Fall/Winter 2022

Featured
Feature
Using Improv Training to Teach Palliative Care Skills
Larry Beresford A small group at the palliative care program of Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) is using techniques of improvisational theater to enhance the clinical work of the palliative care team as well as to teach primary palliative...
In this Issue
A Message from the President
Annual Assembly Is on the Horizon—and with It, Presidential Citations
As winter sets in, days are shorter, temperatures have fallen, and many of us yearn for the return of summer. Fortunately, a unique bright spot for those of us in hospice and palliative care (HPC) is approaching: the Annual Assembly...
Clinical Pearls
Secretion Management in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Elyse Aufman Everett, MD MOT Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to death primarily from respiratory failure due to respiratory muscle weakness. Difficulty managing secretions is a common symptom in patients with ALS that can pose...
Art of Caring
Rediscovering Humanity in Hospice and Palliative Care
Duc Chung, MD MBA FAAHPM In my short time as a hospice and palliative physician, I learned to suppress grief. Images of death and dying were seemingly fleeting and routine. I taught myself to be stoic in family meetings, in...
Advocacy Update
Stronger Together: Why We Need Your Help to Ensure HPM Has a Voice in the House of Medicine
Jacqueline M. Kocinski, MPP Today’s rapidly changing healthcare landscape is characterized by unprecedented challenges for physicians and other healthcare providers. Dedicated clinicians are not only working to address health inequities, promote innovation, and reimagine education and training to guide the...
Pathways to Palliative Care
Dr. Patricia Maani-Fogelman – Am I Going to Do More Good?
Cory Ingram, MD MS FAAHPM Patricia Maani-Fogelman, DNP, is the new director of palliative medicine at Mount Nittany Health and on a mission to do more good for seriously ill people and their families. Patty and her husband, Tim, who...
Let's Think About It Again
Refractory Existential Distress
Case Study Clifton Ryder (fictitious name) is a 63-year-old man with past medical history of non-small cell lung cancer diagnosed 3 years ago. He has never been a smoker. He is a nutritionist and exercise physiologist with an interest in...
DEI LAB
Community-Based Participatory Research: Guiding the Path to Equity in Serious Illness Care
Ronit Elk, PhD FAAHPM, and Harriet Mather, MD MSc What Is Community-Based Participatory Research? Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a social justice approach that intentionally and equitably engages community members in all aspects of the research process, including priority setting,...
AAHPM Partner Updates
HMDCB 2023 Updates and Changes
2023 Board of Directors Tommie Farrell, MD HMDC FAAHPM, rotated off as the Hospice Medical Director Certification Board (HMDCB) board president at the annual meeting in October. During his time as president, Dr. Farrell ensured the organization continued to grow...
AAHPM News
Donor Spotlight: Steve Smith
In 2007, I began an incredible 13-year journey, both personally and professionally, as the CEO for AAHPM. I was familiar with hospice and palliative medicine early in my career from working for other medical specialty societies and the Alzheimer’s Association...
Quarterly Progress Report
AAHPM Points of Progress
Membership and Communities Committee Update Expand and Enhance Engagement Lindsay Ragsdale, MD FAAHPM, Chair AAHPM Membership: 5,525 total members Member Retention: 79% Membership Composition: 73% physicians 10% affiliates (nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chaplains, social workers) 15% fellows, residents, and...