Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Time

Type

Title

Details

0800 - 0930

Registration and Refreshments

Registration will be situated in the Killermont Street entrance foyer and refreshments will be served in the Lomond foyer.

0930 - 0950

Welcome Address and Official Opening of Congress

The official opening of Congress will take place in the Auditorium Speaker: Elaine Stevens

0950 - 1050

Plenary

Current Issues in Palliative Care Research

Chair: Bridget Johnson

Speaker: Sanchia Aranda
Organisation: University of Melbourne
Position: Head of the School of Nursing and Social Work

Biography:
Professor Sanchia Aranda is Head, School of Nursing and Social Work at the University of Melbourne and Director of Cancer Nursing Research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne Australia. She was previously the Associate Professor in Palliative Care Nursing at the Centre for Palliative Care based at St Vincent's Hospital and Caritas Christi Hospice in Melbourne. Her reseasrch program is in the areas of palliative and supportive care with a particular focus on developing and testing innovative interventions to enhance patient outcomes. The program of work also has a significant focus on the development of research capacity and the uptake of research evidence in practice. Professor Aranda is the President of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care and is the only nurse on the Cancer Australia Advisory Council.

Abstract:
The goal of this session is to undertake an examination of the international research in palliative care and to consider future directions. Significant barriers to advancing palliative care research have been identified and include ethical concerns, difficulties in patient recruitment and sample attrition and professional gate keeping of patient access to research projects. If one accepts the premise that improvements in patient outcomes will only flow from an increase in research evidence it follows that the palliative care field must develop an enhanced research agenda. The paper will briefly outline the current status of and challenges to palliative care research before moving to consider international approaches to palliative care research that may assist in advancing research efforts and in building research capacity.

1050 - 1115

Morning refreshments, poster and exhibition viewing

Refreshments will be served in the Strathclyde suite, Island Bar and Lomond foyer. Research posters will be on display in the Island Bar foyer and Clinnical Innovation and Art can be found in the Clyde foyer.

1115 - 1215

Concurrent Symposium

Pain

John Welsh - Breakthrough pain - time for a rethink? John Currie - Pain control Chair: Elaine Stevens

Speaker: John Currie
Organisation: Royal Hospital for Sick Children Yorkhill
Position: Consultant Paediatric Anaesthesia/Pain management

Biography:


Abstract:
Most pain related to cancer can usually be well controlled with opiates as the final stage of the analgesic ladder. The palliative team really comes into its own when these standard techniques fail and “the drugs don’t work.” The pain may be mediated by different pathways particularly if the pain becomes neuropathic. The main pathway in this process is the N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) system. Specific agents are now available to control this type of pain. These drugs are usually combined with the opiate and the doses can be adjusted for optimal pain control and minimum side effects. Some pains require more invasive techniques and this can be co-ordinated by the palliative team. In this way, pain control can be tailored to each particular patient. Regular assessment by the team will also allow forward planning to keep ahead of any exacerbations of pain as the disease progresses.

1115 - 1215

Concurrent Abstracts

Free Papers 1 - Service organisation and development I

The Big Lettery Fund palliative care initiative: widening access to people with conditions other than cancer - Stacy Sharman. Challenges and choices for palliative care services in East and Southern Africa - Gillian Chowns Humanistic guidance: a grounded theory of end of life care - Antoinette McCallin Chair: Christine Ingleton

1115 - 1215

Concurrent Abstracts

Free Papers 2 - Palliative care beyond cancer I

Symptoms in the month before death in stage 5 chronic kidney disease patients managed without dialysis - Fliss Murtagh Do people with Parkinsons disease need palliative care? - Dorry McLaughlin Specialist palliative care for HIV in the HAART era - a qualitative study of HIV and palliative medicine physicians - Sarah Wenham Chair: Bee Wee

1115 - 1215

Concurrent Workshop

Implementing Distress Assessment Systems

Chair: Linda Kerr

Speaker: Craig White
Organisation: University of the West of Scotland
Position: Professor of Psychological Therapies

Biography:


Abstract:
Participants will be invited to consider the ways in the integration of distress assessment might be introduced into routine practice. In doing so the common obstacles associated with the introduction of such schemes will be outlined and participants asked to develop strategies and tactics to address this. The workshop will be focused on the identification of beliefs that could act to threaten the success of distress assessment and to consider the extent to which these may be shared by colleagues. The focus will be on considering some of the technical "answers" to problems associated with the introduction of distress assessment schemes and the need for individually tailored strategies that are required to address the "adaptive" aspects of implementation. This workshop will be particularly suited to participants with leadership roles in palliative care and those seeking to influence systems and infrastructure associated with care delivery.

1215 - 1335

Lunch, poster and exhibition viewing

Lunch will be served in the Strathclyde suite, Lomond foyer and for those attending the sponsored symposium -outside the Kelvin Suite. Research posters will be on display in the Island Bar foyer and Clinnical Innovation and Art can be found in the Clyde foyer. Exhibitors are located in the Strathclyde suite and Lomond foyer.

1225 - 1325

Sponsored Symposium

ProStrakan sponsored symposium- Treating Breakthrough Pain (BTP)

Speakers: John Zeppetella, St Claire’s Hospice, Hastingwood Maureen Carruthers, Macmillan CNS, Royal Masden Hospital Chair: Andrew Davies

Speaker: ProStrakan
Organisation:
Position:

Biography:


Abstract:
·To provide the audience with a greater understanding of Breakthrough Pain (BTP) ·To provide the audience with an overview of the Association in Palliative Medicine (APM) Task Group Guidelines in for BTP cancer patients ·To discuss the advantages and disadvantages in treatments for BTP for cancer patients and specific issues around treating patients who may need new treatments

1335 - 1435

Concurrent Symposium

Palliative care in dementia - do we need it?

Chair: Jo Hockley Speakers: Alice Jordan Teaching & Research Fellow

Speaker: Julian C. Hughes
Organisation: Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Position: Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry

Biography:


Abstract:
Dementia is on the increase, but there is a paucity of palliative care for the population affected. Providing palliative care for people with dementia raises a number of issues. At a conceptual level, the problem is to do with the breadth of palliative care. None the less, just as dementia challenges palliative care, so too dementia care has much to imbibe from palliative care. What emerges from bringing together palliative care and person-centred dementia care, is something broader still, which we might wish to call supportive care. One key challenge here will be the sort of ethical issues that emerge in the context of treating people with cognitive impairment. But a particular practical issue concerns the assessment and treatment of pain in dementia. In the final part of the session, we shall present data from a study of pain in dementia, which raises broader issues about distress and personhood.

1335 - 1435

Concurrent Abstracts

Free Papers 3 - Complementary therapies and anxiety

Assessing the outcomes of complementary therapy for palliative care patients across a variety of settings within North West Wales NHS Trust - Angela Jones A Qualitative two country pilot study of patient and carer experiences of yoga in palliative care - Lucy Selman Perceptions of anxiety in relation to lung cancer patients supportive care needs - Deans Buchanan. Chair: Mary Holland

1335 - 1435

Concurrent Abstracts

Free Papers 4 - Minority ethnic groups

The use of interpreters: the experiences of older Chinese people with cancer in the UK - Alice Chapman The meanings of religion among black Caribbean and white British patients with advanced cancer - Jonathan Koffman Recruiting ethnic minorities into palliaitve and end of life care studies: what does the literature say? Munikumra Ramasay Venkatasalu. Chair Gail Eva

1335 - 1435

Concurrent Workshop

Involving patients in research

Bridget Johnston, Gill Hubbard, Liz Forbat - Cancer Care Research Centre Chair: Marilyn Kendall

Speaker: Bridget Johnston
Organisation: Cancer Care Research Centre, University of Stirlin
Position: Senior Research Fellow

Biography:


Abstract:
Research which reflects the needs and views of people who use services can lead to more relevant palliative care research and is more likely to produce results that can be used to improve practice in both health and social care (Involve 2007). The workshop will have three strands. First, we will set the scene by describing a range of methods of involving people affected by cancer in research. This will include working alongside people in developing research methodologies, as appointing committees for professors and conducting research interviews with Health Board Chief Executives. Secondly, we will present data from a study of the experiences of people with cancer at the end of life that involved people with cancer at various stages of the research. Finally, we will encourage active participation of workshop participants to discuss and debate how we can involve patients with life limiting conditions more in our research.

1440 - 1600

Plenary

Lab to Bedside I: Update on dyspnoea – has science made a difference at the bedside?

Caroline Jolley, Sam Ahmedzai Chair: Tim Peel

Speaker: Caroline Jolley
Organisation: King
Position: Clinical Reseach Fellow

Biography:
Dr Caroline Jolley is a Specialist Registrar in Respiratory Medicine, currently working as an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow / PhD student within the Department of Asthma, Allergy and Respiratory Science, King's College London with Professor John Moxham. Dr Jolley's area of expertise is the physiology of breathlessness in health and disease, particular research interests being physiological measurements of neural respiratory drive, and the contribution of respiratory muscle dysfunction to breathlessness in COPD and neuromuscular disease. She is currently engaged in a programme of work focussing on the translation of these physiological measurments to clinical settings, particularly in the development of breathlessness services in general medicine and palliative care.

Abstract:
“Why is this patient breathless?” “How can I assess if the treatment for his breathlessness has been effective?” This session will focus on how physiological measurements can help in the assessment of breathless patients, in both a clinical and research setting. This will include the application of the wide range of tests now available, from basic lung function and lung volume measurements, to cardiopulmonary exercise testing and more complex measurements of respiratory muscle function and neural respiratory drive.



Speaker: Sam Ahmedzai
Organisation:
Position:

Biography:
Sam Hjelmeland Ahmedzai is Chair and Head of the Academic Unit of Supportive Care in the University of Sheffield. He is Honorary Consultant Physician in palliative medicine, working in a hospital supportive care team in Sheffield and in a hospice out-patient clinic in Doncaster. He is Lead Clinician for Supportive and Palliative Care in North Trent Cancer Network. He edits the Oxford University Press book series on Supportive Care; the international journal 'Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care'; the new section on supportive and palliative care for 'BMJ Clinical Evidence'; and he is the clinical lead for the National Library for Supportive and Palliative Care. Sam received most of his postgraduate medical training in oncology and respiratory medicine in Glasgow. His research interests are in pain control, nutrition, respiratory palliation and quality of life evaluation. He is particularly involved in developing the biological science of symptoms and distress – which he has termed ‘symptomics’. He has also championed the engagement of patients and carers in cancer care and in especially in cancer research; and the public dissemination of information on supportive and palliative care.

Abstract:
The past decade has seen a significant growth in the basic science of our understanding of the causes and mechanisms of dyspnoea. This lecture will explore whether these scientific advances have made a difference to our clinical management – and to subjective outcomes for the patient. At one level, clinical interventions have barely changed and in that respect, we can say that it is lagging behind the scientific research. Clinical studies, and the very few randomised controlled trials in this field, have mostly failed to reveal dynamically new approaches to controlling this most frightening of symptoms. Indeed, in some areas, clinical research has been going round in circles, eg the use of nebulised opioids. However, at another level, the application of a multi-disciplinary, multi-modality approach to helping patients confront and deal with dyspnoea by using a combination of drugs, gases, devices, breathing and psychological techniques, can be seen as a relative success in recent years. In this respect, we can learn a lot from pulmonary rehabilitation and self-management approaches in chronic lung disease. Finally, I will describe the future challenges of clinical management of dyspnoea. These are not only in the application of science (in which palliative care needs to do much better), but also in the re-thinking of traditional models of care in chronic and progressive disease.

1600 - 1630

Afternoon refreshments, poster and exhibition viewing

Refreshments will be served in the Strathclyde suite, Island Bar and Lomond foyer. Research posters will be on display in the Island Bar foyer and Clinnical Innovation and Art can be found in the Clyde foyer.

1600 - 1730

AGM

Annual General Meeting of the Association for Palliative Medicine

Refreshments will be served at the AGM

1630 - 1730

Concurrent Abstracts

Free Papers 5 - Pain

Dying without pain: evaluating the impact of nurses prescribing morphine in Uganda - Barbara Jack Pain and pain management in older people with cancer - Mike Bennett Israel seven years of opioid consumption trends for chronic pain treatment (2000-2006) - Pesach Shvartzman Chair: Jane Seymour

1630 - 1730

Concurrent Abstracts

Free Papers 6 - Patient experience I

Patients' constructions of disability in metastatic spinal cord compression - Gail Eva Patient and carer perspectives of palliative care in an acute hospital setting - Gail Ewing Using syringe drivers in palliative care: capturing the experience of patients, carers and community nurses - Suzanne Cruickshank Chair: Marilyn Kendall

1630 - 1730

Concurrent Workshop

Loss, Grief & Bereavement - what is our role?

Chair: Linda Kerr

Speaker: John Costello
Organisation: University of Manchester UK
Position: Head of Primary Care Division

Biography:


Abstract:
Workshop aims • Distinguish between normal and complicated grief reactions and identify gender differences (masculine and feminine grieving styles). • Carry out a bereavement risk assessment based on authentic palliative care case studies. • Identify the role of the professional practitioner in supporting the bereaved, identifying when specialist support is required. The workshop is interactive with three focusing themes: • Assessing the impact of loss • The role of the professional •Identifying and comparing normal and complicated grief reactions The workshop will utilise group work and provide an overview of the grieving process (and other models) focusing on enabling the bereaved to adjust to an environment in which the deceased is missing and examining gender differences in grieving. Focus is placed on pre and post death grief examining the influence of anticipatory grief in the context of people living with a range of life threatening medical illnesses.

1730 - 2000

Civic Reception and buffet

To be held at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. We invite you to join us for a glass of wine and a light buffet as the Lord Provost of Glasgow formally opens Congress.