Serious illness care conversations telecast coming to Richmond
VCH Richmond staff and medical staff are invited to attend — via telecast — two special rounds, led by Dr. Rachelle Bernacki, on Monday, November 7. Dr. Bernacki teaches at Harvard Medical School and is Associate Director of Ariadne Labs, launched by Dr. Atul Gawande at Harvard University, as a centre for health systems innovation.
Dr. Rachelle Bernacki
The rounds, hosted in two parts, will be telecast to numerous sites across the Lower Mainland from Vancouver General Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital. The rounds will focus on developing the ability of all generalist healthcare workers to have much-needed conversations about serious illness/end of life wishes.
Dr. Bernacki is coming to Vancouver to present findings from recent research about serious illness conversations and to explore more widespread use of the Serious Illness Conversation Guide as a tool for improving conversations between care givers and patients or their substitute decision makers. This guide will be discussed at-depth in the second of the two sessions.
PART 1: Research and best practices in serious illness conversations and the development of the Serious Illness Conversation Program
Time: 8 to 9 a.m.
Place: Administration Conference Room (ACR), 3rd Floor, Westminster Tower, Richmond Hospital
PART 2: Using the Serious Illness Conversation Guide
Time: 12 noon to 1 p.m.
Place: Administration Conference Room (ACR), 3rd Floor, Westminster Tower, Richmond Hospital
Dr. Bernacki’s presentations are co-sponsored by Providence Health Care with support from the St. Paul’s Foundation’s Garossino Ethics Fund, VCH’s Vancouver Home Hospice Palliative Care Program, and the B.C. Centre for Palliative Care.