Setting an agenda for social work in end-of-life and palliative care: an overview of leadership and organizational initiatives
Humans; Leadership; Cooperative Behavior; Interdisciplinary Communication; Organizational Innovation; Palliative Care/organization & administration; Terminal Care/organization & administration; Social Work/organization & administration
This article describes leadership efforts within social work to promote, enhance, and shape the future of social work practice, education, and research in end-of-life and palliative care. The background and outcomes of the Project on Death in America, Open Society Institute's Social Work Leadership Development Award Program, and the 2002 Social Work Leadership Summit on End-of-Life and Palliative Care are reviewed.
2005
Christ GH; Blacker S
Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care
2005
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
Journal Article
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1300/j457v01n01_02" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">10.1300/j457v01n01_02</a>
Social work competencies in palliative and end-of-life care
Humans; Interdisciplinary Communication; Attitude; Clinical Competence; Information Dissemination; Social Work; Practice; Attitudes; Health Knowledge; Palliative Care/standards; Terminal Care/standards; Educational Measurement/standards; Patient Care Planning/standards
Social workers from clinical, academic, and research settings met in 2002 for a national Social Work Leadership Summit on Palliative and End-of-Life Care. Participants placed the highest priority on the development and broad dissemination of a summary document of the state-of-the-art practice of social work in palliative and end-of-life care. Nine Summit participants reviewed the literature and constructed this detailed description of the knowledge, skills, and values that are requisite for the unique, essential, and appropriate role of social work. This comprehensive statement delineates individual, family, group, team, community, and organizational interventions that extend across settings, cultures, and populations and encompasses advocacy, education, training, clinical practice, community organization, administration, supervision, policy, and research. This document is intended to guide preparation and credentialing of professional social workers, to assist interdisciplinary colleagues in their collaboration with social workers, and to provide the background for the testing of quality indicators and "best practice" social work interventions.
2005
Gwyther LP; Altilio T; Blacker S; Christ G; Csikai EL; Hooyman N; Kramer B; Linton J; Raymer M; Howe J
Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care
2005
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
Journal Article
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1300/j457v01n01_06" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">10.1300/j457v01n01_06</a>
Survival duration among patients with a noncancer diagnosis admitted to a palliative care unit: a retrospective study
Female; Humans; Male; retrospective studies; Palliative Care; Terminally Ill; Adult; Prognosis; Medical Audit; Aged; Middle Aged; Length of Stay; Ontario; Survival Analysis; Regression Analysis; 80 and over
BACKGROUND: Palliative care unit (PCU) beds are a limited resource in Canada, so PCU admission is restricted to patients with a short prognosis. Anecdotally, PCUs further restrict admission of patients with noncancer diagnoses out of fear that they will "oversurvive" and reduce bed availability. This raises concerns that noncancer patients have unequal access to PCU resources. PURPOSE/METHODS: To clarify survival duration of patients with a noncancer diagnosis, we conducted a retrospective review of all admissions to four PCUs in Toronto, Canada, over a 1-year period. We measured associations between demographic data, prognosis, Palliative Performance Score (PPS), length of stay (LOS), and waiting time. RESULTS: We collected data for 1000 patients, of whom 21% had noncancer diagnoses. Noncancer patients were older, with shorter prognoses and lower PPS scores on admission. Noncancer patients had shorter LOS (14 versus 24, p<0.001) than cancer patients and a similar likelihood of being discharged alive to cancer patients. Noncancer patients had a trend to lower LOS across a broad range of demographic, diagnostic, prognostic, and PPS categories. Multivariable analysis showed that LOS was not associated with the diagnosis of cancer (p=0.36). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Noncancer patients have a shorter LOS than cancer patients and a similar likelihood of being discharged alive from a PCU than cancer patients, and the diagnosis of cancer did not correlate with survival in our study population. Our findings demonstrate that noncancer patients are not "oversurviving," and that referring physicians and PCUs should not reject or restrict noncancer referrals out of concern that these patients are having a detrimental impact on PCU bed availability.
Downar J; Chou Yang-Chieh; Ouellet D; La Delfa Ignazio; Blacker S; Bennett M; Petch C; Cheng SM
Journal Of Palliative Medicine
2012
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
Journal Article
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2011.0401" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">10.1089/jpm.2011.0401</a>