AAHPM Call for Proposals 2007 and some submission tips

(Cross-posted to Pallimed)

The AAHPM has announced the dates for call proposals, so get your brains cranking on that great presentation for next year in Salt Lake City, UT.

The dates of the Assembly are: February 14-17, 2007.

The call for workshops and concurrent presentations is March 15th-May 1st, 2006.

The call for case studies , papers and posters is from June 15 - July 17, 2006.

There will also be a late call in the fall for Fellows, Residents and Medical Students for a case conference, but we are still working out those dates.

I was lucky to be on the Steering Cmte for the 2005 Assembly and from reviewing lots of proposals, I have a few suggestions and tips:

• Splele CHEKK, Splle KhCekc, Spell Check! I cannot say that enough. Use computer AND human spell checking four if you don't it will no look professionalism.
• Must should you try to always do grammar checks.
• Include other disciplines when appropriate.
• Include peers from other institutions for synergy.
• Look at last year's topics to find overdone topics or the next 'hot' thing.

If anyone else has some submission tips, please feel free to submit them in the comments section.

Other Assembly News

Also at the Annual Assembly in Nashville, the PIT SIG leadership met with Solomon Liao, MD, the chair of the program committee which will work to plan next year's meeting in Salt Lake City. As he mentioned during his brief comments at the PIT SIG meeting, he is interested in increasing the involvement of the Special Interest Groups by encouraging them to submit proposals for concurrent sessions for next year's meeting. We discussed with him our plan to again submit a proposal for Fellow's Case Conference--it is even possible that we might expand this to two concurrent sessions to allow more fellows to participate!

Start thinking now about other ideas for concurrent sessions that you might be able to collaborate with fellows from other programs on!

AAHPM Fellows Case Conference - A Success!

We had 5 great cases from PIT SIG members at the 2006 Annual Assembly. The second annual fellows case conference was well attended by over 50 people who asked some great questions of the fellows. Congratulations to all those who presented and thank you to all of the people who attended. Special thanks to our panel: Solomon Liao, MD (UCI), Christine Ritchie, MD, MPH (UAB) and Lynn Bunch, MD (Mt. Sinai).

Of the 15 cases submitted the 5 cases presented were:

Title: Difficulty Concentrating in a Man with Colon Cancer
Presenter: Juliet Jacobsen, MD, DPH
Program: Massachusetts General Hospital Palliative Care Fellowship Program
Summary: This case presentation describes a patient with metastatic colon cancer who presented with the compliant of difficulty concentrating. He did not meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression but during his hospital course he developed suicidal ideation in the setting of poorly controlled pain and multiple frustrating delays in care.

Title: Escalating Chest Pain in a Young Man with Metastatic Gastroesophageal Cancer
Presenter: H. Jane De Lima, MD
Program: Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Summary: The case presentation describes a patient who benefited from aggressive but palliative minded interventions and the importance of diagnostics in addressing pain control.

Title: Caring for Home Hospice Patients with Substance Abuse
Presenter: Drew Rosielle, MD
Program: Palliative Care Program, Medical College of Wisconsin
Summary: The case presentation describes a patient actively abusing substances while in home hospice. Discussion points will include the pitfalls and challenges of caring for dying patients who are using drugs, as well as strategies to provide these patients optimal symptom control.

Title: Is it a Crisis?
Presenter: Ryan Nash, MD
Program: University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Palliative Care
Summary: Corticosteroids are an essential and frequently utilized weapon in the palliative arsenal. The case to be presented illustrates the dilemma regarding corticosteroid cessation at the end of life with emphasis on the ethical decision to allow death by natural progression of disease versus the iatrogenic complication of a medication withdrawn.

Title: Addressing Intractable Crying: Pseudobulbar Affect and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Presenter: Suzana Makowski, MD, MMM
Program: San Diego Hospice
Summary: This case will review the differential diagnosis for intense emotional suffering in the ALS patient. Other items to be covered include Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the impact of her crying on caregivers, and the multidisciplinary team approach - including pharmacological and psychosocial interventions - used to alleviate her suffering during the final five weeks of her life.

2006 Chair and Vice-Chair

This is the first post of the blog for the AAHPM Professionals in Training Special Interest Group (PIT SIG). The main reason for this blog is to enhance communication with the members of the PIT SIG and to help bring others into the field of Palliative Medicine.

At the Annual Assembly in Nashville, TN the PIT SIG members elected a new vice-chair and chair.

Chair: Lynn Bunch, MD, Mt. Sinai, 2005-8
Vice-Chair: Drew Rosielle, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2005-6

Past-Chair: Brian Murphy, MD, Assoc Med Dir, Capital Hospice (Virginia Commonwealth Univ., 2004-5)
Ex-officio: Christian Sinclair, MD, Assoc Med Dir & Fellowship Dir, Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Medicine (Hospice & Palliative CareCenter, Winston-Salem, NC 2003-4)