The Interprofessional Education Exchange: The Impact of a Faculty Development Program in Interprofessional Palliative Oncology Education on Trainee Competencies, Skills, and Satisfaction.

The interprofessional education exchange (iPEX) provides education, training, and mentoring to select interprofessional faculty trainee teams for development and implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) in palliative oncology. To evaluate the impact of the iPEX project on trainees' self-efficacy in IPE skills and IPE competencies. A pre-/post-test design was used to evaluate trainees' progress.

The Improved Health Outcomes Program (iHOP): A Unique Model to Promote Provider-Driven Research in a Medicaid Population.

We describe an effort to improve the care of Medicaid and uninsured individuals through a three-way partnership between a Medicaid managed care insurer, front-line providers, and an academic university. The project provided annual funding over eleven years, for research, pilot programs, and demonstration projects. Projects were provider-driven in design and methods.

Impact of a telehealth intervention on quality of life and symptom distress in patients with head and neck cancer.

Background: Patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer commonly experience signi•cant changes in quality of life (QoL) and levels of symptom distress. It is not known if a telehealth intervention would mitigate these changes.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a telehealth intervention on QoL and symptom burden in patients undergoing initial treatment for head and neck cancers.

"I will never forget": what we learned from medical student reflections on a palliative care experience.

Purpose: To use reflective writing to evaluate a new required palliative care experience for third year medical students.

Method: The authors used a constant comparison method based on grounded theory to conduct a thematic analysis of reflective writings produced by third-year medical students completing a mandatory week-long clinical rotation in palliative care during academic year 2010 at the University of Louisville.

Results: Two broad thematic categories were identified: what the students learned and what the students experienced.

Use of the Distress Thermometer to discern clinically relevant quality of life differences in women with breast cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the ability of Distress Thermometer (DT) scores to discern important differences in quality of life scores among women with breast cancer.

Methods: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network's DT, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), and a demographic questionnaire were completed by 111 women recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Results: Patients considered moderately to severely distressed (score ≥ 4 on DT) scored significantly lower on FACT-B QOL scales and subscales when compared to those in the group scoring 3 or below.

Development of a telehealth intervention for head and neck cancer patients.

Treatment for head and neck cancer precipitates a myriad of distressing symptoms. Patients may be isolated both physically and socially and may lack the self-efficacy to report problems and participate as partners in their care. The goal of this project was to design a telehealth intervention to address such isolation, develop patient self-efficacy, and improve symptom management during the treatment experience.

Initiating and sustaining a standardized pain management program in long-term care facilities.

Objectives: To identify current pain management practices in the long-term care setting; and, implement and evaluate a comprehensive pain management program in the long-term care setting.

Design: An interventional pilot study.

Setting: Community-based long-term care facilities.

The Caring Connections Project: Providing palliative care to Medicaid patients with advanced cancer.

Palliative care, with its focus on symptom management, patient-centered goals, preparation for life's end, and preservation of quality of life in the face of advancing illness, is a rapidly advancing component of mainstream American medicine. Yet, access to palliative care is often lacking in the community setting and may be further hindered by the presence of healthcare disparities that impact the poor. This article presents a unique approach to assuring the availability of palliative care to Medicaid patients receiving case management services.

The value of disease severity in predicting patient readiness to address end-of-life issues.

Background: Although patient-physician discussion is the most important tool for end-of-life planning, less than 30% of seriously ill patients have held these discussions. While physicians use objective disease severity and recent clinical events to trigger end-of-life discussions, it is not known if such findings predict patient readiness. We evaluated the ability of disease severity measures and recent clinical events to predict patient readiness for end-of-life discussions in patients with chronic lung disease.