Resources related to innovations in End-of-Life Care

1. National Institute for Healthcare Research; web: http://www.nihr.org; 6110 Executive Blvd. Suite 908, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. NIHR is an educational, medical, and social scientific research organization that encourages professional collaboration to advance the understanding of spirituality and health. The site includes summaries of recent research on faith, spirituality and health as well as descriptions of past conferences and information on post-doctoral fellowships.

2. The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center; 100 Charles River Plaza, Suite 600, Boston, MA 02114-4719, Tel: 617 724-4746. Web: www.theschwartzcenter.org
The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center is dedicated to supporting compassionate health care and strengthening the relationship between patients and caregivers. The Center seeks to achieve its goals through education, training and support; advocacy and policy development and research. The Center is creating programs it hopes will serve as models in a range of health care settings. The Center-a non-profit organization housed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-is named in memory of Ken Schwartz, a health care attorney who died of lung cancer at age 40. During his illness, he wrote a poignant account of his struggle with cancer, which was published in the Boston Globe Magazine. Schwartz emphasized the need to nurture the human connection in health care services, especially in the face of the dramatic changes occurring in the health care field.

3. The Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics
http://www.prchfe.org
Laurence O'Connell is president of the Park Ridge Center. It is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that conducts research, consultation and educational programs on issues of health, faith, and ethics. They also publish The Bulletin, a newsletter devoted to the connections between these domains.

4. Toolkit of Instruments to Measure End-of-Life Care (TIME)
Dr. Joan Teno has built a "toolkit" which provides a comprehensive list of tools and references, including measurement instruments related to palliative care. This site contains annotated bibliographies of tools, including a substantial section on spirituality prepared by Dr. Christina Puchalski at http://www.chcr.brown.edu/pcoc/Spirit.htm

5. The Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF).A private foundation rooted in the Jewish tradition and committed to democratic values, including fairness, diversity, and community. Access "Spiritual Beliefs and the Dying Process: A Report on a National Survey" conducted for NCF and the Fetzer Institute by the George H. Gallup International Institute at http://www.ncf.org/ncf/publications/reports/fetzer/fetzer_contents.html

6. Spirit Care, Daughters of Charity, National Health System 801 No. Second St. Suite 306, St. Louis, MO 63102, Tel: 314 436-4033.
Two videotapes designed by Daughters of Charity for use by groups to initiate discussion of spiritual health care in organizations are available: An Invitation to Healing: a baseline concept of spiritual health care and Called to Care: caregivers reflect on spiritual health care. The goal of these videos is to focus on the meaning of spiritual health, as well as to increase viewers' awareness and intentionality of their role in providing spiritual health care.

7. Supportive Care of the Dying: A Coalition for Compassionate Care
http://www.careofdying.org/
The coalition is made up of thirteen Catholic healthcare organizations and the Catholic Health Association. The three priorities of the coalition are research, developing models of comprehensive, community-based, supportive care for dying people, and creating a professional development program. The site has a variety of tools and resources including "Hints for Conducting Focus Groups" and back issues of Supportive Voice, the newsletter of the coalition.

Source: http://www2.edc.org/lastacts/archives/archivesNov99/resources.asp