Ensuring quality palliative care for all

A new article on end-of-life care was recently published in the CMAJ, talking about the need to create a national system of standardization for palliative healthcare delivery. I found it really fascinating on a number of levels, and it’s certainly a discussion that needs to be had.

Because there is no effective regulatory system governing palliative or home care in Canada, essentially anyone can set up a business providing these services—they don’t need to be a medical practitioner or have any medical training whatsoever because accreditation is voluntary (one of the few exceptions is found in Quebec).

Now obviously, this sets up a very dangerous situation and sadly, has resulted in numerous cases of injury, and abuse. What especially bothers me about the situation is that this means that there are people out there treating end-of-life care as though it were just another service-based business, like window washing. As a result, you get unqualified individuals providing sub-standard care to those who are most in need.

I’m glad to see that we’re having this discussion in the medical field—it’s an important one to have. And I hope as we move forward in ensuring the highest level of palliative are for patients, that we also include a broad variety of those involved in end-of-life issues. Let’s remember that expertise in this field isn’t derived solely from a medical degree.

 

 

 

Book now a reference for the Canadian Virtual Hospice

I just thought I would let you know that my book Dying in the Land of Enchantment has now been posted as a Tools for Practice with the Canadian Virtual Hospice.

You can read about it here http://bit.ly/P5QVQa

I have been using the Canadian Virtual Hospice as a reference for my colleagues and patients so it is quite an honour to have my book mentioned on their site.

Thanks to them for acknowledging my book!

What are you waiting for?

I spoke last week about the locum I spent this past month in Sarnia, and briefly mentioned how much I really like the opportunity to ‘slow things down’ by working in a smaller city. The reason why I find it so valuable is that I always walk away from these opportunities with a wealth of new experiences and lessons.

Upon spying my wedding ring, one of the patients in palliative care asked me my age and whether my partner and I had any children. When I answered ‘no’, and that I was 37, she quite bluntly asked me, “Well what are you waiting for? Get to it!”

I know we often hear these kinds of things from friends and family on a regular basis, but it’s easy for us to ignore it, or nod politely and just move the conversation on. But these comments become all the more poignant when you’re working in palliative care. Many out there are under the misapprehension that palliative care is just about easing suffering for the elderly at the end of their lives.

What they forget is how many, what we would consider ‘young’ people are found there as well. I am constantly reminded of how fleeting life can be, and how important it is to appreciate and celebrate that fact. And we do so through our deeds and actions. The most heart-breaking thing I encounter in my field is not when a life is lost—which of course is saddening—but when a patient is anguished over regrets they may have.

I have often said that palliative care is not so much about dying, as it is about living—about celebrating the life we’ve lived and those we have touched. Knowing that a life has been lived without regrets and to its fullest enables both the patient, and their loved ones, to approach the end with a certain amount of peace—peace that can be so critical to the grief process.

It may sound clichéd, but we all have a million reasons to put off doing something we want to do. Many of them may well be legitimate, and it serves no one to be bullied into making decisions we’re not ready to make. But in the end I think it boils down to this—if you or a loved one were reaching the end of your/their life, would you have any regrets?  I think the answer to that question serves as an invaluable life guide.

From one writer to another

“From one writer to another.” That’s the inscription in my book signed by legendary author Lawrence Hill, the famed Canadian author of the Book of Negroes and Any Given Blood among other publications.

I can’t tell you how happy I was to have been able to meet him at the Fifth Annual Promised Land Symposium. Here are a few photos below at the book signing. I was also asked to send him a copy of my book Dying in the Land of Enchantment, such a thrill for me.  It was a wonderful evening listening to his stories about his experiences growing up in Toronto, researching for the Book of Negroes, and learning about Black History from his perspective. If you get the chance to see him speak in person I encourage all of you to do so.