Monday, February 9, 2009
AAHPM/HPNA Annual Assembly Preview: Wed Pre-Conf HPNA
(In 2007 and 2008 I posted previews for the AAHPM/HPNA Annual Assemblies. I started doing the preview because one of my favorite things about conferences is talking to other people to see what they are interested in, so feel free to comment on which sessions you are excited about. If you are giving any of these talks, I encourage you to leave some comments to get more people aware of your talk. There are some good ones!
This year the Annual Assembly is in Austin, TX from Wednesday March 25th until Saturday, March 28th.)
(Previous posts - Conference Overview, Wed Pre-Cons - AAHPM)
Wednesday March 25th Pre-Conference Workshops - HPNA
All Day Sessions (8a-5p)
Generalist Clinical Review Train the Trainer
HPNA certifies educators to help maintain quality education around the country and this is the main avenue for educating the local leaders of palliative care nursing to help build a palliative nursing workforce that will be in more and more demand. The pick for anyone wishing to educate other nursing professionals.
Withholding/Withdrawing Life Sustaining Treatments
This is a perfect topic for an all-day session, but I bet it will be an exhausting one given the subject matter and the medical, legal, ethical and cultural areas to be covered. It is a great addition to have Christy Torkildson to give cases from a pediatric perspective. They even used the new hot phrase in medicine 'moral distress' in the description blurb.
Half-Day Sessions
Through the Looking Glass: Making Sense of APN Billing
Two points for a very interesting title. Negative points will be awarded if Connie Dahlin only uses a couple of cute Alice in Wonderland clip art to decorate her slides. Exponential positive points will be awarded if she ties in the categorization of the Lewis Carrol book as literary nonsense to APN billing or the confusing themes of altered time and space to APN billing. Billing for APN's is an area that desperately needs someone to work towards consistent models across different states. Hello...President Obama and health care reform?
Precise Pharmacopalliation of Advanced Noncancer Illness
Fancying myself a bit of a hobbyist wordsmith, I was enamored by my new favorite medical term, 'pharmacopalliation.' It takes a while to say, type and write, but I am planning on incorporating it wherever I can. Thank goodness this session is not only focusing on which medicines to start but actually discussing when and how to stop medications. Another area the FDA, NIH and others could put a little time and attention to. Hello...President Obama and health care reform? (Can you figure out what the #1 issue is for HPM in 2009 yet?)
Don't Panic! The CoPs are Here! How to Be Sure You Are Ready!
See what I said about the CoPs and conferences? I bet this is a very crowded seminar. And they promise to have a robust question and answer session! They should get a gold star for the title as well. So many different ways to read into it...the whole CoPs and police theme.
Initiating and Maintaining a Palliative Care Service for APN's
I presume this session is talking about palliative care services without doctors, but there may be some great tips for Palliative Care Services even with doctors and APN's. The blurb does not specify which model it is most clearly articulating. The APN's I have worked with over the years have been some of the best clinicians I have ever worked with. I find their role invaluable.
Evening Session
CPC Nurse Workshop - Cultivating Palliative Advanced Practice Nursing Through Mentoring
This was listed under the AAHPM section but I thought I would include it hear for continuity with the other nursing themes. Bold choice of a 6-10pm time, but it is also free and the faculty looks diverse and outstanding so I expect this to be a well attended session.