Merrimack Valley AHEC is offering a Workshop on "Difficult Conversations: Palliative Care and End-of-Life Encounters Part I"
For Professional Medical Interpreters ONLY.
Education level: Intermediate to Advanced.
3.5 CCHI CEUs
CEU Fee: $30.00 Fee includes: Course materials, certificate of completion Credit/Contact Hours: Approved for 3.5 CCHI CEU credit hours
Registration Deadline: December 6th, 2017. Done on a first come, first serve basis.
If you have any questions please call MV AHEC at (978) 685-4860 Ext. 8600 or ext. 8601
Workshop Description:
Palliative care and end-of-life conversations can be both intellectually and emotionally challenging requiring clinicians and interpreters to employ many skills and with patience and care. These encounters can be infused with fear, ambivalence and complicated personal and cultural differences between providers and patients and their family members. They can also leave clinicians and interpreters emotionally stressed. In this challenging yet introductory course, we will explore terms used in psycho-social palliative care conversations including code status, MOLST form, goals of care and other commonly used terms. Accessing huddles, interpreting for assessments and decision-making across cultural barriers will be discussed in both small groups, large groups and via brief impromptu role plays. We will also review constructive mechanisms for the emotional challenges this work can present.
Program Goals and Learning Objectives
This workshop will provide experienced professional medical interpreters with an opportunity to review their understanding of palliative care terms, forms used in this type of care and challenges encountered in a safe environment allowing for the practice of new behaviors.
a. Participants will learn terms used in psycho-social palliative care and consider interpretations into their target languages.
b. Participants will review potential cultural bumps and practice mediating between providers and patients through role plays.
c. Participants will share emotional challenges faced during end-of-life encounters and constructive responses which enhance resilience.
Presenter: Jessica Goldhirsch, LCSW, MSW, MPH is a clinical social worker working in palliative care. She recently co-designed and co-facilitated a six-part series in palliative care dialogues between staff interpreters and palliative care clinicians to improve the effectiveness of their partnerships. Previously, Ms. Goldhirsch developed an interpreter services department in a community hospital, trained providers working with interpreters and provided continuing education for professional staff interpreters in a large teaching hospital. She has been designing and delivering innovative introductory and continuing education workshops for professional medical interpreters throughout Massachusetts, the United States, and Japan, for over fifteen years. Ms. Goldhirsch has served on the boards of the Forum on the Coordination of Interpreter Services and the Massachusetts Medical Interpreters Association. She is a member of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care, the National Association of Social Workers and the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network.
