Vol IX, Nov `04

Under the grant, the two foundations will partner to provide various activities including sessions at the AMDA 2005 Annual Symposium on palliative care and distribution of a palliative care curriculum for long term care physicians. This curriculum was introduced at the AMDA Annual Symposium in 2002 and was met with excellent and enthusiastic evaluations. The curriculum also has been adapted for geriatric residency programs by a group of residency program directors, led by William Smucker, MD, CMD.

"The grant will allow us to take this curriculum that features the unique AMDA signature of applicability to long term care and reach a wide audience of physicians who care for patients at the end of life," said AMDA Foundation Chair Jonathan Musher, MD, CMD.

The group who developed this curriculum drew from many sources, including the American Medical Association's Education for Physicians on End-of-life Care (EPEC) program. They also used their long term care experience to create an approach that is easily used and instantly relevant, with a philosophy that every nursing facility resident should have access to palliative care from admission to end of life. The grant will allow distribution to geriatrics, internal medicine, and family practice training programs.

"Partnering with AMDA to support this worthwhile initiative is an important way to help spread our quality care message," said Keith Krein, MD, CMD, Chief Medical Officer at Kindred Healthcare and a former president of AMDA and former chair of the AMDA Foundation. He added, "AMDA is the premier source of education for long term care physicians; and palliative care is a topic that is highly relevant in the lives of our skilled nursing center patients and their loved ones."