This is the second edition of the very popular . Headed by a stellar planning committee (Patrick Durivage, Susan Blacker, Vivian Myron, Shirley Otis-Green, Zelda Freitas) learners can expect five sessions addressing social justice and advocacy, best practices in education and training, effective communication, sustainability and shifting the paradigm around burnout. Sessions are supported by the most recent research and are designed to support social workers and other healthcare professionals providing psychosocial care to the seriously ill as well as their families and caregivers.
Devon Phillips (DP) :
Can you tell me about what learners can expect at your session? Why did you and your Co-Chairs choose to focus on the theme of putting research into action at this year鈥檚 9I制作厂免费 International Palliative Care Congress [link]?
Zelda Freitas (ZF)
We鈥檝e got people on the planning committee with a wealth of experience in psychosocial care that have been involved in palliative care for a long time. In our brainstorming session, we were discussing the whole idea of bringing research and practice much closer together. How do we enrich our day-to-day practice with the research that's being done in the area? We wanted to highlight not only the research that's being done in social work palliative care specifically. We are asking, how do we translate that research into actual practice? What does it look like? How do you apply it? How do we ensure that social workers that are working in the area of palliative and end-of-life care have the tools that they need in order to ensure that they're giving the best care possible to the people that are living with advanced illness, but also to the families and the caregivers that are present as well.
DP:
Have there been a lot of changes and innovations in research that will inform practice?
ZF:
I think there has been a lot of research in the last 10 to 15 years regarding psychosocial care in palliative care, and social work practice in palliative. We have the Oxford textbook that was done and edited by one of our planning committee members, Shirley Otis Green. They've already done a second edition of that wonderful textbook that really helps set the foundation for what social work in palliative care is, and then how do we grow from that. There has been some fantastic research that's been developing around the notions of best practice, and what's innovative in our practice. We want to ensure that we are providing the best care possible, and that needs to be based on research that examines tools, intervention models, and approaches, not only in social work practice, but really in interdisciplinary, collaborative practice. How do we work together to improve care? There's a lot of research that we can certainly draw on to enrich social work practice and psychosocial practice.
DP:
The Congress is certainly an ideal venue to share this information and expertise. Who would you encourage to come to your session?
ZF:
I would encourage everyone to come, and definitely those who are interested in psychosocial interventions in palliative and end-of-life care. How do we work not only on an individual level with people that are living with advanced illness, but how do we work in an interdisciplinary way? Anyone interested in that kind of approach will benefit from this learning day. A big focus of ours is working with families and caregivers because we know how involved families and caregivers are in the care that's provided, particularly in the home, but also in hospice care as well as in palliative care designated units. We will be highlighting all of that. There's a lot of different factors that go into it, and we will explore how to enrich our practice together. Anyone who is interested in social work practice, psychosocial practice and improving the care that they provide to people living with advanced illness in their families should join us. We want to make sure that learners leave with information, knowledge and skills to bring back to their own places of work to enrich their practice and the practice of the people that they work with.
DP:
As you were talking, I was thinking, would this information translate into very different settings, like long term care, home, hospice, ward. Is that part of the outcome you're looking at, your objectives?
ZF:
Absolutely. One of our objectives is to make the knowledge and skills transferable from one setting to another. Of course, there might be some very specific things that go on in particular settings. How do we then learn from that and then transfer those skills or that knowledge to other settings? That's always one of our goals because we know that social workers work in a variety of different palliative care settings. We want to make sure that learners acquire skills and are able to bring those skills back to their workplace.
DP:
Part of the richness of our Congress is that people come from all over the world, from less to more developed countries, and they work in different settings and with different populations. Will the discussions and teachings in your session apply to people from such diverse backgrounds?
ZF:
Absolutely. In our seminar, we have five sessions addressing a diverse range of important topics: social justice and advocacy, best practice in education and training, effective communication, sustainability and shifting the paradigm around burnout. In each presentation, there will be ample time for interactivity. We want to make sure that there's always space for people to be able to connect and share their experiences. It's a real exchange and a sharing of knowledge that is relevant to different parts of the world and different practices. There might be things going on in Australia or in England or in Africa that we can all learn from.
Our presenters, (Coalition for Compassionate Care of California), (University of Toronto), (UNC School of Social Work, Chapel Hill), (University of Toronto), (University of Toronto), (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), will bring their lived, real-world experience to this Congress seminar.
DP:
We鈥檙e looking forward to it! Any last thoughts?
ZF:
We have the privilege to have the knowledge and the richness of experience on our planning committee. We are connected with a lot of different people and the more that we connect with people through these seminars, the larger the knowledge gets transferred across the world. So we're very, very excited to be able to have subject experts, people that really have a wealth of experience in palliative care and in social work palliative care, to be able to share that with others. It's going to be an amazing seminar. We're very excited to be able to present this all-day seminar at the 9I制作厂免费 International Palliative Care Congress.
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