In 2008, Congress designated April 16 as National Health Care Decision Day to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance planning for end-of-life care. This Tuesday, April 16, UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center will, for the first time, join hundreds of institutions observing National Health Care Decision Day nationwide.
A screening of the documentary Consider the Conversation will be followed by a student-led panel discussion. The documentary (not to be confused with another film of the same name) examines questions to ask and decisions to make through interviews with patients, family members, doctors, nurses, clergy, social workers and other experts.
The UMMS event was organized by GSN Doctor of Nursing Practice student Justin Gwatirisa, RN, and medical students Joshua Cohen, SOM ’16 and Kathryn Reiser, SOM ’16, in collaboration with oncology and palliative care clinical faculty of the Cancer Committee.
Free and open to the public, Consider the Conversation will be shown at 5:30 p.m. in two locations—Amphitheatre I at University Campus and the Memorial Campus Amphitheater—with the panel discussion telecast live from University to Memorial. The activity is approved for general CME/CEU credits and fulfills the end-of-life care requirement.
