Websites
Americans for Better Care of the Dying - www.abcd-caring.org. ABCD is dedicated to social, professional and policy reform to improve the care system for dying patients and their families. They provide news, a reading room, a bimonthly publication, and an online conference covering end-of-life care.
Caring Connections - www.caringinfo.org. Caring Connections provides free resources on end of life issues.
Center to Advance Palliative Care - www.capc.org
. The focus of CAPC is to be a resource to hospitals and health systems interested in developing palliative care programs. They provide extensive information on all aspects of building a program, a sophisticated journal search with links to on-line publications, news updates, and links to a wide range of organizations and resources.
Completing a Life - completingalife.msu.edu. This site is a resource for Taking Charge, Finding Comfort and Reaching Closure. It offers an interactive CD-ROM and a website geared towards helping patients and families to learn about the practical, emotional, spiritual, and medical issues regarding advanced illness.
Dying Well - www.dyingwell.org. This is the website of Dr. Ira Byock, long time palliative care physician. It includes recommended books, articles, and websites; a discussion guide, The Grief Series , by Cathy Weber; and Landmarks and Developmental Tasks for the End of Life.
Education for Physicians on End-of-Life Care - www.epec.net. EPEC is a training program designed to train physicians on the essential clinical competencies required to provide quality end-of-life care. A handbook and video version of the training are both available, as well as slide sets on many palliative care topics.
End-of-Life Physician Education Resource Center - www.eperc.mcw.edu. This is a repository for high-quality, peer-reviewed educational materials and information about end-of-life issues. Course curricula, teaching modules, and self-study guides are available, as well as instruments for assessment and evaluation.
End-of-Life: Exploring Death in America (NPR Series) - www.npr.org/programs/death. This is the website for the National Public Radio series, Dying in America. It includes transcripts which may be heard, read, or ordered; resource links; and a bibliography. A Readings section includes poetry, essays, and clinical matters; spiritual and religious texts; excerpts from fiction, plays, and scripts; and visual images. There is a section available to add your story or read others' stories on the website
Hospice Education Institute - www.hospiceworld.org. HEI is a non-profit organization with information and education about caring for the dying and bereaved. It targets both health care professionals and the public. There is a toll free number for obtaining information and referrals, and for disscussing palliative care and bereavement issues.
Hospice Foundation of America - www.hospicefoundation.org. The Hospice Foundation has extensive information about hospices - what they are, where to find them, myths and facts, personal stories and volunteering. The website includes information about teleconferences, a media center, suggested readings, weblinks, and an end-of-life database.
National Center for Death Education - www.mountida.edu/sp.cfm?pageid=307. The National Center for Death Education assists care-giving professionals and students in acquiring and maintaining a current knowledge base, and in developing creative and useful skills for providing care associated with end of life, bereavement, and loss. The website includes a Resource Library with materials from the sciences, anthropology, sociology, psychology, religion, art, literature, and history. All aspects of dying, death, and bereavement are represented including suicide, homicide, AIDS, terminal illness, explaining death to children, widowhood, and much more. In addition to the books and periodicals available, the NCDE maintains an extensive audiovisual collection of videos, 16mm films, and slide presentations. Contact Judith Harding, Resource Coordinator, at (617) 928-4552, to access the library.
In addition to the above resources, the NCDE offers educational programs taught by professionals working within the death and dying field. Contact Carol Wogrin, RN, PsyD., Executive Director, at (617) 928-4649 or at ncde@mountainida.edu.
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization - www.nhpco.org. NHPCO is dedicated to expanding America's vision of end-of-life care. The site includes extensive educational information and materials available about palliative care, advance directives, and finding an appropriate hospice. The National Center for Death Education provides course and workshop materials and resources for health care professionals. Topics include all aspects of palliative care, including care involving children.
National Hospice Foundation - www.hospiceinfo.org. HFA offers information and brochures about hospices, how to find and select a hospice program, communicating end-of-life wishes, and the medicare hospice benefit program.
Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care - www.promotingexcellence.org. A program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, its mission is to advance improvement in end-of-life care by supporting innovative projects to improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care. Resources developed by projects, as well as information on evaluation, is included on the website.
Supportive Care of the Dying: A Coalition for Compassionate Care - www.careofdying.org. A coalition of Catholic health care providers and organizations dedicated to improving the system of palliative care. Website is non-sectarian. Downloadable articles are available from their Supportive Voice publication. They offer organizational assessment tools and questionnaires, competency standards and system assessment tools, and a series of videos and articles on various palliative care issues.
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization - www.nhpco.org. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization is an organization whose mission is to lead and mobilize social change for improved care at end of life.
Zen Hospice Project - www.zenhospice.org. Zen Hospice Project is a fusion of spiritual insight, based on the Buddhist tradition, and practical social action. The Project has developed an innovative model for improved end-of-life care, including residential hospice care, volunteer programs, and educational efforts. It has also recently created the Institute of Dying, allowing training and dissemination of the Project's work.
