Recognizing that caring for neonates with life-threatening conditions should be an integral part of education for all health professionals, CHOC will host the second annual Neonatal Palliative Care Educational Symposium on Oct. 9 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Designed for neonatologists, critical care specialists, pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, registered nurses and interdisciplinary team, the conference has a comprehensive curriculum that combines interactive panel discussions, role playing, family interviews and formal didactics.
Decisions pertaining to life-sustaining treatment in children with life-threatening illnesses may still prove contentious, difficult and emotive. To that end, the symposium has a handful of goals for attendees:
- to improve understanding of the needs of infants and neonates with life-threatening conditions and their families;
- to help develop an approach that will be appropriate across different communities;
- to provide care that responds adequately to suffering;
- to advance strategies that support caregivers and health-care providers; and
- to promote needed change by cultivating educational programs.
Acknowledging that end-of-life counseling is an essential component of informed consent and comprehensive communication, Medicare supports plans to reimburse doctors for this service in 2016. This will also entail accountability for education and training, so this conference can help doctors meet any new requirements.
California-licensed physicians are required to take, as a one-time requirement, 12 hours of continuing medical education on pain management and the appropriate care and treatment of the terminally ill. This conference can help new pediatricians to claim this credit in one of the few real-time educational sessions in pediatric palliative care on the West Coast.
Learn more about this conference, including tuition, presenting faculty and other topics to be discussed.
