End-of-Life Care

The 2003 President’s Project was dedicated to raising awareness among Texas’ Physician Assistants to the practical and personal issues that are associated with End-of-Life Care. At the invitation of the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants (TAPA) President Hank Lemke, Ira Byock, MD was the featured speaker and guest at the TAPA Conference in Dallas. Dr. Byock is a nationally acclaimed author, scholar and physician and he delivered the keynote address on palliative and end-of-life care issues.

The President’s Project project was dedicated to the TAPA President’s deceased mother Adelina, whose last days of life were made comfortable at a Hospice as she ended her battle with breast cancer in 1987.

Through the generosity of the Texas PA Foundation, registered attendees were also given a copy of Dr. Byock’s most recent book, The Four Things That Matter Most. Dr. Byock has authored four books on end of life care, including the highly acclaimed Dying Well.

Dr. Byock led thought-provoking discussion on ways PAs can define [and provide] care that reflects the personal preferences of seriously ill or injured patients and their families. In his keynote address Dr. Byock explored elements that must be in place in our health system to provide that level of care and he identified key stakeholders with whom PAs must interact with if we are to provide the best care possible at the end of life.

The Texas PAF and TAPA jointly sponsored a unique educational track on End-of-Life Care at the TAPA Statewide conference where recognized leaders in the field of End-of-Life Care from Texas presented lectures on

• Legal and Ethical Issues related to End-of-Life Care
• Essentials of Delivering Bad News and Goals of Care
• Palliative and Pre-Hospice Care Clinical Issues
• Symptom Management in End-of-Life and Palliative Care
• Palliative and End-of-Life Care Pain Management
• The Last Hours of Living
• Hospice Eligibility, Billing Myths, and Realities

The End-of-Life Care Track awarded category 1 CME to attendees.