We Care: A Wellness Intervention Project for Palliative Care Physicians.

There is a trend toward burnout in palliative care physicians. Due to this, a five-session curriculum has been designed with resiliency tools, coping skills, and spirituality in order to train palliative care fellows in an inpatient setting. More research is needed on this curriculum, but preliminary findings have shown a positive response.

The Role of Specialty Palliative Care for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disease resulting in the loss of motor neurons, eventually leading to death. ALS results in complex physical, emotional, and spiritual care needs. Specialty Palliative Care (SPC) is a medical specialty for patients with serious illness that provides an extra layer of support through complicated symptom management, goals of care conversations, and support to patients and families during hard times. Using MEDLINE, APA Psychinfo, and Dynamed databases, we reviewed the literature of SPC in ALS to inform and support an expert opinion perspective on this topic. This manuscript focuses on several key areas of SPC for ALS including insurance and care models, advance care planning, symptom management, quality of life, caregiver support, and end-of-life care. Recommendations to improve specialty palliative care for patients with ALS are reviewed in the discussion section.

COVID-19 Family Support Team: Providing Person and Family Centered Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The arrival of COVID-19 brought about many disruptions to our world and communities. The hospital visitation restrictions were one of the more, if not most, challenging aspects of psychosocial care for patients and families. It was difficult to anticipate the emotional toll that visitation restrictions would take on patients, families, and staff. Once hospital visitation restrictions were in place, new strategies for patient/family connection and team communication had to be established. The Palliative Care team at a large, urban, Midwestern academic medical center created an interprofessional Family Support Team in the spring of 2020 to address the psychosocial needs of the families of critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Educating Our Future Colleagues: Creating an MSW Palliative Care Practicum.

As the number of older adults and those with chronic medical conditions continues to rise, the need to train social work students in palliative and end-of-life competencies becomes critical. To address this growing need, the social work team at a large urban academic medical center in the Midwest developed an MSW concentration practicum in palliative and end-of-life care. During the practicum, students receive immersive training in palliative care social work values and the skills required for these specialized assessments, interventions, and evaluations. Their training culminates in their participation on an interdisciplinary team to provide psychosocial support to patients and families receiving palliative and end-of-life care throughout the medical center. This article describes the curriculum, practice immersion, training manual, teaching modules, and structure of student supervision which is applicable to and adaptable for other palliative care social work field instructors.