Circles of Influence
Highlights of the Continuing Journey of Past Circle of Life Winners
2003
Organization: Hospice & Palliative CareCenter, Winston-Salem, NC. Innovation highlights noted were the Community Partnership for End of Life Care (nearly 250 community organizations and individuals), medical school curriculum in hospice and palliative care, and a comprehensive, creative blend of services.
Recent Achievements: Today, the hospice serves 13 counties, with a large main campus and three branch offices. It impacts about 500 patients every day and has a 30-bed hospice home. In addition to hospice services and the hospice home, Hospice & Palliative CareCenter has a palliative care consultation program, with physician and nurse practitioners providing care for patients not yet ready for hospice. The palliative care program currently has 120 patients, primarily receiving care at home or in long-term care facilities.
The community partnership still meets quarterly.
Award Impact: The Circle of Life Award spotlighted to the community the value of working together proactively on quality of life issues. This message was particularly furthered for the town’s two medical centers, which both support the hospice and the partnership. It was an important model because spotlighted a hospice as convener, pulling everybody together.
When applying to foundations for grant money, the Circle of Life Award is viewed as a “real plus.”
Program applying for the Circle of Life have asked the hospice for advice—and the hospice would stress innovation—what the organization seeking to apply does differently. The program found that applying for the Circle of Life Award forced it to collaborate and contributed to cohesiveness by putting down on paper how it was integrating with hospitals and other health care and end-of-life care providers (e.g., senior services).
Organization: Providence Health System, Portland, OR. Providence was the largest system in Oregon, with a Portland service area with two tertiary-care hospitals, a community hospital, hospice, employed and affiliated physician groups, an HMO, and a PACE site. It provided an average 8,000 end-of-life interventions yearly. The end-of-life care program was integrated throughout the large system.
Innovation highlights cited were system-wide commitment to end-of-life services, a “family of measures” index for quality improvement, and an emphasis on advance care planning.
Recent Accomplishments: The program started on the grassroots level and gained stature as it spread and achieved top administrative support.
In 2004-2005, the system moved into work that helped develop a caring culture. Nurses learned about the spiritual components of dying and recognizing a patient’s need to talk. The system provided quilts for each dying patient and a special quilt door sign. The staff started using comfort carts that included alternative therapies, such as aromatherapy.
Educationally, on end-of-life care, the system is working increasingly with the resident training program and developing nursing practice guidelines and physician order sets.
Palliative care consultation teams started in 2007 and include a physician, social worker, chaplain, and nurse. The focus is on patient communication. Consultation services are available for inpatients at two hospitals and for outpatients at the third hospital. A steering committee shares palliative care information through the system. The system is now working to embed palliative care in all settings.
In 2010, a Regional Palliative Care Program was established as a structure to administer and oversee all the palliative care efforts in the Oregon Region. The Program is currently working on achieving 13 palliative care-specific quality standards in all its ministries, as well as working toward fulfilling The Joint Commission standards for palliative care certification in its larger hospitals.
Award Impact: The Circle of Life Award gave the program the momentum to start the palliative care teams. In addition, the award got the program noticed, giving the grassroots program importance and credibility with the system administration. It also opened relations with other organizations, including Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital, and joint conferences with hospitals.
With the award monies, the program produced a pocket-sized laminated card for physicians and nurses on symptom management, pain control, and family meetings. In addition, a family booklet was created and is being translated. Some funds supported physician attendance at a national palliative care conference.
Organization: University of California Davis Health System, Sacramento, CA. Innovations included an academic medical center with a palliative care culture, a palliative care curriculum throughout medical education, and outreach to underserved populations.
Recent Achievements: Since receiving the AHA Circle of Life Award in 2003, UC Davis has transformed into UC Davis Health System with interprofessional schools of health, including UC Davis School of Medicine, the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, and graduate programs in Informatics and Public Health. Together, they make UC Davis a hub of innovation that is "improving lives and transforming care." For more information, visit healthsystem.ucdavis.edu.
Frederick J. Meyers, MD, received an NIH National Cancer Center R25 to explore simultaneous care in a multi-institutional randomized study, "Improving care in the end of life: Developing an instrument to assess the process and content of end-of-life discussions between physicians and their dying patients, using unannounced standardized patients in primary care resident clinics."
Palliative care has been woven into all aspects of the medical education curriculum at UC Davis School of Medicine. By May 2012, simultaneous care, or concurrent care, has emerged as the new standard to aim for in cancer care. A broad-based expansion of pediatric palliative care is underway.
Award Impact: The Circle of Life Award brought a broader awareness to the importance of palliative care within UC Davis Health System, the Northern California region, and the University of California system. The award also brought local, regional, and national attention. The award was also credited with helping achieve organizational funding for an inpatient consultation service, initially funded by the California HealthCare Foundation and now self-sustaining.
Dr. Meyers traces more-recent awards and foundation funding to the program's achievements brought to light by the Circle of Life Award. The leader also credits the State of California Legislature's Resolution #1541 for Palliative Care Education & Research to the Circle of Life Award.
The impact goes far beyond personal achievements and national leadership in palliative care. UC Davis Health System's palliative care culture and quality of care daily improves. With these efforts, the entire organization received national recognition for the collective work in palliative care and in educating future physicians to provide this care for many more generations to follow.