Announcements and Conferences
Ethics, Professionalism, and Human Rights Committee Sessions Scheduled for Internal Medicine 2010
| 4/22/2010 | 11:15 AM – 12:45 PM |
| PN 027 | Ethical Challenges: Do We Have An Ethical Duty To Provide Care?
Virginia L. Hood, MD, MPH, FACP (Moderator) Faith T. Fitzgerald, MD, MACP David A. Fleming, MD, MA, FACP
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| 4/22/2010 | 2:15 PM – 3:45 PM |
| MTP 075 | Pain Management in the Hospitalized Patient
Janet L. Abrahm, MD, FACP
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| 4/23/2010 | 11:15 AM – 12:45 PM |
| MTP 074 | Spirituality in End-of-Life Care: What is the Physician’s Role?
Steven A. Levy, MD, FACP
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| 4/23/2010 | 2:15 PM – 3:45 PM |
| PN 029 | Ethics Year in Review
Clarence H. Braddock III, MD, MPH, FACP (Moderator) Thomas H. Gallagher, MD, FACP Vincent E. Herrin, MD, FACP
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| 4/24/2010 | 2:15 PM - 3:45 PM |
| PN 028 | Ethics for Expert Medical Witnesses
Lee J. Dunn, Jr., Esquire (Moderator) Reid F. Holbrook, Esquire Alejandro Moreno, MD, MPH, JD, FACP, FCLM
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National Healthcare Decisions Day
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Join the American College of Physicians (ACP) and other national, state and community organizations to ensure that all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States have the information and opportunity to communicate and document their healthcare decisions. More than 5300 Advance Directives were completed on the 2008 National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) and nearly 30,000 members of the general public participated in NHDD events. This year the Second Annual National Healthcare Decisions Day will be held on April 16, 2009.
- Why is advance care planning important?
- What do I need to know about treatment options?
- How do I talk to others about my future healthcare decisions?
- Who should I choose to speak for me in the event that I cannot speak for myself?
- How do I document my healthcare preferences and choice of person to express my wishes?
- What is required for my advance directive to be legally valid?
Information about the National Healthcare Decisions Day or Advance Directives is available online. For more information about advanced care planning and documents that meet individual state requirements see here.
The following are links to ACP resources for advance health care planning:
Evidence-Based Interventions to Improve the Palliative Care of Pain, Dyspnea, and Depression at the End of Life: A Clinical Practice Guideline from the American College of Physicians
A. Qaseem, V. Snow, P. Shekelle, D. E. Casey, Jr., J. T. Cross, Jr., D. K. Owens and for the Clinical Efficacy Assessment Subcommittee of the American College of Physicians*
(Ann Intern Med 2008; 141-146.)End of Life Care papers and brochures for patients and physicians
Other Online ACP End of Life Care Resources
Where You Live Matters When You're Seriously Ill; State-by-State Report Card Shows Midwest Leads, South Lags; For-Profit and Public Hospitals Trail Too
New York, NY (Oct. 2, 2008) - America does a mediocre job caring for its sickest patients. The nation, says a new report, gets a C.
Hospital palliative care programs make patients facing serious and chronic illness more comfortable by alleviating their pain and symptoms and counseling patients and their families.
Only Vermont, Montana and New Hampshire earned an A, according to America's Care of Serious Illness: A State-by-State Report Card on Access to Palliative Care in Our Nation's Hospitals, a report based on a study in the October 2008 issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine. Three states — Oklahoma, Alabama and Mississippi — got an F.
"The good news is that hospitals nationwide have implemented palliative care programs quickly over the last six years," said R. Sean Morrison, MD, director of the non-profit National Palliative Care Research Center and senior author of the study. "The bad news is that if you live in the South or you have to rely on public or small community hospitals, you're in trouble."
Ninety million Americans are living with serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's, stroke and Alzheimer's. As the baby boomers age, this number will more than double over the next 25 years.
"Americans are living longer — but with serious illnesses," said Dr. Diane E. Meier, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care and co-author of the study. "Without palliative care, people with serious illnesses like cancer often suffer unnecessarily from severe fatigue, pain, shortness of breath, nausea and other symptoms from their disease and treatments."
The study suggests that in states with more palliative care programs, patients are less likely to die in the hospital; don't have to go to the intensive care unit as much in the last six months of life; and spend fewer days in intensive care or the coronary unit in the last six months.
That also saves hospitals money, which could help lower health care costs.
The Center to Advance Palliative Care (capc.org, getpalliativecare.org) and The National Palliative Care Research Center npcrc.org are affiliated with Mount Sinai School of Medicine and are dedicated to increasing quality palliative care services.
Last updated: 10/13/08
MKSAP 15 Discount 10% Off
Get ready for the New Year with the newest edition of MKSAP. Enjoy a 10% discount off MKSAP 15 for a limited time. You must order by December 11, 2009 and use priority code E9048 to get the discount.
Holiday Gift offer - 10% off
A great gift for a colleague or yourself - Landmark Papers in Internal Medicine: The First 80 Years of Annals of Internal Medicine. Enjoy a 10% discount when you order by December 11, 2009 and use priority code E9049.