Titled Promoting Quality of Life in Chronic and Terminal Illness, the series aims to give health care providers more in-depth education in an area that s only recently being discussed in organized medicine, says Carla Alexander, director of palliative care at the University of Maryland and medical director of Johns Hopkins Home Hospice. Other highlights of the 12-session series include Michael N. Levy, a pain specialist from Fox Chase Cancer Center, speaking Oct. 26 on the role of terminal sedation near the end of life, and David Barnard, chairman of humanities at the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, addressing Nov. 12 the ethical dimensions of the transition from curative treatment to palliative care. Other sessions cover a wide spectrum of issues, with the emphasis on practical applications of new research in the management of chronic and terminal illness. After each lecture, participants will be able to discuss palliative-care issues and share experiences and advice. It s through this kind of exchange and cooperation that caregivers will be able to deliver the most compassionate and effective care to terminally ill patients and their families, Alexander says.
Palliative care is something all human beings have in common.
It s a time to focus on the patient and the family rather than on who is delivering the care. Some sessions will be at Hopkins Hurd Hall, others at the University of Maryland s Shock Trauma Center Auditorium.