LILIAN AND BENJAMIN HERTZBERG PALLIATIVE CARE INSTITUTE
PALLIATIVE CARE NEWSLETTER FALL 2019
Martha Stewart Expands Access to Care for Older Adults and People with Serious Illness
Mount Sinai expanded access to palliative care in lower Manhattan this summer with the opening of the second Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Union Square. Modeled after the Center at Mount Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side, the new location will provide highquality comprehensive care focused on quality of life for older adults, people with serious illness, and their families in the downtown community. “Ten years ago, Mount Sinai and Martha Stewart set out to remake care for older adults and people with serious illness. The idea was simple: offer the services and support they need to live with health and dignity. Mount Sinai has teamed up with Ms. Stewart again to expand this model of care and bring much-needed services to Manhattan’s downtown community,” stated Dr. Nathan Goldstein, Site Chair of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai Downtown.
At the ribbon cutting on June 26th, Martha Stewart called the new Center a “one-stop shop” for patients and their caregivers, providing ready access to expert physicians, nurses, and social workers who offer primary and supportive care. The Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Union Square will give seriously ill patients and their families access to specialized pain and symptom management, assistance with clarifying treatment options, and support with decisionmaking focused on their personal goals and values. Patients and their loved ones will have onsite access to specialists from more than 20 disciplines, including cardiology, rheumatology, radiology, and physical therapy. The new Center will also provide holistic living services such as Tai Chi, yoga, music therapy, nutrition planning, and fall prevention programs. ■
BROOKDALE DEPARTMENT of GERIATRICS AND PALLIATIVE MEDICINE
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FOCUS ON THE MISSION: The Importance of Palliative Care Research
The Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute is dedicated to increasing the evidence base for best palliative care clinical practices. Research from the Institute on topics such as improved care quality, cost savings, and disparities in care delivery have influenced national policy, health care spending, and access to care, allowing Hertzberg to bring the best evidencebased care to patients and families across the country. Palliative care is a relatively new medical specialty, which focuses on caring for people with a serious illness and their families. Numerous studies have demonstrated that palliative care improves the quality of care in three areas: relief of physical and emotional suffering, patient-physician communication and decision-making, and coordinated continuity of care across multiple healthcare settings – hospital, home, long-term care, and hospice. Unlike other areas of medicine, however, the evidence base to support and refine these three components of palliative care clinical practice (i.e., pain and symptom management, communication skills,
and care coordination) is still small and in need of further research. Models of care delivery to support the needs of patients and families have yet to be fully developed. As the population ages and people live longer with serious and chronic illness, the need for access to high quality palliative care has never been more urgent. The Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute works in tandem with the Patty and Jay Baker National Palliative Care Center to educate clinicians across the country, influence healthcare spending, and raise public awareness. ■
“Research from the Institute has influenced national policy, health care spending and access to care”
Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute Advisory Board Members Saskia Siderow, Co-Chair Susie West, Co-Chair Deborah Berg Jeannie Blaustein, PhD
Beth Dannhauser Peggy Danziger Joseph Hertzberg Lois Perelson-Gross
Meryl Rosofsky, MD Stephen Siderow Jenny Steingart Zena Wiener
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National Report Card Shows Greater Access to Palliative Care in America States have improved access to palliative care over the last four years, but significant regional variations persist, according to a landmark report by Mount Sinai’s Patty and Jay Baker National Palliative Care Center. The 2019 Stateby-State Report Card on Access to Palliative Care in Our Nation’s Hospitals, released this September on Capitol Hill, provides an analysis of equitable access to palliative care services in hospitals across the United States. The report was introduced by the Hertzberg Institute’s Director Dr. R. Sean Morrison, and Founding Director Dr. Diane Meier. The 2019 Report Card shows an increase in the overall number of hospital palliative care teams with 72% of small hospitals and 94% of large hospitals offering palliative care services. All of the individual states improved their scores; however, the United States’ average remains a B, which is consistent with the previous report in 2015. Access to palliative care is dependent more upon geography and hospital characteristics than upon the needs of patients living with a serious illness and their families. For example, 90% of hospitals with palliative care are in urban areas, while only 17% of rural hospitals with 50 or more beds have a palliative care team. In addition, small, nonprofit hospitals are much more likely to offer palliative care than either for-profit or public facilities of the same size. “High quality palliative care has been shown to improve patient and family quality of life, improve patients’ and families’ health care experiences, and in certain diseases, prolong life. Palliative care has also been shown to improve hospital efficiency and reduce unnecessary spending,” said R. Sean Morrison, MD, Co-Director of the Jay and Patty Baker National Palliative Care Center. The Report Card is published to inform and to help the public and policymakers increase the availability of high-quality palliative care for the millions of people in need. Its research was conducted by the Baker Center’s Center to Advance Palliative Care and National Palliative Care Research Center. ■
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Provider Spotlight:
PRIYA KRISHNASAMY, MD
“As a medical student, I would spend time at the bedside of vulnerable and marginalized patients. And as a psychiatry resident and fellow, I learned to alleviate severe psychiatric symptoms and advocate for patients in need,” recalls Dr. Priya Krishnasamy, Associate Director of the Palliative Care Consultation Service. “Throughout my medical training, I found personal meaning and satisfaction in helping to relieve patient suffering.” In 2015, Dr. Krishnasamy decided to further her training in order to further the care she was able to
provide seriously ill patients and their loved ones. She joined the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine as an Integrated Geriatrics and Palliative Care Fellow. “It was not until my palliative care fellowship that I gained the clinical knowledge and skills to have a lasting impact on quality of life for my patients and their families,” she said. Dr. Krishnasamy joined the Hertzberg Institute’s faculty upon completion of her fellowship. Prior to her current role, she was instrumental in expanding the palliative care program at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.
Save the Date The 24th Annual Douglas West Endowed Memorial Lecture with Dr. Louise Aronson Author of Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, and Reimagining Life TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2020 AT 5:30
pm
Goldwurm Auditorium, Icahn Building 1425 Madison Avenue at 98th Street, New York, NY
Dr. Louise Aronson is a geriatrician, writer, and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The author of Elderhood and A History of the Present Illness, she will discuss the misperceptions of aging in modern society, failures in the medical community which depersonalize treatment protocols, and how to better appreciate aging as the population grows older. More information on the Annual Douglas West Endowed Memorial Lecture and videos of previous lectures are available at www.mountsinai.org/palliativecare
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Hertzberg Physicians Named TEAM OF THE YEAR The Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute was awarded Physician Team of the Year by the Mount Sinai Hospital Department of Nursing this fall. During the 32nd Annual Physician of the Year Award Ceremony, the Hertzberg physicians were recognized for their unwavering commitment to multidisciplinary, collaborative care for people with serious illness and their families.
The Hertzberg physicians were nominated by several floor nurses, consultation triage nurses, and nurse practitioners, all of whom commended the team on their dedication to interdisciplinary collaboration, their compassion and respect for all, their encouragement and empowerment, and their commitment to teaching and learning.
“I can say with confidence that we collectively honor you and are so proud to have you acknowledged in this way. You all embody the very meaning of acting in one accord. You elevate the nursing profession in how you value us, teach us, and treat us. You inspire us by your collective pursuit of the path to limit suffering by embodying the value of compassion,” said Hertzberg Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Scott Poticha while presenting the award.
Palliative care is delivered through a multidisciplinary team approach, which at Mount Sinai consists of nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, and chaplains as well as creative arts, child life, massage, and yoga therapists. This approach ensures that every need of the seriously ill patient and their loved ones – medical, psychological, social, and spiritual – is being met. “It is truly a privilege to be a nurse in Palliative Care at Mount Sinai, where the relationship between the nursing staff and palliative care physicians is transparent, supportive, and collaborative,” said Amy Newman, Clinical Nurse Manager of The Wiener Family Palliative Care Unit. ■
Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1070, New York, NY 10029 Tel. 212-241-1446 • www.mountsinai.org/palliative
Fourth-Century French Proverb
“To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always”
Fall 2019
PALLIATIVE CARE NEWSLETTER
Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1070 New York, NY 10029