Western Pennsylvania Hospital News
Using POLST to Honor Your Patients’ Treatment Wishes
by Marian Kemp, RN
Issue No. 4 2012
Are you familiar with the Pennsylvania Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form? The POLST is a document designed to help health careprofessionals honor the treatment wishes of their patients. POLST is used in states across the country as well as within all levels of care in this region,from acute care hospitals, to skilled nursing and long-term care, to hospice.
In Pennsylvania, Act 169 of 2006 mandated formation of a statewide advisory committee, the Patient Life-Sustaining Wishes (PLSW) Advisory Committeeto examine the advisability and possible adoption of a standardized form such as Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment which was in use inother states. In October 2010 a standard POLST form, called the Pennsylvania Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form that was recommendedby that committee was approved. The use of the term “Pennsylvania” in the form name was to distinguish it from other state forms.
Click Here to read the full article.
Health Affairs GrantWatch Blog
Foundation Convenes Statewide Conference on End-of-Life Care
by Nancy Zionts
May 4, 2012
GrantWatch Blog asked the author, a staffer at the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, in Pittsburgh, to report on a conference that the funder and the Coalition for Quality at End of Life convened this spring.
Readmissions Reduction. Health Information Technology. Patient-Centered Medical Home. Cost Effectiveness. Best Practice. Provider Education. Workforce Training. Care Transitions. Public-Private Partnerships. Policy and Advocacy. Consumer and Family Engagement. Does this sound like the 2012 List of Top Health Care Buzzwords?
You wouldn’t expect that they would all be raised or could all be addressed in a single meeting. But all of those issues (and more) were part of the recent statewide meeting of Closure: Changing Expectations for Care at End of Life, a Jewish Healthcare Foundation initiative. The foundation and the Western Pennsylvania-based Coalition for Quality at End of Life convened the meeting, which was held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Over the course of a day and a half, nearly 100 physicians, nurses, clergy, policy makers, advocates, social service professionals, and consumers came together to engage on, define, discuss, and debate issues around care at end of life. Many of those who came together didn’t know each other on Day One, but left on Day Two having reached consensus on issues and having expressed a shared desire to work together to advance a vision and implement practical solutions.
Click Here to read the full article.
The Jewish Chronicle
Local Events and resources promote hospice and palliative care
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
November 2011 is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and the leadership of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization is encouraging citizens to increase their understanding and awareness of care at the end of life and to observe this month with appropriate activities and programs.
Local Events & Resources
A reading of the play “Dusk,” by Brian Harnetiaux—Wednesday, November 9, at 5:30 p.m., in the Magovern Auditorium at Allegheny General Hospital. “Dusk” is an intimate family dialogue, guided by the medical social worker, between Gil Everett and his three adult children about his wishes in the event of a health care crisis. “Dusk” explores with humor and humanity the medical, ethical, and spiritual facets of this difficult but necessary conversation.
Click Here to read the full article.
The Jewish Chronicle
'The Last Chapter' Looks at Hospice Care
By Toby Tabachnick
Friday, July 1, 2011
“The Last Chapter,” a one-hour documentary exploring many of the medical, legal, cultural, spiritual and ethical issues concerning end-of-life care, will be presented by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WQED-TV on Thursday, June 30, at 7:30 p.m.
The documentary is JHF's latest effort to advance its “Closure” initiative, aiming to help educate people in planning and changing expectations for end-of-life.
Click Here to read the full article.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Foundation Funds 'Last Chapter'
June 20, 2011
As an additional part of its end-of-life initiative, called Closure, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation has funded a WQED documentary called "The Last Chapter" that will air on June 30.
It begins at 7:30 p.m. with a live panel discussion from WQED's studios with the documentary to follow at 8. There will be a live phone bank staffed at WQED throughout the broadcast so that people can call in with questions.
The documentary will allow viewers to "explore medical, ethical, practical and spiritual issues from a variety of perspectives and discover how patients and families are taking an active role in their own end-of-life planning," the JHF said.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Twelve Breaths A Minute: End-of-Life Essays
June 2013, 2011
Pohla Smith
A collection of creative non-fiction essays about end-of-life issues. How depressing, a friend said.
I thought the same thing until I read one and then another and then another.
Sad, yes. But depressing? No. "Twelve Breaths a Minute," a book commissioned by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation as part of its ongoing end-of-life initiative, is uplifting.
Click Here to read the full article.
The Huffington Post
End of Life Care: Doctors Urged to Have 'Realistic Conversation' with Patients
February 7, 2011
Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Patients don't want to hear that they're dying and doctors don't want to tell them. But new guidance for the nation's cancer specialists says they should be upfront and do it far sooner.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology says too often, patients aren't told about options like comfort care or even that their chemo has become futile until the bitter end.
To help families broach the topic, too, the group developed an easy-to-read booklet about those choices, from standard care to symptom relief, and advice about what to ask to maximize remaining time.
CBS News
More Candor Urged in Care of Dying Cancer Patients
February 7, 2011
Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Patients don't want to hear that they're dying and doctors don't want to tell them. But new guidance for the nation's cancer specialists says they should be upfront and do it far sooner.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology says too often, patients aren't told about options like comfort care or even that their chemo has become futile until the bitter end.
To help families broach the topic, too, the group developed an easy-to-read booklet about those choices, from standard care to symptom relief, and advice about what to ask to maximize remaining time.
Washington Post
More Candor Urged in Care of Dying Cancer Patients
February 7, 2011
Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Patients don't want to hear that they're dying and doctors don't want to tell them. But new guidance for the nation's cancer specialists says they should be upfront and do it far sooner.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology says too often, patients aren't told about options like comfort care or even that their chemo has become futile until the bitter end.
To help families broach the topic, too, the group developed an easy-to-read booklet about those choices, from standard care to symptom relief, and advice about what to ask to maximize remaining time.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
End-of-life programs help bring closure to patients, caregivers
Monday, January 31, 2011
By Pohla Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In going about its 20-year mission of delivering services to the elderly and chronically ill, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation noticed something missing.
"[They] were talking about growing older and people getting sicker but never mentioning death or dying," said Jonathan Weinkle, a pediatrician and internist doing primary care and chronic disease management at the Squirrel Hill Health Center. He serves as a medical adviser to the JHF.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Doctors also find it hard to have end-of-life talks
Monday, January 31, 2011
By Pohla Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Geriatrician Eric Rodriguez, a trustee for the Jewish Healthcare Federation, says end-of-life conversations can be as difficult for doctors as for their patients.
"I wouldn't be honest if I said it was easy, but I feel it is our responsibility to initiate such conversations," said Dr. Rodriguez, who has a practice at Benedum Geriatric Center within UPMC Montefiore.
Health Affairs Blog
A Foundation in Pittsburgh Encourages Frank Talk about End-of-Life Care
December 1, 2010
End-of-life care presents emotional, physical, and financial burdens for patients and their loved ones. At the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF), in Pittsburgh, we have become somewhat fixated on the fact that the health care system too often fails families and patients at end of life. Unfortunately, failure is what most people expect. But JHF end-of-life initiatives in the Pittsburgh area are showing that better realities are possible...
The Wall Street Journal
Surprising Variations in End-of-Life
November 16, 2010
A new report by researchers at the Dartmouth Atlas Project found that in the U.S., 29% of patients with advanced cancer died in hospitals and intensive-care units. The study is likely to fuel ongoing discussionsabout aggressive treatments for dying patients.
The report, which was published on Tuesday and is available at www.dartmouthatlas.org, looked at therecords of a little over 235,000 Medicare patients who were age 65 or older with advanced cancer whodied between 2003 and 2007. The researchers then compared end-of-life care across different regions,states and hospitals. Some of the things they looked at included admissions to ICUs, whetherchemotherapy was used in the last two weeks of life, and whether patients received aggressivetreatments such as feeding tubes or CPR...
WebMD
End-of-Life Cancer Care Varies by Region
November 16, 2010
One in three older adults with advanced cancer spends their last days in hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs), often with doctor's employing Herculean efforts to prolong their life...
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Last Days of Our Lives
August 26, 2009
Each year, millions of babies are born and millions of people die. Yet, while we expect the beginning of life to go well, when it comes to the dying process we expect, and often settle, for the worst.
In the 1950s most births took place in hospitals. Cesarean sections, epidurals and heavy doses of pain medication were the norm. Expectant fathers paced the halls away from the action. Women then began to feel that they were being denied the true experience of giving birth...