AAHPM Call for Case Conference

AAHPM has posted the call for fellows cases on the front page. This is the first time the case conference has received this kind of publicity so make sure you submit your case!

Here is the link to the submission form.

From the submission form:

The call for submissions for the 2008 Case Conferences will be open from September 1 through October 24, 2007. Case Conferences are 20-minute complex case studies that feature the interdisciplinary team. The case study can focus on any of the domains of palliative care faced by the interdisciplinary team including: physical, psychological, social, and spiritual.

This will be the 4th year for the Case Conference, which serves a unique opportunity for student members of the field to present at a national conference, and gain the experience needed to become future leaders. In the past, all cases have been submitted and presented by physicians, but submissions are open to all levels of students of graduate nursing, social work and chaplaincy programs as well as medical students, residents and fellows. The Case Conferences will be presented during the Annual Assembly of AAHPM & HPNA in Tampa, FL on Saturday February 2, 2008.
Friday, August 31, 2007

Welcome to the Professionals In Training Blog. My name is David and I am a current fellow in Mason City Iowa. I was elected to chair the Professionals In Training Special Interest Group at the AAHPM Meeting in Salt Lake City. I am very excited about this opportunity and will be posting some information over the next few weeks to months about where this might go. The Academy will again support the Fellow's Case Conference at the next meeting in January and we will be posting the submission dates here as well. I look forward to serving as the chair over the next few months and hope that you will email me or reply to my post if you have questions about anything. Thanks for your support.

David Wensel DO
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellow
Mercy Medical Center
Mason City, Iowa
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Getting Ready for The Annual Assembly

(cross-posted to PIT-SIG List)

PIT-SIG Members:

In addition to all of the excellent Annual Assembly fare, there are several activities that will be of particular interest to professionals in training. I encourage you to take advantage of all of them.

1. PIT SIG meeting - Saturday at 7 a.m. - We will be reviewing PIT SIG accomplishments of the past year and brainstorming additional ideas that might be useful for professionals in training as we go forward. We will also be holding elections for next year's PIT SIG leadership (chair and vice-chair). Further descriptions of these positions and the process for the election will follow via the PIT SIG listserv and by post on our blog (http://pitsig.blogspot.com). Please contact me (lynnbunch@hotmail.com) with questions or to indicate your interest in a leadership position.

2. Professionals in Training Case Conferences - Saturday at 8 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. - Come support your colleagues!

3. Job Fair - Thursday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the Exhibit Hall. This is the first annual Job Fair for the AAHPM/HPNA Annual Assembly. It should be an excellent opportunity for those of you in the midst of a job search to explore all of your options.

4. PIT SIG Social Gathering - More details to follow!

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions. I look forward to reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones next month!

Lynn Bunch
Chair, PIT SIG
lynnbunch@hotmail.com

Monday, February 05, 2007

Professionals-In-Training Case Conference - Presenters Announced

Come out and support your fellow fellows!

Professionals-in-Training Case Conference - Part 1
AAHPM Annual Assembly
Saturday, February 17, 2007
8-9am

Choreoathetosis in a frail elderly female hospice patient taking low dose trazodone: a case report
Charina Gayomali, MD
Summa Health System
Akron, OH

Communication challenges in a Puerto Rican gentleman with oropharyngeal cancer
Winnie Suen, MD, MSc
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA

Communication challenges in a patient with multiple myeloma and developmental delay
Cindy Lien, MD
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA

Professionals-in-Training Case Conference - Part 2
AAHPM Annual Assembly
Saturday, February 17, 2007
9:15-10:15am

It’s never too late
Kelly Ryder Letsinger, MD
VCU Medical Center
Richmond, VA

Communication challenges: denial, language and cultural barriers
Sarah E. Harrington, MD
VCU Medical Center
Richmond, VA

ICU as a comfort measure: treating the anxiety of a lung transplant patient who has survived it all
Lise Taylor Barbour, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI
Friday, December 01, 2006

Professionals-In-Training Case Conference - Call for submissions

(Previously known as the fellows case conference)

The AAHPM Professionals-In-Training Special Interest Group (PIT SIG) is now opening the call for case submissions for the case conference that is part of the Annual Assembly in Salt Lake City from February 14-17th, 2007.

There are 6 case slots available and the call is open to any medical professional in a training program (Fellow, Resident, Medical Student, Nursing Student, Social Worker, Chaplain, etc.) . Each case will be allotted 20 minutes.


For details and to review the submission process please click here.

If you have difficulties with the submission process, please email csinclair at kchospice dot org

See past cases from 2005 and 2006.

Submission Deadline: Friday, 11/3/2006
Cases Announced: Friday, 11/10/2006
Conference: 2/14-2/17/2007


(Cross-posted to Pallimed blog)
Monday, July 10, 2006

Deadline for ABHPM Boards soon!

For those of you registering for the ABHPM, the deadline for the earlybird registration is April 1.

Application Deadlines for 2006 Exam
Early Application Deadline $1100.00 April 1, 2006
Regular Application Deadline $1200.00 May 1, 2006
Late Application Deadline $1500.00 May 31, 2006
Thursday, March 23, 2006

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.
Friday, February 24, 2006

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!
Thursday, February 16, 2006

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.
Monday, February 13, 2006

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)

2005 AAHPM PIT SIG Cases

Brian Murphy, MD

Fellow in Hospice & Palliative Medicine

Capital Hospice

Arlington, VA

Weaning of intravenous milrinone after four years of chronic infusion



Gabriel Paulian, MD

Fellow in Palliative Medicine

University of Florida Health Science Center – Jacksonville

Jacksonville, FL

Johnny can’t read: another cause of opioid non-adherence



Jennie Webb-Wright, MD

Palliative Care Fellow

VCU Medical Center

Richmond, VA

Don’t just hang the morphine; think high tech!!



Tamara Sacks, MD

Palliative Care Fellow

VCU Medical Center

Richmond, VA

"You haven’t done what you promised.”



Maggie O'Connor, MD

Palliative Medicine Fellow - San Diego Hospice 2003-04

Founder of HO/PE: Healing Opportunities/Palliative Expertise

Mankato, MN

Does this patient really want terminal sedation?
Wednesday, January 19, 2005