Palliative Care Education and Practice (PCEP)

2024 Course Overview

Information for the 2025 course is not yet available.

Palliative care is an essential component of medical care for patients with serious illness. The field is growing rapidly, presenting healthcare institutions and systems with challenges about how to meet the need with high quality care. Palliative Care Education and Practice (PCEP) is a comprehensive course delivered by expert palliative care clinicians and educators who create a warm, welcoming environment conducive to deep learning and growth. PCEP provides physicians, nurses, and social workers a structure to efficiently acquire the skills and perspectives necessary to influence this changing health care environment.

At the conclusion of PCEP, participants will have acquired significant skills in the clinical practice and teaching of comprehensive, interdisciplinary palliative care, as well as having gained expertise in leading and managing improvements in palliative care education and practice at their own institutions.

Part 1 of PCEP consists of 6 days of intensive learning, followed by a 6-month interim during which participants work on an individual project and contribute to online discussions of problematic, clinical, educational, or program development cases presented by other participants.
Part 2 consists of 6 days of continued experiential learning, training, and consolidation. Teaching is learner-centered and takes place in a variety of interactive formats including: small groups, large group discussions, demonstration interviews, and panel discussions. Participants have the opportunity to develop action plans for change at their institutions and to practice and receive feedback about their teaching and change strategies. Many opportunities for informal interchange are available. The pediatric track will highlight the unique aspects of pediatric palliative care. 

Who Should Attend

• Primary Care Physicians
• Nurses
• Specialty Physicians
• Nurse Practitioners
• Physician Assistants

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Demonstrate increased knowledge in the key competencies of palliative care, including advanced pain and symptom management. 
• Apply new communication skills to the complex care of seriously ill patients. 
• Teach fundamental palliative care principles to learners from a variety of healthcare settings. 
• Develop palliative care curricula using principles of adult learning styles, new teaching methodologies, and goal-directed feedback. 
• Integrate palliative care clinical programs into a wide variety of healthcare settings by assessing institutional structure and culture, evaluating readiness to change, and developing palliative care programs with strategies for continuity.