Project Overview

Learning Labs

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The Hospital-Based Palliative Care Consortium (HBPCC) was a program that provided hospitals and health systems across the country with the opportunity to visit palliative care learning centers in order to improve and advance new, hospital-based end-of-life services. Established by the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), and managed by the Health Research and Educational Trust, HBPCC was funded by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The HBPCC program, provided at no charge to interested hospitals, was divided into three phases—pre-site visit, the site visit to a palliative care program at a host hospital (“learning lab”), and post-site visit networking and technical support.

During phase one, a hospital interested in establishing or further developing its palliative care program received materials that helped its planning committee prepare for the program and evaluate their institution’s needs and goals. Materials and resources that guide the participants through the major steps of establishing a palliative care program comprised the curriculum and served as the learning-base for all HBPCC participants. Prior to site visits, participating hospital teams reviewed the curriculum and completed various surveys to gauge an institution’s strengths and weaknesses and helped the learning lab in constructing the most appropriate and individualized site visit possible.

Site visits occured during phase two. Approximately two weeks prior to the visit, the learning lab contact person and a representative from the visiting hospital had a phone conversation to review the needs and goals of the visitors. The site visit was a one-day visit to a learning lab, during which the participating hospital had the opportunity to learn first-hand about a successfully implemented palliative care program and how to transfer that information and approaches to its own situation.

HBPCC provided a program survey for completion at the end of the day and a CD-ROM Toolkit, consisting of various material samples and templates that assisted the visitors as they began the process of implementation. Learning labs were encouraged to supplement the visit with any materials, power point presentations, etc., that they have found useful in their experiences.

Finally, post-site visit, the participating hospitals had opportunities to receive feedback and support as they implemented their new program. An HBPCC website provided updated information, announcements, tools and resources. An electronic listserv facilitated information sharing and support among participating hospitals, learning labs, and project staff. Participating hospitals were asked to complete additional surveys and evaluations post-program in order to measure the efficacy and success of the HBPCC.

Seven hospitals were selected to participate as learning labs and hosted site visits in 2008:

• Connecticut Hospice, Branford, Connecticut
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
• Detroit Receiving Hospital, Detroit, Michigan
• Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania
• Palo Alto VA Health Care System, Palo Alto, California
• St. John’s Regional Health Center, Springfield, Missouri
• University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Learning labs were selected based on their commitment to high quality end-of-life and palliative care. It was the program’s goal that through sharing this commitment and success with other hospitals, it will provide the support needed for hospitals to develop their own capacity to deliver hospital-based palliative care services.