Palliative Care Blog

Passion, Purpose, and Preparation: The Power of Palliative Social Work

By Shirley Otis-Green, MSW, MA, ACSW, LCSW, OSW-C

How are you spending your days? Wisely and well? Working in palliative and oncology care, I am acutely conscious of how quickly time passes and how uncertain is our future. My wish for you is that your days are filled with passion. Passion for your family and friends and personal interests, but passion for your work as well.

Passion is our strongest motivator and most reliable indicator that our actions are authentically our own. Passion fuels our efforts to be a force for change. And a transformation in how care is currently delivered is desperately needed. Our fragmented health “system” is poorly designed for the care that our patients and their care partners so urgently need.

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Palliative Care: The Next Frontier for APRNs?

Advanced Practice Nurses Find Deep Satisfaction in Improving Care for People with Serious Illness

Palliative care is delivered to patients and their families when they are at their most vulnerable, a perfect fit for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who love the challenge of working with complex situations and building close relationships with their patients and families.

Palliative care focuses on providing relief from physical symptoms and stress of a serious illnesses, addressing the whole person. Although sometimes confused with hospice, it’s important to remember hospice is a specific type of palliative care designed to address the needs of those who have 6 months or less to live. In other words, hospice care is always palliative, but not all palliative care is hospice care. Palliative care can be offered at any point in a serious illness, from diagnosis onward—alongside curative treatment or without it.

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San Diego Nurse Educator Honored with 3rd annual Doris A. Howell, MD, Award for Advancing Palliative Care

A nurse educator whose passion for improving care for people with serious illness has made a profound impact on countless patients, families, and healthcare providers in the San Diego region has been recognized by the California State University of Palliative Care for her remarkable contributions to the field.

Christine Knutson, RN, MSN, was presented with the Institute’s 3^rd annual Doris A. Howell, MD, Award for Advancing Palliative Care during a Jan. 10 ceremony that also celebrated the life and legacy of the legendary physician for whom the award is named. Dr. Howell died Nov. 23 at age 94, just shy of her 95^th birthday.

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