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The inaugural United States World Hospice and Palliative Care Day Celebration: A virtual coming together

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2021

William E. Rosa Open the ORCID record for William E. Rosa [Opens in a new window] ,
Shila Pandey ,
Andrew S. Epstein ,
Stephen R. Connor  and
Judith E. Nelson
William E. Rosa*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Shila Pandey
Affiliation:
Supportive Care Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Andrew S. Epstein
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Stephen R. Connor
Affiliation:
Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, London, UK
Judith E. Nelson
Affiliation:
Supportive Care Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY
*
Author for correspondence: William E. Rosa, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 641 Lexington Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10022, USA. E-mail: rosaw@mskcc.org
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Abstract

Objective

On October 10, 2020, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Supportive Care Service hosted their first-ever United States (US) World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD) Celebration. The purpose of this article is to describe the US inaugural event in alignment with the broader goals of WHPCD and provide lessons learned in anticipation of the second annual conference to be held on October 5–6, 2021.

Methods

Description of the inaugural event in the context of COVID-19 and WHPCD, co-planning conference team reflection, and attendee survey responses.

Results

The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance initially launched WHPCD in 2005 as an annual unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. The US-based innovative virtual conference featured 23 interprofessional hospice and palliative care specialists and patient and family caregiver speakers across nine diverse sessions addressing priorities at the intersection of COVID-19, social injustice, and the global burden of serious health-related suffering. Two primary aims guided the event: community building and wisdom sharing. Nearly 270 registrants from at least 16 countries and one dozen states across the US joined the free program focused on both personal and professional development.

Significance of results

Unlike many other academic conferences and professional gatherings that were relegated to online forums due to pandemic-related restrictions, the US WHPCD Celebration was intentionally established to create a virtual coming together for collective reflection on the barriers and facilitators of palliative care delivery amid vast societal change. The goal to ensure a globally relevant and culturally inclusive agenda will continue to draw increased participation at an international level during future annual events. Finally, the transparent and respectful sharing of palliative care team experiences in the year preceding the conference established a safe environment for both individual expression and scholarly discussion.

Keywords

Global palliative carePalliative careSupportive careVirtual conferenceWorld Hospice and Palliative Care Day
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 182 - 186
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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