Yesterday evening I gave a talk to the non-principals group of which I am a member, luckily most of them had enjoyed Tony’s excellent coffee so no-one fell asleep!
When given the chance to “teach us about palliative care” I could easily talk for several hours but I managed to restrain myself as much as possible.
We discussed a case study of a chap in his 60′s with end stage heart failure and looked at specific aspects such as
1) Advance Planning of Care and PPoC Pilot project
2) GSF
3) Symptom control of nausea and vomiting and breathlessness
4) The LCP and setting up a syringe driver
The evening seemed to go well and the video even got some applause which was nice.
As promised all the handouts I didnt give out in order to save trees are below:
I was very lucky last week to be invited to present at this conference held at Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve (near Fakenham) It was a packed day with presentations on, unsurprisingly, optimal end of life for patients with non-malignant disease.
I had been provided with free range to talk on whatever I wanted so picking and choosing a topic to fill fifty minutes at the end of the day wasn’t easy! In the end I opted to talk about medical ethics and its underpinning of advance care planning. I think it went well and I didn’t see anyone asleep which is always a ringing endorsement!
The presentation will be linked here and I will try to post the other presentations as they become available.
In other news the long awaited syringe driver video is shot, edited and awaiting upload so watch this space for the big announcement in the next day or two.
Update: We have been getting very positive feedback about our video (Setting up a syringe driver in the community) from local groups including the Out of Hours service. Unfortunately the powers that be have suggested a number of small procedural changes and in order to take advantage of the better weather (and hence lighting) we have decided to reshoot the video. This should be completed in the next few weeks and now we have the go ahead, once we have the footage we will be able to post directly to Youtube at long last!
It’s not too late to book your ticket for the End of Life Non-Malignant Disease Conference at Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve (near Fakenham) on Thursday 4th June at 9am-5pm.
A full program of speakers on neurology, cardiac and renal disease, dementia and COPD are expected and the organisers have also managed to rope me in to talk about End of Life Issues!
There is a cost (£20) but with a good lunch provided, a raft of interesting speakers and my ramblings this could be money well spent!
To book tickets please e-mail either Trine Kirtzner ( trine.kirtzner@nhs.net) or Jenny Vincent ( Jennifer.vincent@norfolk-pct.nhs.uk)
I have just returned from a very interesting and informative international conference in Berlin.
The subject was Breakthrough Pain (New perspectives to closely match the BTcP Profile), a difficult to define and much debated problem, which eminent speakers such as Professor Neil Hagen ( who co-authored the seminal piece of work in 1990 with Professor Portnoy, on breakthrough pain and is now Professor of Palliative Medicine at the department of Oncology , University of Calgary, Canada) Professor Sebastiano Mercadante ( Director of the Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and Pain Relief and Palliative Care Units at La Maddelena Cancer Center Palermo) Dr Andrew Davies ( Palliative Care and Pain Consultant at the Royal Marsden Hospital London) and Dr John Zeppetella(Medical Director, St. Clare Hospice and Honorary Consultant, Princess Alexandra NHS Trust) attempted to clarify and explore with delegates from across Europe.
The conference also saw the launch of a new drug designed specifically to target breakthrough pain (which by its very nature has a very rapid on and offset, possibly as short as 15-30 mins from on to off) Currently no medication matchs this rapid onset/rapid resolution profile. This new drug seems to match far closer this profile, offering real hope for the management of breakthrough pain.
These are certainly interesting times in pain management, and the chance to get away to the wonderful city of Berlin for a few days was an additional bonus.
Once I have presented my paper on the conference to our local clinical governance group I will post my nuggets here for further digestion!
We spend a fair amount of time on this site promoting far flung conferences, courses or national guidelines. For a change I wanted to flag up the excellent local palliative care guidelines available on Knowledge Norfolk, for local health professionals.
These encompass a number of symptom control areas as well as more miscellaneous information such as the regulations for taking controlled drugs on holiday!
We don’t normally post educational events specifically sponsored by drug companies on this site, but an up and coming meeting organised by Wyeth caught my eye this week.
Although it is a little too far for yours truly to travel for an evening meeting, if I lived closer I would be very interested in the presentation on Thursday 19th March, on “Opioid Induced Constipation and its Management in Palliative Care Patients” ( we GPwSIs are a strange bunch!)
It is chaired by Dr Kelvin Bengtson, previously of St Helena’s Hospice Colchester and now at St Elizabeth’s Hospice in Ipswich. The main lecture is by Dr Nigel Sykes -Medical Director at St Christopher’s Hospice in London. We all know that constipation secondary to opioids is poorly managed in primary and secondary care and even specialist palliative care units still don’t get it right much of the time! The chance to hear such an eminent authority on this common subject is not one to be missed.
More details and to book your place if you are a Consultant, GP, Nurse Specialist, GPwSI, contact Bob Price at priceb@wyeth.com.
Back on firmer ground now, with the upcoming “Key Advances in Effective Symptom Control in Cancer” held at Birkbeck College, University of London. This joint symposium with the Association of Palliative Medicine, Association of Cancer Physicians, British Oncological Association and ecancermedicine, includes segments on palliative and supportive care advances, management of weakness and fatigue, management of induced neutropenia and radiation induced nauseaand vomiting-including a keynote speech by Dr Richard Gralla who is chief of Haematology and Oncology and VP of cancer services at North Shore University Hospital, New York. The afternoon has such gems as management of cancer induced bone pain, management of neuropathic pain, breakthrough pain, anorexia, breathlessness, depression in advanced disease and dealing with non-physical pain.
Cost is £175 for medical staff and £155 for nurses and pharmacists and more details can be found by e-mailing Francesco Scordamaglia on francesco@keyadvances.org.uk
Elizabeth and I have at last completed our first educational short-"Setting up a syringe driver" and we are awaiting approval from the powers that be, before uploading it for your viewing pleasure, so watch this space.
We are now planning our next short, so any pressing issues or ideas are gratefully received.
