Dec 12, 2008 -- When a hospital team confers with terminally ill patients and their loved ones, the discussion may trigger personal anxieties and questions: Is hospice care possible? Can the patient remain at home with pain management and support from a social worker? What about “do not resuscitate” orders or removal of feeding tubes? “Health care professionals sometimes fail to communicate effective end-of-life care options or provide needed support for patients and families,” says Gary Stein, associate professor at Wurzweiler School of Social Work and a co-founder of the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, a professional group that calls for the advancement of the social worker’s role in assisting seriously ill individuals and their supporters with decision making and quality-of-life issues. “Social workers help ensure that both the patient’s and family’s psychosocial and emotional needs are being met,” Stein said. As part this advocacy, Wurzweiler recently hosted “Social Work in Hospice and Palliative Care: The Emerging Landscape,” a first-time conference exploring the role social workers can play as part of an interdisciplinary palliative care team. The event, held at the Moot Court Room at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, was co-sponsored by Wurzweiler, the Palliative Care Organization, the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University and Columbia University School of Social Work, another Network member. “This is the first of what we hope will be many programs on palliative care,” said Dr. Sheldon R. Gelman, Wurzweiler’s Dorothy and David I. Schachne Dean, in his greeting to a room filled with academics, students, professionals and guest panelists from around the country. The conference’s three panels focused on “Evolving Opportunities and Challenges for Social Workers in Hospice and Palliative Care,” “Professional Roles, Team Perspectives,” and “Family Perspectives: A Case Approach.” “We hope we can encourage new dialogue among social work education programs and hospice and palliative care professionals on the role social workers play in the field,” Stein says. “There is a practical need to look at outcomes: that social workers improve care and deliver services in a cost-effective way. I especially hope that we can train social workers for this field.”