Study of the Supply, Demand and Use of Palliative Care Physicians in the
United
States: List of Recommendations
The recently published "Study of the Supply, Demand and Use of Palliative
Care Physicians in the United States" conducted at the State University of
New
York at Albany cites six recommendations to assure that palliative care
services be available to people with HIV/AIDS:
- Require clinicians and allied health professionals working with HIV/AIDS
patients to demonstrate understanding and skills in palliative care, including
the ability to discuss end-of-life concerns with patients.
- Require communication
training for clinicians treating HIV/AIDS patients, to facilitate timely
discussion of treatment options, including end-of-life issues.
- Explore ways
to assure the resources of palliative care programs are available to HIV/AIDS
patients, either through consulting or direct service.
- Address under-treatment
of pain for HIV/AIDS patients. Women, children and past or current substance
users are identified as particularly vulnerable
for
under treatment. Dialogue between treating clinicians and palliative care
physicians may support development of protocols and treatment for individual
patients
to more effectively manage pain.
- Require a demonstration of skills in palliative
medicine as a component of clinician job requirements within programs providing
HIV/AIDS treatment.
- Include testing in palliative care in professional re-certification
for specialties such as Infectious Diseases.
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Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care is a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation dedicated to long-term changes in health care institutions to substantially improve care for dying people and their families. Visit PromotingExcellence.org for more resources.
