1.5 hours

This session was recorded at NHPCO’s Clinical Team Conference on November 6, 2012.

Everyone wants “the best care possible” for their loved ones and themselves through the very end of life. Of course, that phrase means different things to different people. Delivering the best care possible, therefore, requires access to a broad array of services and coordination between providers, patients and their families. This plenary session will explore the elements that must be in place within and beyond healthcare and the stakeholders who must be in communication to reliably provide care that is consistent with best practice standards and with the personal preferences of patients and families.

Learning Objectives:

From this webcast, you will learn how to:

• Discuss the fundamental components of quality clinical care in the context of serious illness
• Understand the ways in which hospice and palliative care exemplify the best care possible for people who are approaching the end of life and their families
• Identify the three elements for evaluating the health system (access, quality and costs) and the structure, process, outcome approach to quality improvement
• Recognize the essential process of social and cultural maturation needed to resolve the crisis that end-of-life care represents

Ira Byock, MD

Ira Byock, MD is Director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire and a Professor at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

Dr. Byock has been involved in hospice and palliative care since 1978, during his residency.  At that time he helped found a hospice home care program for the indigent population served by the university hospital and county clinics of Fresno, California.  He is a Past President (1997) of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. During the 1990s he was a co-founder and principal investigator for the Missoula Demonstration Project, a community-based organization in Montana dedicated to the research and transformation of end-of-life experience locally, as a demonstration of what is possible nationally.  From 1996 through 2006, he served as Director for Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care, a national grant program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dr. Byock has authored numerous articles on the ethics and practice of hospice, palliative and end-of-life care. His first book, Dying Well, (1997) has become a standard in the field. The Four Things That Matter Most, (2004) is used as a counseling tool widely by palliative care and hospice programs, as well as within pastoral care. His most recent book, The Best Care Possible (March 2012) tackles the crisis that surrounds serious illness and dying in America and his quest to transform care through the end of life.

He has been the recipient of the National Hospice Organization’s Person of the Year (1995), the National Coalition of Cancer Survivorship’s Natalie Davis Spingarn Writers Award (2000), the American College of CHEST Physicians Roger Bone Memorial Lecture Award (2003) and the Outstanding Colleague Award (2008) of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.  He has been a featured guest on numerous national television and radio programs, including NPR “ All Things Considered” and “Fresh Air,” ABC “Nightline,” CBS “60 Minutes,”  “Fox and Friends,” and PBS “The News Hour.”  Ira Byock has no relevant financial relationships to disclose.

You will have access to this webcast for 90 days from the date of purchase.

Course Release Date: 01/10/13

Course Expiration Date: 01/10/16

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