One Hospital's Response to the Institute of Medicine Report, 'Dying in America'

Background In response to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Dying in America, we undertook an institution wide effort to improve the experience of patients and families facing serious illness by engaging leadership and developing a program to promote the practice of generalist palliative care. Intervention We developed a three-part generalist palliative care program that focuses on ( 1 ) instructional design, ( 2 ) advance care planning, and ( 3 ) engagement. Measures The impact of the program was measured with process measures related to its’ three parts. Outcomes Over four years, the program trained 51 interprofessional clinicians in a two-week intensive palliative care course and 1,541 interprofessional clinicians in a 90-150 min skills-based training. Clinicians documented 15,791 serious illness conversations. Zoom community engagement sessions were attended by 411 live viewers, and subsequently, 1918 YouTube views. Additionally, we report on the impact of the COIVD-19 crisis on our efforts. Early in the pandemic, over 2 months, 464 interprofessional clinicians documented 5,168 conversations with patients. Conclusion/Lessons Learned A broad based strategy resulted wide institutional engagement with serious illness care.