1st Annual Summer Speaker Conference – August 8, 2013

By Gateway EOL Admin | November 6, 2014

Gateway Alliance for Compassionate Care at End of Life Presents:

The 2nd Annual Summer Speaker Conference

What Really Matters: A Physician’s Vision for the Future of Care at the End of Life Presented by Dr. Karen Wyatt

The hospice movement currently faces a challenge to increase acceptance and “buy-in” from community physicians so that patients are referred in a more timely and appropriate manner – a need that will become even more urgent in the future as the 78-million members of the “Baby Boom” generation reach the end of life. This presentation examined the obstacles to effective end-of-life care that are inherent within the Western medical model, starting with the early years of medical education. The basic components of Integral Theory were presented as a rationale for understanding and overcoming the limitations of Western medicine. Through case studies of difficult care situations, participants strategized a new approach for engaging physicians in the provision of end-of-life care.

Learning Objectives:

Identify 4 characteristics of the Western medical model that create obstacles to effective end-of-life care,

Recognize the unique challenges and opportunities for the future of end-of-life care that accompany the aging of the Baby Boom generation,

Describe the components of an Integral approach to the end of life that can help meet the challenges of the future,

Utilize Integral concepts to engage physicians in the creation of a new, shared vision for end-of-life care.

Background of the Presenter:

Dr. Karen Wyatt graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and completed a Family Practice Residency and a Fellowship in Psychiatry at the University of Utah. She spent many years as a hospice medical director and has written extensively about end of life care, including the book “What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying.” She serves on the faculty of the Integral Health and Medicine Center where she teaches the application of Integral Theory to medical care, particularly at the end of life. www.karenwyattmd.com