PUBLICATIONS

Innovations in End-of-Life Care

This international, peer-reviewed online journal for health care providers is an initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Last Acts Task Force on Institutional Innovation. The journal is being edited and managed by the Center for Applied Ethics and Professional Practice at EDC. Thematic issues spotlighting promising practices and expert commentary are published bimonthly.

Innovations in End-of-Life Care: Practical Strategies and International Perspectives, Volume 3, 2002. A print compendium published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3.

IPPC Curriculum in Pediatric Palliative Care

Enhancing family-centered care for children living with life-threatening conditions throught education, research and quaity improvement.

Children with life-threatening conditions face many hurdles. So do their families. The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC - pronounced "ipsee"), represents a consortium of organizations joining forces to improve the care and the quality of life of these children and their families.

The IPPC curriculum, currently under development, will be composed of six modules. Each module is being designed both to facilitate individual clinician learning and to provide assistance to institutions wishing to strengthen their programs and services. These goals are accomplished by focusing on knowledge, attitudes, skills and institutional systems change.

IPPC Video Series

Each module also includes video segments designed to highlight central learning objectives.

Meeting The Challenge

Twelve Recommendations for Improving End-of-Life Care in Managed Care

Print and view complete pdf version (you will need to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader install to view this.) Download PC MAC

Prepared under a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation by the Center for Applied Ethics and Professional Practice Education Development Center, Inc., Newton, MA.

The National Task Force for End-of-Life Care in Managed Care was a project which aimed to promote institutional improvements in end-of-life care within managed care settings through vigorous advocacy and policy development.

This report presents recommendations of the National Task Force on End-of-Life Care in Managed Care, an interdisciplinary group of medical directors, nurses, and physicians from managed care organizations who have joined with national experts in palliative care, ethics, and quality improvement to consider the ways in which various features of managed care might be harnessed to improve the care of patients near the end of life and their families. Convened in June 1997, the task force met for a total of six days, surveyed all managed care organizations in the United States providing capitated services to Medicare enrollees in order to identify barriers and opportunities for improvement, and conducted interviews with those organizations that had already begun to experiment with new ways of delivering care to patients in the final phase of life.

Ready or Not: A Study Guide for Medical School Faculty

This 16-page online study guide is designed for medical school faculty to use in conjunction with the video Ready or Not. The video produced by Pierre Valette and Bill Jersey is an intimate behind-the-scenes portrait of a small number of first-year medical students enrolled in the course "Living with Life-Threatening Illness" at Harvard Medical School. The course, developed by Susan Block, MD, and J. Andrew Billings, MD, pairs first-year medical students with terminally ill patients. In this study guide, medical faculty will find ways to use the video to enhance students' comfort and skill caring for dying patients and, more generally to enhance their ability to forge meaningful relationships with patients, regardless of health status. Information on how to order the video is on the same page as the study guide. Both the video and study guide have been peer reviewed and given a three-star rating by the End of Life Physician Education Resource Center (EPERC) at www.eperc.mcw.edu

Decisions Near the End of Life

Decisions Near the End of Life: Modules 1-7
by Education Devlopment Center, Inc.

The 7 modules were originally developed as part of the curriculum materials Decisions Near the End of Life, a national institution-based, multidisciplinary continuing medical education program designed to assist clinicians in making more humane and rational decisions about the care of dying patients and their families. Each module, presented in magazine form, includes essays by leading experts on ethics, law and end-of-life care. Titles include Working with the Law, Planning with Patients, Weighing Benefits and Burdens, Patients without Decision-Making Capacity, Problem Solving in Hard Cases, and Futility. [Developed by Education Development Center, Inc., and The Hastings Center.]

Decisions Near the End of Life: Annotated Bibliography on 10 Topics in End-of-Life Care
by Education Devlopment Center, Inc.

Originally developed as part of the curriculum materials for Decisions Near the End of Life, the Annotated Biblography consists of overview essays and annotated citations and resources on 10 topics, including Accommodating Religious and Cultural Diversity, Addressing Concerns about the Law, Advance Planning, Caring for the Dying, Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders, Forgoing Medically Supplied Nutrition and Hydration, Futility, Managed Care, Surrogate Decision Masking, and Utilization of Intensive Care Units. [Developed by Education Development Center, Inc., and The Hastings Center.]

Other Resources

An Approach to Recording, Transcribing, and Preparing Audio Data for Qualitative Analysis
by Alan Stockdale.