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Pharmaceuticals and American Cancer Societyand is listed as the principle investigator.)

Objectives1. Identify new evidence from 2011 that was

published outside the palliative care litera-ture but is meaningful to hospice and pallia-tive care clinical practice.

2. Recognize the PC-FACS publication fromAAHPM and the potential role it has inhis/her own clinical practice.

Clinicians on the frontline of practice must stayup-to-date with the evidence in order to providecompetent best care to patients. Yet the volumeof potentially relevant studies that could betterinform palliative care providers in hospitals, out-patient programs, long-term care facilities, com-munity practices, and hospices is vast and rapidlyexpanding. Palliative CaredFast Article CriticalSummaries (PC-FACS) is an AAHPM publicationdesigned to help busy clinicians stay on top ofcurrent best evidence relevant to contemporarypractice of palliative medicine. Because mostclinicians endeavor to keep abreast of deve-lopments published in palliative care-specificjournals, PC-FACS focuses on innovative, high-quality, timely, and relevant studies that appearin 85 medical and scientific journals outsidethe bounds of traditional palliative care litera-ture. High-quality articles are selected by a panelof expert associate editors, who together scoura broad cross-section of the medical literatureranging from peer-reviewed general medicaljournals (eg, JAMA, New England Journal of Medi-cine) to discipline-specific literature (eg, Journalof the American Geriatric Society, American Journalof Cardiology), specialized literature (eg, Journalof Advanced Nursing, Mayo Clinic Proceedings), ba-sic sciences (eg, Nature, Science, Molecular Pain),and health policy (eg, Health Affairs). In a con-venient, electronic, bi-weekly, digest format,concise summaries of the most relevant, news-worthy articles are presented with brief expertcommentary tailored to the evidence needs ofthe practicing palliative care and hospice clini-cian. During 2011, PC-FACS will review approxi-mately 130 pertinent articles which might haveescaped the notice of evidence-conscious clini-cians. This session will spotlight the PC-FACS‘‘best evidence of 2011,’’ providing insight intoemerging research and its incorporation intothe current body of palliative care evidence guid-ing practice. New features in this year includeperiodic highlighting of palliative care-relevant

policy articles and review articles of particularimportance to palliative care clinicians.

Geritalk: Using Deliberate Skills Practice inCommunication Skills Training (302)Amy Kelley, MD MSHS, Mount Sinai School ofMedicine, New York, NY. Lynn Bunch O’Neill,MD, Duke University, Chapel Hill, NC.(All authors listed above for this session have dis-closed no relevant financial relationships.)

Objectives1. Compare and contrast the traditional

method of medical education with the con-cept of deliberate practice, as applied tocommunication skills.

2. Describe Geritalk, a model communicationskills training program for palliative medi-cine and geriatrics fellows.

3. Explore ways to translate deliberate practiceto participants’ specific learners and teach-ing environment.

The care of the seriously ill is frequently compli-cated by communication challenges. Deliveringbad news, coping with clinical uncertainty, sup-porting a patient through periods of functionalor cognitive decline, and establishing appropri-ate goals of care are a few of the challengesthat palliative medicine clinicians confront daily.Despite the frequency of these difficult conversa-tions and the fact that the ACGME has identifiedcommunication as a core clinical skill, fellows inpalliative medicine receive little focused com-munication training. Most fellowship programsdo not have a formal curriculum for teachingcommunication skills. Geritalk is a 2-day com-munication skills workshop for palliative medi-cine and geriatrics fellows that specificallyaddresses their common communication chal-lenges, including giving bad news and discussingtransitions to palliative care. Particular focus isplaced on the intricacies of discussing thesetopics with surrogate decision makers and estab-lishing specific goals of care for patients withprofound functional and cognitive impairment.Developed by Drs. Neill and Kelley, the programrelies heavily on skills practice sessions with sim-ulated patients, complemented by brief didacticsessions and reflective discussions.The session will make the case for formal com-munication workshops as a method for teachingcommunication skills. Complex in many ways,communication is not something that can sim-ply be learned by the ‘‘see one, do one, teach

330 Vol. 43 No. 2 February 2012Schedule With Abstracts

one’’ strategy. It requires many hours of prac-tice. Geritalk fosters, in fellows, an importanceon deliberate practice-practice which includessetting personal goals, observed communica-tion encounters, reflection on one’s ownwork, and feedback by a skilled coach. Partici-pants will have an opportunity to see how themodel of deliberate practice is applied to com-munication skills teaching in palliative carethrough a demonstration of a Geritalk skillspractice session and then reflect on how theymight apply this method of teaching in theirhome environment.

Model for Running a Palliative CareInterdisciplinary Team CaseConference (303)Rabbi Edith Meyerson, BCC, Hertzberg Pallia-tive Care Institute and Mount Sinai School ofMedicine, New York, NY. Emily Chai, MD, MountSinai Hospital, New York, NY. Jay Horton, MPHMSN RN, Mount Sinai Medical School, NewYork, NY.(All authors listed above for this session have dis-closed no relevant financial relationships.)

Objectives1. Discuss the challenges of running an interdis-

ciplinary team meeting.2. Demonstrate skills necessary to conduct in-

terdisciplinary team meetings within the‘‘Bring it to the Table’’ model.

3. Recognize and troubleshoot various issuesthat arise for facilitators and participants dur-ing interdisciplinary team meetings.

Traditionally, palliative care involves a gatheringof multiple disciplines to discuss clinical situa-tions. Structure is rare, making it difficult formost rotators and learners to participate ina meaningful manner. While the business com-munity models various concepts for group work,team communication, and facilitation, thesemodels need to be adapted to the needs of thehealth care community. With clinical and educa-tional excellence as the core mission of our palli-ative care program, our team adopted andadapted a clinically effective presentation modelthat fosters brainstorming, promotes team sup-port, and encourages all staff and learners of alldisciplines to participate.The model we refer to as, ‘‘Bring it to the Table,’’serves many functions. These functions include(a) creating time and space to brainstorm diffi-cult clinical scenarios, (b) building community

among colleagues to feel supported throughthe challenges and weight of palliative care situ-ations and issues, and (c) creating opportunityfor all voices to ask questions and deepen thelearning process.Through an evolving process that builds on bothpositive and constructive feedback, our ‘‘Bring itto the Table’’ model can be adopted and adapt-ed for individual team characteristics. This ses-sion will offer a forum for participants toreview various models for clinical team meetings,experience elements of the ‘‘Bring it to the Ta-ble’’ model first hand, identify and deal with var-ious barriers that a facilitator may encounterduring the case discussion, and consider howto integrate aspects of this model into theirown clinical settings.

Competence Clarified (304)Barbara Schmal, MS RN CHPN�, Hospice of theValley, Phoenix, AZ. Denise Stahl, MSN RNACHPN�, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System,Hunker, PA. Bette Case Di Leonardi, PhD RN-BC, Independent Consultant, Chicago, IL.(All authors listed above for this session have dis-closed no relevant financial relationships.)

Objectives1. Distinguish between competence and

competency.2. Identify the beliefs which underpin the defi-

nition of continuing competence.3. State a definition of continuing competence

which can clarify continuing competence inthe practice hospice and palliative care.

This session presents the work of a task force ap-pointed by the National Board for Certificationof Hospice and Palliative Nurses (NBCHPN).The task force examined the concept of compe-tence and continuing competence. The taskforce clarified these concepts to guide the certi-fication and recertification process and require-ments for NBCHPN certificants who includeadvanced practice registered nurses (APRNs),registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPNs, LVNs), nursing assis-tants, and administrators.The task force distinguished between compe-tence and competency, delineated its beliefsabout competence, and defined continuingcompetence. The task force included member-ship from outside of NBCHPN: the deputy direc-tor of the American Board of Nurse Specialties(ABNS) and the editor of the Journal for