Session Descriptions
Messages of Hope: The Near Death Experience/ Nearing Death Awareness
Speaker: Maggie Callanan
People close to death or in a temporary state of clinical crisis marked by the disruption of heartbeat, respiration, and other vital signs often report a remarkable experience. Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of this experience is that it seems to be much the same from person to person. That is, no matter what a person's race, cultural background, religion, or social standing, the near-death experience tends to follow a single, common pattern: A pattern of inexpressible comfort, beauty, peace, and ultimately, transcendence. Moreover, survivors often express a loss of fear of death. They become more loving, compassionate, and spiritual. Not only is the Near-Death Experience (NDE) one of the few physical and metaphysical phenomena that have an absolute life-changing impact on the experiencer, it also has a dramatic, mystifying impact on families and friends.
When people dying slowly of a terminal illness are approaching death, they too, have remarkable experiences and seem to develop an expanded awareness. This is called Nearing-Death Awareness (NDA) and these experiences bear distinct parallel to NDEs. They occur, however, without warning and without disruption of vital signs or other medical crisis. In fact, dying people seem to be able to drift from this reality into another and back with relative ease. Their attempts to share the wonders of these experiences by words or behavior are often thwarted by our lack of understanding of the symbolic language they use. Observers are quick to label this communication as "confused" and, therefore, discount it. Once caregivers have the tools for understanding and participating in this communication, they are afforded the unique and exciting opportunity to participate in these glimpses beyond while they are happening. In this regard the NDE and NDA differ dramatically.
Healthcare providers can be valuable facilitators of NDE and NDA. Patients may look to healthcare professionals for guidance and understanding of their experiences, and for support of their emotional and spiritual needs. On a daily basis, large numbers of patients are discharged from hospitals after undergoing a Near-Death Experience, many without the benefit of sharing that experience with a healthcare professional. An informed and positive provider in the support of patients who have NDEs and NDAs is critical in offering holistic care to patients.
Providers around the world hear patients describe their experiences but, unfortunately, many do not recognize the phenomena. In some cases, patients who are terminally ill and had either an NDA or NDE have been told that they were suffering from a drug reaction or were having hallucinations. We must be supportive and take an active role in educating families, friends, and our professional colleagues to become informed listeners who can discuss patients' concerns in an objective and positive manner. To do so enriches both the caregiver and the patient.
Applying a Generational Scope to our Palliative Care Practice - Does Age Matter?
Speaker: Serena Lewis
Providing quality end of life and grief care requires awareness and insight into issues regarding diversity and inclusion. Challenging ourselves and our teams to apply a generational contextual framework provides insight into techniques we can utilize to improve consistency within our teams and within family centered care. The audience will explore the evolution of death, dying and grief through a generational lens that provides opportunities to approach conversations with a clearer understanding of communication and values.
This discussion will support the practitioner in applying a critical analysis to approaching ageism in the workplace, and with population differentials in palliative care.
Acknowledging and Healing Disenfranchised Grief for Health Care Providers
Speaker: Rick Kline
Health care providers in all settings often form close attachments to the people for whom they provide care, as well as the families they support. Yet it is sometimes assumed that somehow healthcare providers are immune to grief – and that the impact of death and their grief reactions will diminish as they witness death more frequently. In fact, according to a number of studies the opposite is true. As health care workers face multiple deaths and losses, it is critical for them to be educated and supported in managing their grief, the result of which include improved quality and consistency of care.
This session will address disenfranchised and unaddressed grief experienced by health care workers and consider practical ways of dealing with such grief including the use of relaxation, visualization and meditative practices to help address and heal emotional and spiritual distress. We will also consider the invocation of blessings and prayers which can also assist in the healing process. The session will involve didactic and experiential components with time for discussion.
Death and Dignity Have No Address
Speakers: Simon Colgan & Rachael Edwards
Calgary’s Allied Mobile Palliative Program, or CAMPP, targets low income individuals who are homeless or vulnerably housed in Calgary’s downtown core. CAMPP uses a harm reduction approach to address the suffering of individuals who have a life-limiting illness with complex medical conditions and, often, multiple co-morbidities.
This session will give a brief discussion of the CAMPP program and address the social determinants of health that result in personal, institutional and societal barriers to access for care.
Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Patient and Healthcare Provider Models of Compassion
Speaker: Shane Sinclair
Compassion is a central principle of quality palliative care—but what is it really? Patients and healthcare providers are at the epicenter of compassionate care, yet their perspectives and experiences of compassion are often overlooked. The Patient and Healthcare Provider Models of Compassion were developed to address this gap in order to develop an understanding of compassion that is patient centred, evidence based and clinically informed.
Pain, Pills, and Pot: A Review of Chronic Opioid Therapy and Medical Cannabis in the Treatment of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain
Speaker: Robert Tanguay
Dr. Tanguay will review the concept of pain, including the brain’s ability to modulate pain via descending pain pathways. Opioid therapy has been a mainstay of treatment for chronic non-cancer pain since the 1990’s. We will look at the history of opioid treatment and review how this history has helped modulate the opioid crisis in North America today. Opioid Induced Hyperalgesia will be described, and pearls and pitfalls of opioid tapering in chronic non-cancer pain will be reviewed. Finally, the use of medical cannabis in the treatment of pain will be examined along with recommendations and screening tools.
Finessing Your Style: Strengthening Communication in End of Life (Bereavement) Care (4A)
Speaker: Serena Lewis
Understanding that the majority of issues we face in end of life care are communications related, this interactive workshop will explore our preferred styles. Whether we are facing issues interdepartmentally or are having family and client discussions, it is important to understand how our own dominant communication style affects the successful outcome of difficult conversations.
The facilitator will assist in providing insight into the participant’s dominant communication style and how to adapt and recognize other styles. Healthcare teams have seen direct improvement in confidence and mutual understanding when these techniques are utilized. This session will provide an engaging and insightful exploration to take our knowledge and delivery another step further in improving client/family care at end of life.
Complicated Grief or Complicating Grief: Should We be Considering the Difference? (4B)
Speaker: Serena Lewis
This interactive workshop will explore the importance of recognizing the context of grief and bereavement throughout the trajectory of end of life care. It is an opportunity to explore biases and misconceptions, as well as contemplate how to re-consider more ‘grief-friendly’ practices within workplaces. By reframing the complexity of grief in society, participants will explore approaches to further support client and families. By challenging dominant discourse, the goal will be to create techniques for supporting compassion resilience and healthy ways of facing the ‘saturation of sadness’ many practitioners face.
The Lighter Side of Palliative Care
Speaker: Beve Stevenson
We all know that a career in modern health care is challenging, to say the least. Tougher still is the critically important piece of caring for patients and their families during end of life. Beve Stevenson, an expert in ‘Finding the Funny’, firmly believes that humour really IS the best medicine - for everyone. Humour is a powerful and valuable tool not only for promoting interpersonal connection, but for coping with stressors involved in any workplace. Attendees will learn how to incorporate appropriate humour in their palliative work (and in their personal lives too) and hopefully have a few laughs along the way.