The following are useful resources in palliative and end-of-life care.

American Association for Cancer Education (AACE)
The mission of the Association is to foster cancer education by individuals throughout the world who either due to professional obligations or personal interest are involved in cancer education.

American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) is an organization of physicians and other medical professionals dedicated to excellence in palliative medicine, the prevention and relief of suffering among patients and families by providing education and clinical practice standards, fostering research, facilitating personal and professional development of its members, and by public policy advocacy.

American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (ABHPM) was formed in 1995 to establish and implement standards for the certification of physicians practicing hospice and palliative medicine. ABHPM creates and administers the certifying examination, works to implement high standards for training, and contributes to setting the standards for excellence in palliative medicine.

American Hospice Foundation supports programs that serve the needs of terminally ill and grieving individuals of all ages. Its mission is to improve access to quality hospice care through public education, professional training, and advocacy on behalf of consumers.

American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) is the professional association of medical directors and physicians practicing in the long term care continuum, dedicated to excellence in patient care by providing education, advocacy, information, and professional development.

The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is dedicated to increasing the availability of quality palliative care services in hospitals and other health care settings for people with life-threatening illnesses, their families, and caregivers.

• The Role of the Chaplain on a Palliative Care Team
  An audio conference designed to teach strategies for integrating chaplains into a palliative care team, given current logistical challenges, the scope of professional training and credentialing in modern healthcare chaplaincy, how to develop multiple roles for chaplaincy within a palliative care team setting, and the relationship of spirituality with modern medicine and palliative care.
• Palliative Care Leadership Center Training
  The Palliative Care Leadership Centers offer intensive two-day training and a full year of follow-up mentoring in all operational aspects of designing and launching a successful program.
• A Guide to Building a Hospital-Based Palliative Care Program
  A desktop manual that lays out concrete steps for building a palliative care program in hospitals. This product can be purchased on the CAPC website for $99.
• CAPC Seminar
  The CAPC seminar provides a comprehensive overview of the financial and operational content and processes needed for building a hospital-based palliative care program.

Capital Hospice offers expanded services to patients and families in need of end-of-life care in Northern Virginia, Washington DC and Suburban Maryland.

End of Life Nursing Education Consortium Project (ELNEC) is a comprehensive, national education program to improve end-of-life care by nurses, and is funded by a major grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Primary project goals are to develop a core of expert nursing educators and to coordinate national nursing education efforts in end-of-life care.

End of Life Physician Education Resource Center (EPERC) The purpose of EPERC is to share educational resource material among the community of health professional educators involved in palliative care education.

VA Palliative Care Network (PCN) The primary mission of PCN is to create and foster a communication network for VA providers involved in hospice and palliative care.
Buehler Center on Aging, Health & Society The Buehler Center is committed to improving the quality of life and quality of care for older people. It seeks to achieve this mission through: conducting clinical, applied, and policy research, disseminating education programs, and supporting community outreach.

The Patient Safety Education Project (PSEP) combines two high-quality models to advance a national and international patient safety education-dissemination agenda. First, the U.S. developed a high-impact, conference-based education dissemination project. Second, Australia created a national consensus framework for patient safety from which diverse groups could create teaching materials for all levels of health care workers.

The Palliative Care Network provides a platform for palliative care professionals to teach, interact, and exchange ideas with fellow colleagues in places around the world where the knowledge gap is wider than the technology gap.

North Memorial is holding a course on palliative care November 11-13, 2008 at the Millennium Hotel in Minneapolis, MN. For more information, you can click here for the brochure.