July 2012 Webinar
July Interdisciplinary Topic
Clinical Ethics: Supporting and Advocating for Patient/Family Choice
July 12, 2012 2:00 pm -3:30 pm ET
CE/CME Offered: physician, nurse, social worker and counselor More CE/CME information
Webinar Description
Patient advocacy’ is a frequent theme in discussions of healthcare ethics; however, it is not always clear what it means to be a good advocate as a member of a hospice interdisciplinary team. This Webinar will examine how some of the tools of clinical ethics can provide a structured framework for thinking about and engaging in collaborative care of patients and families in a way that embraces the role of advocate. Questions including “What does it mean to advocate?”, “For whom should I be an advocate?”, “To whom do I advocate?”, “When do I need to be an advocate?”, “How do I know if I am advocating well?” and “If I am an advocate, does that mean there is an adversary?” will guide the discussion. Webinar faculty will explore opportunities and challenges for advocacy within the hospice care environment and present a model of advocacy that focuses on supporting patients, families and hospice staff by empowering them to identify, explore and integrate core values into the goals and processes of care. In addition, faculty will describe mediation strategies that promote discussion to ensure patients and families have the support they need to make informed decisions.
Faculty
Timothy W. Kirk, PhD
Tim Kirk is assistant professor of philosophy at the City University of New York—York College. He is also a consultant in ethics and organizational policy at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York Hospice & Palliative care service. In addition, he served as vice chair of the Ethics Committee for the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization for two years. His research and consulting focus on the ethical and philosophical aspects of hospice and palliative care nursing. Together with Bruce Jennings, he is editor of Hospice Ethics, a book focusing on the ethical challenges and opportunities in U.S. hospice care, scheduled for 2013 publication by Oxford University Press.
Patrice Tadel, MSN, RN
Pat is a National Patient Care Administrator for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care, with over 18 years in end-of-life care. In this role, Patrice provides direction, guidance and support for the administrative and clinical arena in multi-state programs. She also supports program expansion and community relations activities in this role. In addition to her responsibilities at VITAS, Patrice is adjunct nursing faculty and guest lecturer and faculty for medical students, residents, and nursing programs. She is a palliative care clinician, clinical ethicist/mediator and medical educator with expertise in end of life ethics, symptom management, and cultural competence. Pat received her postdoctoral certificate in Clinical Medical Ethics from the MacLean Center for Medical Ethics at University of Chicago inclusive of a senior fellowship for 2 years. She has published numerous articles and is a frequent national speaker on end-of-life care, ethics, communication, grief and other clinical issues.
Webinar Objectives
At the completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Identify opportunities to create grounded and trusting relationships with patients and families;
- Explain an approach to using ‘advocacy’ as a core ethical theme in hospice care that supports patients and families in identifying, exploring and integrating values in setting care goals;
- Describe mediation strategies that promote discussion characterized by openness, presence and the goal of understanding—rather than evaluating—the values and preferences of all involved.
July Quality and Regulatory Topic
Implementing Predetermined Quality Measures
July 24, 2012 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm ET
CE/CME Offered: Nurse, Physician, and Social Work More CE/CME information Webinar Description
Starting in 2013, hospices must report on quality measures determined by CMS or incur a 2% reduction in their market basket update for 2014. Over the next several years many more measures will be added to the hospice quality reporting requirements and will eventually be used for pay for performance. Implementation of these predetermined measures must be done in a precise and standardized manner and demands system and process changes that differ from implementation of measures for QAPI programs. This webinar will provide detailed information on the tasks hospices must accomplish to implement predetermined measures for compliance with quality reporting requirements.
Faculty
Ellen Martin, RN, MSN
Ellen is the Director of Performance Improvement at Hospice Austin providing oversight for all aspects of the quality and compliance program. She has been an RN for 30 years, with over 15 years experience in quality improvement in a variety of healthcare settings including hospitals, community mental health, home health, hospice and the TMF Health Quality Institute. She is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality, a senior member of the American Society for Quality and a member of the NHPCO’s National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals Quality Assessment/Performance Improvement Steering Committee. Ellen is also a nursing doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin.
Carol Spence, PhD
Carol is Vice President, Research and Quality, at NHPCO and is responsible for NHPCO performance measurement development and implementation activities in addition to all other NHPCO research activities. Carol has many years of clinical experience as a hospice nurse. She served on the National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses for six years and is past chair of the Examination Development Committee for the certification examination for advanced practice hospice and palliative nurses. She has experience in research design, plus developing, implementing, and managing field research projects. Carol holds a doctoral degree from the University of Maryland School of Nursing and holds a Master of Science degree in mental health nursing.
Webinar Objectives
At the completion of this Webinar, participants will be able to:
- Recognize the differences between measures used for quality improvement and required measures used for accountability;
- Describe the principles for data generation and documentation for quality measures that have standardized specifications;
- Identify the key approaches to involve and engage staff in the implementation process for predetermined measures;
- Identify the tasks related to data extraction for predetermined measures;
- Construct a strategic plan for implementation of predetermined performance measures.
