Palliative Care - a Joint #gyncsm and #hpm chat

This month we were pleased to offer a joint chat with #hpm (Hospice and Palliative Medicine). They also hold a chat the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 9pm. The topic for the chat was Palliative Care. We were joined by Dr. Christian Sinclair (@ctsinclair) a palliative and hospice medical care physician, editor at Pallimed and #hpm founder; as well as others from the #hpm community.

During the chat we welcomed 55 participants, posted 488 tweets and made 1,631,071 impressions.
The transcript can be found here and the analytics here.

Here are the topic questions and a sampling of the responses:

T1: What does the term "palliative care" mean to you? How do you think palliative care differs from hospice?

T1: palliative care focuses on helping patients achieve the best quality of life right up until the end of life #hpm #gyncsm

— Virtual Hospice (@VirtualHospice) June 11, 2015

T2A: Have you discussed palliative care with your doctor? Who brought it up? How did it make you feel?

T2B: When in the patient's treatment do they tend to get referred to a palliative care specialist? When is ideal?

T2B: The earlier the referral can happen, the better, but often limited by resources and patient/family acceptance. #hpm #gyncsm

— Merry J Markham, MD (@DrMarkham) June 11, 2015

T3: Are there medical / insurance requirements to obtaining palliative care?

My mom's insurance covered palliative care, but access was a problem in rural MN. She had to travel 4 hrs to see PC specialist. #gyncsm

— Katie Hoody (@kc_hoody) June 11, 2015

T4: What do you wish you would have known about palliative care? Doc's: What do you wish your patients knew?

T4: I wish people knew how supportive hospice is of the whole family, their needs, aiding understanding and acceptance, etc. #hpm #gyncsm

— Robin Martinez (@RobinSmrtPtient) June 11, 2015

T4: I wish my patients knew that using palliative care/hospice does not translate to dying sooner. I hear that too often. #hpm #gyncsm

— Merry J Markham, MD (@DrMarkham) June 11, 2015

T5: For those with experience with palliative care, what were the positives / negatives? 

Remember you can continue our discussion on SmartPatients. (http://gyncsm.blogspot.com/2014/10/continuing-our-chats-more-than-140.html)

We look forward to you joining us next month 9pm EST on July 8, 2015 to discuss Dealing With Anxiety.

Dee
Co-moderator #gyncsm


RESOURCES:

SGO article Comprehensive Care in Gynecologic oncology: The importance of Palliative Care. 

Palliative Care Fact Sheet from the NCI (@NCI).

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/advanced-cancer/care-choices/palliative-care-fact-sheet

Cancer.Net (@cancerdotnet).
http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/how-cancer-treated/palliative-care/caring-symptoms-cancer-and-its-treatment

Canadian Virtual Hospice
Main site:     http://www.virtualhospice.ca/en_US/Main+Site+Navigation/Home.aspx
10 myths about Palliative Care : http://virtualhospice.ca/en_US/Main+Site+Navigation/Home/Topics/Topics/What+Is+Palliative+Care_/10+Myths+about+Palliative+Care.aspx

Pallimed
pallimed.org

Get Palliative Care
http://getpalliativecare.org/whatis/disease-types/ovariancancer/

Sarcoma Alliance 
http://sarcomaalliance.org/what-you-need-to-know/end-of-life-issues/ 

Palliative Doctors American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
http://palliativedoctors.org/faq

Medline plus Palliative site

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/palliativecare.html

U-tube Palliative Care: YOU Are a BRIDGE 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDHhg76tMHc