Courses Support Care Delivery for Seriously Ill People Outside of Hospitals
SAN DIEGO, CA – June 20, 2016 https://csupalliativecare.org/. The California State University Shiley Institute for Palliative Care (Institute) has announced a series of ten courses, which through their 24-hour, seven day per week availability, expand the likelihood for people with chronic or serious illness to receive the care they need outside of the hospital.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care provides those with a serious or chronic illness – from the time of diagnosis throughout the course of treatment – care that optimizes quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and managing suffering. It is delivered by an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, pharmacists and other practitioners to address the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of patients and their families.
The need for supportive care for chronic and serious disease management outside of hospitals far outpaces the availability of services, as one in four adults in the US have two or more chronic or serious illnesses. To increase palliative care capacity across the country, the Institute has developed courses that can assist physician office practices, hospices, community groups, and others, to develop a palliative care program within their own setting.
Why Community-Based Palliative Care?
“We’ve created Building a Community-Based Palliative Care Program’s ten courses to provide the tools and guidance for health care professionals and administrators to build palliative care programs in the community that are realistic and sustainable. We’ve worked hard to make this series of courses a complete guide that provides resources and steps to follow for success. Patients and families’ needs can best be met when a program is well thought-out, and well integrated into the existing services in a community,” stated Helen McNeal, Executive Director of the CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care.
There are many decisions leaders and staff face when setting up this new set of services in their organization. National palliative care experts developed these courses in response to challenges faced by countless organizations struggling to develop a sustainable palliative care program in their community.
ote: The Community-Based Palliative Care Program series has been retired ( July 2020). Contact us to discuss organizational training at 760-750-4006.
