End of Life Care

Program Overview
Providing quality, compassionate care for patients transitioning to hospice and palliative care can be challenging. The need for skilled healthcare professionals who provide palliative and end of life care has increased significantly due to the rising rates of chronic illness, increasing number of elderly people, and longer life spans. This program will review the the principles of pain management, palliative care, and symptom management near the end of life; the levels of hospice care; and the new Medicare hospice consultation rule.

Target audience
This activity is intended to meet the needs of physicians, nurses, and nurse practitioners who participate in end of life patient care and family support.

Learning objectives
At the completion of this course, the learner should be able to:
-Discuss the case management standards of practice and their application to end-of-life issues;
-Identify the principles of pain management, palliative care, and symptom management near the end of life;
-Review the concepts of death, loss, grief, bereavement, and coping strategies for patients and families;
-Apply the four levels of hospice care and the new Medicare hospice consultation rule.

Method of Participation
In order to receive credit, participants should read the entire monograph, complete and submit an evaluation and score at least 70% on the self-assessment test. AKH Inc. allows for one (1) re-test at no additional charge; additional re-tests must be purchased again at the full cost. Statements of Credit will be available upon successful completion of the self-assessment test. If you have questions about this CME/CE activity, please contact AKH Inc. at service@akhcme.com.

Disclosure Declaration
It is the policy of AKH Inc. to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, scientific rigor, and integrity in all of its continuing education activities. The faculty must disclose to the participants any significant relationships with commercial interests whose products or devices may be mentioned in the activity or with the commercial supporter of this continuing education activity. Identified conflict of interest is resolved by AKH prior to accreditation of the activity. AKH planners and reviewers have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use and Investigational Products
This educational activity does not include discussion of uses of agents that are investigational and/or unapproved by the FDA. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer
AKH Inc.ís activities are designed solely to provide healthcare professionals with information to assist in their practice and professional development. The activities are researched thoroughly, utilizing current literature and including practical experiences. AKHís activities are not to be considered a diagnostic tool to replace professional advice or treatment. The activities serve as a general guide to the healthcare professional, and therefore, they cannot be considered as giving legal, nursing, medical, or other professional advice in specific cases. AKH educational activities do not endorse commercial products. The author(s) and the publisher specifically disclaim responsibility for any adverse consequences resulting directly or indirectly from information in the activities. AKH further disclaims any responsibility for undetected errors, or from the readerís misunderstanding of the activity.

Copyright © 2014 AKH Inc., Advancing Knowledge in Healthcare No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.