News

ICEOL Offering “APPEAL” Training on Caring for African Americans at the End of Life

July 17, 2007

On November 9 and 10, 2007, the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life will train health care providers and others on caring for African American patients and families at the end of life. This training features the APPEAL curriculum (A Progressive Palliative Care Educational Curriculum for the Care of African Americans at Life's End) and stands apart from other nationally recognized palliative care curricula by offering technical palliative care expertise hand-in-hand with insights into caring for African Americans. Participants will leave this training with increased palliative care knowledge and skills as well as greater confidence and ability to communicate with African American patients and families.

This training is designed for those working with African American patients and families facing serious illness in hospitals, hospices, outpatient clinics, nursing homes and office-based settings. Expected participants include physicians, nurses, social workers, medical chaplains and other clergy, psychologists, counselors, hospice and hospital administrators, pharmacists and family caregivers.

Eight training modules will provide attendees the ability to:

• Discuss the cultural beliefs, values and traditions of African Americans which may impact end-of-life care.
• Describe the impact of racial disparities throughout the health care continuum (diagnosis to death) and their relevance to the experience of African Americans at life's end.
• Discuss barriers to quality care for African Americans with advanced serious illness and develop strategies to improve the care of American Americans at life's end.
• Demonstrate basic competencies in the comprehensive evaluation of African Americans facing life-limiting illness, including assessment and management of physical, social, emotional and spiritual suffering across healthcare settings-ambulatory care, acute hospital care, and community-based hospice care.
• Develop strategies for effective communication with patients and families at the end of life which respect individual and cultural beliefs, values, and preferences.
• Develop strategies for working effectively with an interdisciplinary team and describe the unique and complementary role of each team member in the care of African Americans with life-limiting illness across health care settings.

Continuing Education Credits
The Duke University School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians, and by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. Physicians and pharmacists will receive a maximum of 12 credits upon completion of this training. This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the North Carolina Nurses Association, an accredited Approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Nurses may receive a maximum of 13.8 contact hours for this activity. Continuing education credit approval is pending from the Association of Professional Chaplains and the National Association of Social Workers.

Registration Fees
$250 - physicians; $175 - all other health care and clergy-based providers; $100 - students, trainees, and family care givers; $450 - interdisciplinary teams of three (one physician and two other health care/service providers, e.g., nurse, social worker, chaplain). Fees include: APPEAL training DVD, CD with training materials, continuing education credits, all meals and parking. Participants attending this event are eligible for continuing education credits.

Registration
Online registration will be available in September. To sign-up to receive an alert when online registration is available, email iceol@div.duke.edu. To register now by phone, call 1-919-660-3553.