Michigan’s second, statewide advance care planning (ACP) conference was a success.  The conference was designed to guide attendees in implementing ACP in any setting, promoting shared decision-making and honoring individuals’ wishes. ACP Michigan challenged attendees with difficult topics related to dementia, mental health, and ethics in various care settings. The event was hosted at the Crowne Plaza Lansing West on October 10-12, 2018.

 

The conference planning committee was dedicated to providing subject matter experts to speak on relevant issues facing ACP programs the Michigan.  The presentations included three nationally known, keynote speakers and 20 breakout sessions given by local and regional additional speakers.  

​

Without wonderful sponsors and donors, this conference would not have been offered at an affordable rate. We want to take one more opportunity to thank them for their financial support.  

​

Sponsors:

​

​

​

​

​

 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

​

​

Exhibitors: 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Poster Presentations:

• Hillary Kerr, Bronson Healthcare Group

• L. Raquel Clary-Lantis, Integrated Health Associates/St. Joe's Ann Arbor

​

Why did conference attendees come to this event?  The following were overall themes related to attendance. The (#) indicates the number of responses with the same or similar expression shared:

• to meet with peers and feel the "community"; to be inspired (26)

• we are endeavoring to "jump start" ACP at our facility

• to learn about advance directives

• I am a hospice social worker who is interested in best helping my patients and families have peace in end of life care planning

• to learn more about ACP/develop ACP skills (43)

• Learn about ACP in the community and barriers that exist as I have a PACE perspective

• MI-POST (11)

• professional development (13)

• learn to implement in my organization (6)

• It's one of the only & fastest ways to get new information on ACP

• learn how to train/engage my providers/office staff (8)

• ACP is my life's work

• Thaddeus Pope

 

Attendee Demographics:  We were thrilled to have 178 individuals in attendance at this second, statewide ACP event. Below is a breakdown of attendees by their discipline, position type and organization type. 

​

​

Disciplines Represented​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

Attendees by Type of Role in Their Organization:

Social Worker – 19%                                             ACP Coordinator/Manager/Facilitator – 4%                                  

Care Manager 13%                                               Clinical Manager – 4%

Upper Management – 13%                                 Coordinator – 4%          

Nurse/Nurse Practitioner – 13%                         Adviser/Consultant – 3%

Organizational Director – 12%                           Chief Medical Officer – 3%

Physician/PA – 5%                                               Professor – 2%

Community Leader/Worker – 4%                     Radiation Therapist – 1%

​

​

Types of Organizations Represented​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​Results of the overall conference evaluations:

• 100% of attendees rated the overall conference as good or excellent.

• 100% of attendees rated the venue as good or excellent.

• 99% of attendees rated the registration process as good or excellent

• We received a referral average of 9.65 (on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest) indicating how likely attendees were to recommend us for future conferences, yielding a net promotor score of 72. 

• 82% of our attendees spent between 15 and 30 minutes with the exhibitors; while 10% spent over 30 minutes.

 

Conference Comments:

• Information about VSED was interesting

• Great conference - well organized and great speakers

• Dr. Barfield’s talk was excellent – appreciate the emotional and philosophical perspective he brought

• Thank you for the zip drive – very helpful and a great resource

• Everything was well done – Death Café was excellent

• Very informative – truly appreciate your efforts

• Wish there was more time for certain speakers

 

Consider the following improvements:

• Make sure speakers from out of state are knowledgeable about Michigan laws

• More breakout sessions on ethical dilemmas and how to handle them

• Too cold in the rooms

• More poster presentations

• Longer sessions: 60 minute breakouts, 75 minute keynotes

• Collect license numbers in the registration process and pre-print them on the sign-in sheets.

• Changing the timing to mid-September or early October

• Consider tackling increasingly difficult topics, including the diversity in Michigan

• Consider Dr. Rana Awdish from Henry Ford for a keynote speaker

• Investigate other related sponsors: long term facilities, pharma companies (pain meds), payers

​

​

​