Palliative Care Education and Practice (PCEP)

Course description

Strengthen your palliative care practice, build your communication and education skills, and deepen your ability to work collaboratively in inter-disciplinary teams.

Palliative Care Education and Practice (PCEP) is a comprehensive, livestream course delivered by expert palliative care clinicians and educators who create a warm, welcoming environment conducive to deep learning and growth.  PCEP provides physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers and spiritual care professionals the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind needed to provide high-quality, compassionate care. 

Palliative care is a dynamic and rapidly growing and changing field and an essential element of serving patients with serious illness.  As the needs of patients and their caregivers throughout the world evolve, palliative care providers face increasingly complex challenges that PCEP is designed to address.  Palliative care professionals in different roles and working in a variety of settings – hospitals, hospice providers, healthcare systems, and other institutions – can drive future direction with their learning from PCEP.

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 4-month interim during which participants work on an individual project.  Part 2 consists of 6 days of continued experiential learning, training, and consolidation. 

The teaching in PCEP 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.  

Prospective participants may apply for either the Adult Track or the Pediatric Track.

How will PCEP enhance my career?

At the conclusion of PCEP, participants will have acquired:

• Significant skills in the clinical practice and teaching of comprehensive, interdisciplinary palliative care
• Expertise in leading and managing improvements in palliative care education and practice at their own institutions

How is PCEP taught?

Part 1 consists of six days of intensive online learning, followed by a six-month interim during which participants work on an individual project and contribute to online discussions of problematic, clinical, educational, or program development cases. Part 2 consists of six days of continued experiential online learning, training, and consolidation.

Learning formats

Teaching is learner-centered and takes place in a variety of interactive, virtual formats including: small group work, 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.

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

Who should attend?

PCEP is designed for palliative care specialists, champions, and educators, as well as generalist and specialist physicians, nurses and social workers who wish to gain additional competencies in palliative care. PCEP enhances clinicians’ skills in communication, teaching, and clinical practice.

Palliative care specialists charged with new program initiatives and who would benefit from mentoring are also encouraged to attend.

The pediatric track highlights the unique aspects of palliative care for children.

Please note that mastery of spoken and written English is essential for successful participation in PCEP. Candidates from countries for whom English is not the primary language may be interviewed to determine fluency.

Special thanks

We are grateful to the Open Society Foundations' Project on Death in America and Jane Weingarten and the late Dr. Charles Weingarten for their long-term commitment to scholarship funding. Special appreciation to the J. Andrew Billings, MD Memorial Fund. Additional scholarship assistance, and support for our "patients-as-teachers" program, is provided by Partners HealthCare, Inc., and JoJo's Education Fund.