Dear readers:
Welcome to this final issue of ourNewsletter for the year 2010.
At the end of this year, six of our Board members will be completing their terms. They are: GianDomenicoBorasio (Germany); Eduardo Bruera (USA); Frank Ferris (USA); Geoffrey Hanks (UK); Richard Harding (UK); and Peter Hudson (Australia). Please join us in thanking each of them for their contributions to IAHPC and for their efforts in helping the organization achieve its mission. It has been an honor for us to have worked with them as members of our Board…We are seeking junior and senior candidates to join our board to advance palliative care in the world. This edition of the Newsletter has a copy of the announcement including the information and criteria to apply. The deadline to submit a nomination is December 31, 2010.
Some examples of our 2009 and 2010 activities that targeted the improvement of care of patients and families around the worldincluded:
- A new membership fee schedule… Dues start at $10 per year…
- IAHPC members now have FREE access to the CINAHL database…including the following palliative care journals:
- Indian Journal of Palliative Care
- International Journal of Palliative Nursing
- Internet Journal of Pain, Symptom Control & Palliative Care
- Journal of Palliative Medicine
- Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy
- Palliative Medicine
- Progress in Palliative Care
- We developed and implemented Pallipedia ® specialized online dictionary…
- We initiated the Essential Practices in Palliative Care project that aims to identify and list those practices that are considered essential for the implementation of palliative care in primary care.
- We developed an Opioid Essential Prescription package (OEP)project aimed to identify a simple, essential package of medications for patients who have been started on an opioid regimen.
- We collaborated with the World Health Organization, in several projects and publications.
- Ninety-eight traveling scholarships were awarded to individuals from 35 countries…
- Three traveling fellowships were awarded… For a list of all the names of our grantees, see insert link
- IAHPC’s Website expanded at …
- In addition to our regular programs mentioned above, we collaborated with other organizations in several ways.
We could not have achieved all of this without the generous support of many… Our ability to continue to help others depends heavily on the support we receive from all of you, so please consider donating to IAHPC. You can donate through our website at
In the next days, many of you will receive a letter in the mail requesting a donation to IAHPC. Please remember that your contributions make a big difference and any amount is helpful to us. IAHPC is a 501(c)(3) organization under the US Internal Revenue Code. Our ability to continue to help others depends heavily on your support; please consider donating to IAHPC at
Best wishes to you, your friends and families for the upcoming holidays and we hope that next year will be a happy and successful one.
Regards,
Roberto Wenk, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
Call for Nominations of 6 IAHPC Board of Directors
The IAHPC is proud to announce a public call for nominations to 6 seats in the IAHPC Board of Directors. IAHPC members are invited to nominate a junior or senior health professional actively working in hospice and palliative care with demonstrated interest in the development of international palliative care initiatives and issues.
Criteria:
Nominees may be located in any country, have academic backgrounds and must fulfill the following criteria:
- Both nominee and nominator must be active members of the IAHPC
- Have demonstrated work and commitment in palliative/hospice care in his/her field
- Currently holding or having held a position within a teaching hospital, university or palliative care organization.
- Have demonstrated willingness to participate and work in the board activities including working groups and task forces.
- Have demonstrated interest in international palliative and hospice care issues
- Be able to communicate effectively in English.
- Candidates must have access to the Internet and hold an active e-mail account.
The maximum number of candidates that can be nominated by each member is one. Deadline for a nomination is December 31, 2010.
Candidates and nominators both need to be active IAHPC members. If you are not a current member, we invite you to join IAHPC and participate in this important process. You may join through our website by clicking here.
To submit a nomination, please complete the nomination form through our website by clicking here(link to the nomination form in )
After the nomination, candidates may be contacted by the nominating committee for additional information.
The term of the new members will begin on January 1, 2011 and will end December 31, 2013. The new directors will be elected by a vote of the current Directors and will be announced in January 2011.
We look forward to your participation in this process and to the nomination of candidates.
Nominating Committee
IAHPC Board of Directors
From Lebanon, an IAHPC Traveling Scholar’s Report
Anne, I can’t get these paragraph margins to straighten!
I attended a series of educational sessions at the 18th International Congress on Palliative Care in Montréal, Canada.
I am a palliative care nurse at the BALSAM, the Lebanese Center for Palliative Care, which is a newly established non-governmental organization that aims to promote the concept of palliative care in Lebanon by improving the quality of life by relieving the suffering of people living with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses…
Please visit the following link for the full report insert
Jananne Hanna
Beirut, Lebanon
Article of the Month
Preferences of patients with advanced lung cancer regarding the involvement of family and others in medical decision-making
Pardon K et al. on behalf of the EOLIC-Consortium
Journal of Palliative Medicine 2010; 13 (10) : 1199-1203
The involvement of family members or close friends in the decision-making process of the patients with cancer should be considered by physicians in order to respect patients’ autonomy…
The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the preferences of competent patients with advanced lung cancer concerning their wishes regarding the involvement of family and/or others, and their preferences in case they are no longer able to make medical decisions…
The full review may be found at insert
Dr. Carla Ripamonti is an IAHPC Board Member, she lives in Italy and her biography may be viewed at insert
Contribution from IAHPC Board Member Michael Bennett
Improving cancer pain management through interventions that change behaviour
According to recent reviews, despite the availability of the WHO analgesic ladder, pain due to cancer remains prevalent and largely under-treated. The analgesic ladder is a reasonably effective intervention for cancer pain and results in around 75% of patients receiving satisfactory pain control…
… but substantial improvements in pain control can also be achieved by addressing the common barriers to good pain management…
The full report may be found at insert
Dr. Mike Bennett is an IAHPC Board member, he resides in England and his biography is at insert. The full report may be found at insert
Palliative Care Book of the Month
OXFORD TEXTBOOK OF PALLIATIVE NURSING 3e.Ferrell and Coyle (Eds)
Other Book Reviews
PALLIATIVE CARE FOR ADVANCED ALZHEIMER’S AND DEMENTIA.Guidelines and Standards for Evidence-Based Care.Martin and Sabbagh (Eds)
TELL ME THE TRUTH.Conversations with my patients about life and death.RanjanaSrivastava
CANCER PAIN.From Molecules to Suffering.Paice, Bell, Kalso and Soyannwo (Eds)
END OF LIFE.The Essential Guide to Caring.Jordan and Kauffmann
Dr. Roger Woodruff. Dr. Woodruff is a Lifetime Member of the Board and lives in Australia. His biography may be found at insert
Announcements
The entire text of the following announcements may be found in our website at insert
From the UK: A new end of life care intelligence resource
The first WHO Collaborating Center in Palliative Care in the developing world was established in India…at Calicut Medical Collegein Kerala
From Hungary: ‘Fields of Hope’ – a program for active citizenship in the European Year of Volunteering 2011
In October 2007, the Hungarian Hospice Foundation launched the Fields of Hope Program with the intention of shaping public opinion regarding dying people…
The objective of the “Fields of Hope” program is to attract attention to dying people and “transform attitudes towards suffering at the end of life.”…
From the Scientific Literature
NHS Evidence - supportive and palliative care
Dear all,
Each month there is a wide range of new items added to the NHS Evidence specialist collection on supportive and palliative care…
Main website:
Propoxyphene is withdrawn from the US market due to a risk of cardiac toxicity
Read the report at the following link:
Webmaster’s Report