academic community, from all disciplines, can coalesce, blending ideas and evidence from their work in spiritual, emotional, mental or physical aspects of illnesses, with the goal of finding new ways to integrate the palliative care message into their research endeavors and curriculum.

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Chaplain Leadership in the Field of Palliative Care

By Jamie Beachy, PhD, Certified ACPE Educator

Palliative care stands at the forefront of growing fields within health care. With a focus on the whole person, including the spiritual dimension of health, palliative care increases patient and provider satisfaction, provides equal or better symptom control, creates more discernment of and honoring of choices about quality of life, leads to fewer and less intensive hospital admissions in the last months of life, decreases anxiety and depression, supports less caregiver distress, and creates cost savings (Hughes & Smith, 2014).

Palliative care can be defined as patient- and family-centered approach to care that is provided throughout the continuum of illness for those with serious or chronic illness. Delivered by an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary team, palliative care optimizes quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering.

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New Online Certificate Course Supports Chaplain Leadership in the Field of Palliative Care

By Jamie Beachy, PhD, Certified ACPE Educator

Palliative care stands at the forefront of growing fields within health care. With a focus on the whole person, including the spiritual dimension of health, palliative care increases patient and provider satisfaction, provides equal or better symptom control, creates more discernment of and honoring choices about quality of life, leads to fewer and less intensive hospital admissions in the last month of life, decreases anxiety and depression, supports less caregiver distress, and creates cost savings (Hughes & Smith, 2014).

Palliative care can be defined as patient and family-centered approach to care that is provided throughout the continuum of illness for those with serious or chronic illness. Delivered by an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary team, palliative care optimizes quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering.

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Policy Expert Will Weave Its Importance into Symposium Agenda

Grant’s Washington Experience Links to Importance in Curriculum

Marian Grant, DNP, CRNP (ACNP-BC), ACHPN, FPCN, RN, Policy Consultant for The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) and the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), is one of two panelists who will be engaging the 2017 National Symposium for Academic Palliative Care Education and Research’s audience on Policy and Quality Reporting in Palliative Care: Opportunities and Challenges for Academic Faculty.

Dr. Grant’s career path is unique among the Symposium presenters, a story worth sharing to illustrate that what begets success often comes from the courage it takes to reinvent one’s self.

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