Physicians/PAs/NPs   

Effective communication is a cornerstone of quality palliative care. Communicating effectively with children, teens, and young adults with serious illness, and their families, requires a skilled approach that is attuned to the patient’s developmental age and stage. This course explores topics central to communicating with young patients and their families, including clarifying goals and values to facilitate decision making, responding to families that wish to limit information to young patients, and managing conflict.

The progressive illness or impending death of an infant, child, teen, or young adult can cause profound grief in the patient as well as the family. This course focuses on some of the most difficult emotional and spiritual aspects of caring for young patients at the end of life, including transference and countertransference, trauma-informed care, types of grief, caring for diverse families, and empowering patients and families in end-of-life decision making.

This course explores the key clinical features of rare complex conditions seen in pediatric hospice and palliative care. Learn how you can help parents advocate for their child while recognizing the limits of medical interventions, and identifying medical and psychosocial resources for families of children with rare/complicated diagnoses.

Assessing and managing pain is a fundamental part of high quality palliative care. There are important differences to consider when caring for infants, children, teens, or young adults. This self-paced course delivers robust clinical skills aimed at effectively assessing and managing physical pain and understanding psychosocial factors that can impact physical suffering in seriously ill or terminally ill infants, children, teens, and young adults

Transform your career. Learn evidence-based approaches in pain and symptom management to help support resilience and ease patients’ suffering. Help patients and families identify care goals of care. Build interdisciplinary teams.Students enrolling in this course should be certified Nurse Practitioners (NP, APRN) in any specialty area. Nurses with an MSN or DNP may also be qualified if the

• May Course Start: Dahlin, C., Coyne, P.J., & Ferrell, B.R. (Eds). (2016). Advanced practice palliative nursing. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• September and Beyond Start Dahlin, C., Coyne, P.J., & Ferrell, B.R. (Eds). (2022). Advanced practice palliative nursing. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• McPherson, M. L. (2018). Demystifying opioid conversion calculations: A guide to effective dosing. 2nd Edition. (Links to an external site.) Bethesda, MD: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Cancellations may be made in writing up to the day before the first day of the course; a refund will be issued minus an administrative fee of $35. No refunds are possible for withdrawals once the course starts.  

Hospice and palliative care professionals work with many types of families in crisis and grief. Yet, even experienced clinicians may feel anxious when delivering care to infants, children, teens, or young adults. This course describes the challenges and joys of communicating with pediatric patients and their families, demonstrates how evidence-based communication tools can be applied in those populations, and reinforces how genuine communication is key in adult and pediatric hospice and palliative care.

The progressive illness and/or impending death of an infant, child, teen, or young adult can cause profound grief in the patient as well as the family. This course focuses on supporting those who are grieving and explores the importance of creating legacy so children and adolescents living with life-threatening illnesses know they will be remembered.

Many children, teens, and young adults with serious or life-limiting illness have been using medical devices since birth. Some pediatric patients may outgrow the need for such devices, while others will remain dependent on them throughout their lives. This course examines the use of medical technology such as feeding tubes, central lines, and respiratory devices in young patients with serious illness. It covers how to maintain these devices, and how to support patients and families in device management.

Assessing and managing pain is a fundamental part of high-quality palliative care and it requires a specialized approach when caring for infants, children, teens, or young adults. This course comprises four modules that highlight important considerations and effective clinical strategies in assessing and managing pain in infants, children, teens, and young adults.

Assessing and managing pain is a fundamental part of high-quality palliative care and it requires a specialized approach when caring for infants, children, teens, or young adults. This course comprises four modules that highlight important considerations and effective clinical strategies in assessing and managing pain in infants, children, teens, and young adults.

This online course explores strategies to encourage patient participation in advance care planning conversations. Case studies illustrate how Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes are used in various scenarios, followed by an interactive exercise to help students apply the knowledge learned in the course.

This online course explores strategies to encourage patient participation in advance care planning conversations. Case studies illustrate how Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes are used in various scenarios, followed by an interactive exercise to help students apply the knowledge learned in the course.

Caring for patients nearing end of life requires an increased level of knowledge and skills. This course delivers evidence-based tools and resources in prognostication, communication, and symptom management, helping you better identify and support these patients and their families. You’ll also learn about regulatory and ethical issues, as well as hospice eligibility, coverage, and admission.Caring for patients nearing end of life requires an increased level of knowledge and skills. This course delivers evidence-based tools and resources in prognostication, communication, and symptom management, helping you better identify and support these patients and their families. You’ll also learn about regulatory and ethical issues, as well as hospice eligibility, coverage, and admission.

Effective communication skills are essential to quality healthcare, and especially crucial for providers caring for patients with chronic or serious disease. This course delivers strategies for improving communication with patients and families while reducing barriers to effective communication about diagnosis, prognosis and serious illness.

Helping patients with serious illnesses understand where they are in the disease process, what treatment options are available, the benefits of palliative care, and how to make informed choices are some of the most challenging aspects of patient-centered communication. This course delivers an overview of communication strategies for engaging patients throughout the decision-making process, including identifying goals of care, activating shared decision making, and overcoming barriers of communication. This is a CME course 

Developed for nursing professionals, this self-paced course delivers an in-depth overview of palliative care nursing, and provides practical tools and strategies to enhance your practice and effectiveness in caring for seriously-ill patients and families in any care setting.

Widely ranging cultural backgrounds are present in most communities and frontline clinicians, including those in primary care and subspecialty practices, must be culturally aware on all levels. Serious illness presents even more complex challenges. This course explores the cultural sensitivity tools, suggestions, and approaches for patients and their loved ones during stressful illness.

Advance care planning empowers patients to identify what gives their life meaning and articulate the kind of healthcare treatments they would want, or not want, if a catastrophic event or illness leaves them unable to speak for themselves. This course provides a comprehensive overview of advance care planning that can be used to orient and train all staff regarding the importance of documenting care preferences.

This 1-hour course delivers strategies for conducting advance care planning discussions with patients and families by focusing on their goals and what matters most to them. Learn when and how to confidently begin advance care planning conversations, and apply concepts and skills through interactive activities.

In pediatric palliative care, honest, respectful, and open communication is essential to supporting children, teens, and young adults and their families, and to providing quality, compassionate care. This course explores how to determine the right time for an initial home visit with a pediatric patient and family, help care for other children who may be present, build rapport with young patients and families, and have difficult conversations.

The progressive illness or impending death of an infant, child, teen, or young adult can cause profound grief in the patient as well as the family. This self-paced online course prepares hospice and palliative care professionals to recognize and address the emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual suffering of children, teens, and young adults nearing the end of life and their families.

This self-paced course takes a deep dive into the differences between palliative care and hospice, and how they differ for adults and children. It reviews concurrent care for children, including how to identify patients who are eligible, exploring a wide range of pediatric diagnoses, common medical devices used in children with serious illness, and important elements of care coordination.

Assessing and managing pain in seriously ill infants, children, teens, or young adults is integral to high quality pediatric palliative care. This 7-hour course highlights key considerations and effective clinical strategies needed to address the physical symptoms of advanced illness in young patients, including patients with medically complex conditions.

Providers are responsible for running hectic office practices or specialty offices, seeing large volumes of patients with little time, and serving thousands of patients each year. Developing primary palliative care services can often enhance some care and services already being delivered. This course explores how to efficiently and effectively integrate palliative care services into everyday practice, including how to bill for palliative care.

Pediatric palliative care differs from palliative care for adults, especially as the end of life approaches. These differences affect not only patients and families, but the hospice and palliative care professionals delivering care. This course introduces you to the challenges, benefits, and value of pediatric palliative care and offers a starting point for building skills to effectively support infants, children, teens, or young adults with serious illness, and their families

This course delivers a clear and efficient overview of palliative care, how it’s delivered across a variety of settings, and how to identify patients who need it. You’ll explore the evidence base for palliative care, learn to identify common trajectories of serious illness, discover new tools for supporting patients with chronic or serious illness, and utilize case studies and interactive exercises to build your prognostication skills.

While palliative care is designed to ease suffering in patients at any age and stage of serious illness, caring for pediatric patients differs significantly from palliative care for adults and requires an extra level of skill. Designed for social workers, chaplains, child life specialists, and other team members, our Pediatric Palliative Care Certificate curriculum features rigorous, interactive online education for hospice, palliative care, and home health professionals to get the knowledge and skills they need to effectively support infants, children, teens, and young adults with serious illnesses

Ethics play an important role in all areas of healthcare and can present unique challenges in pediatric palliative care where healthcare decision-making and family dynamics may be more complex. These factors, and the emotional toll of caring for a child experiencing life-limiting illness, can lead to ethical dilemmas and cause moral distress. This course examines the complex ethical concerns that hospice and palliative care professionals may encounter and delivers important strategies to build

Interdisciplinary teams are the cornerstone of palliative care, but can be vulnerable to challenges that arise when patients experience intense suffering caused by serious or life-limiting illness. Those issues can be heightened when the patient is a child, creating fear of conflict and team dysfunction. This course delivers the knowledge, tools, and resources to empower hospice and palliative care teams to create a culture of collaboration and support in which all members can thrive in their work.

This course equips providers in primary care, oncology, hematology, or other practice settings with the latest clinical strategies to effectively assess and manage pain and other distressing symptoms in patients with serious illnesses. It includes in-depth content and guidelines on the use of opioids, as well as integrative and complementary therapies that can ease symptom burden along the disease trajectory.

This course equips providers in primary care, oncology, hematology, or other practice settings with the latest clinical strategies to effectively assess and manage pain and other distressing symptoms in patients with serious illnesses. It includes in-depth content and guidelines on the use of opioids, as well as integrative and complementary therapies that can ease symptom burden along the disease trajectory.

This series of interactive online courses gives clinicians in any practice setting new skills and resources that can improve the quality of care delivered to patients with serious illnesses. You’ll learn new clinical approaches in pain and symptom management, as well strategies for improving communication, empowering patients in healthcare decision making, integrating key palliative care services into your practice, and billing for palliative care.

This series of interactive online courses gives clinicians in any practice setting new skills and resources that can improve the quality of care delivered to patients with serious illnesses. You’ll learn new clinical approaches in pain and symptom management, as well strategies for improving communication, empowering patients in healthcare decision making, integrating key palliative care services into your practice, and billing for palliative care.

Self-care and building resilience are essential for clinicians working with seriously ill patients—it guards against burnout, moral distress, and team dysfunction. This course provides practical tools and resources to help healthcare professionals recognize the warning signs of moral distress, identify their own beliefs and habits that may lead to burn-out or compassion fatigue, and utilize practical strategies for self-care and resilience-building.

Self-care and building resilience are essential for clinicians working with seriously ill patients—it guards against burnout, moral distress, and team dysfunction. This course provides practical tools and resources to help healthcare professionals recognize the warning signs of moral distress, identify their own beliefs and habits that may lead to burn-out or compassion fatigue, and utilize practical strategies for self-care and resilience-building.

Delivering bad news to a patient and/or family is one of the hardest things you do as a clinician working in palliative care. This course will equip you for those hard conversations with clear and effective strategies that improve communication, encourage empathy, and reduce stress for patients, families, and the palliative care team.

Living with serious illness can be stressful for patients and families. Addressing psychosocial distress is critical to supporting patients and families through the journey of serious illness, and delivering quality whole-person care. Explore strategies and skills to assess how patients are coping with disease management and prognosis, and processing the prospect of dying.

Living with a serious illness often changes the way individuals experience their world. Faith and spirituality can emerge as important elements of a person’s care plan. This course helps you develop an approach to identify, evaluate, and address spiritual, religious, and existential concerns, and presents assessment tools and strategies for coping, and referral guidelines to intertwine quality healthcare with spiritual care.

Physician assistants are valued frontline providers who patients trust with their healthcare needs in varied clinical settings, including primary care practices, hospitals, and subspecialty medical clinics. This course offers PAs an introduction to palliative care and how it supports patients with serious illnesses. You’ll learn to conduct an advance care planning discussion and identify when patients could benefit from specialty palliative care

Physician assistants are valued frontline providers who patients trust with their healthcare needs in varied clinical settings, including primary care practices, hospitals, and subspecialty medical clinics. This course offers PAs an introduction to palliative care and how it supports patients with serious illnesses. You’ll learn to conduct an advance care planning discussion and identify when patients could benefit from specialty palliative care

Physician assistants are valued frontline providers who patients trust with their healthcare needs in varied clinical settings, including primary care practices, hospitals, and subspecialty medical clinics. This course offers PAs an introduction to palliative care and how it supports patients with serious illnesses. You’ll learn to conduct an advance care planning discussion and identify when patients could benefit from specialty palliative care

Physician assistants are valued frontline providers who patients trust with their healthcare needs in varied clinical settings, including primary care practices, hospitals, and subspecialty medical clinics. This course offers PAs an introduction to palliative care and how it supports patients with serious illnesses. You’ll learn to conduct an advance care planning discussion and identify when patients could benefit from specialty palliative care

While palliative care is designed to ease suffering in patients at any age and stage of serious illness, caring for pediatric patients differs from palliative care for adults, and requires an extra level of skill. The Certificate in Clinical Pediatric Palliative Care delivers in-depth, evidence-based clinical skills, and strategies for pediatric specialists or hospice, palliative care, and home health professionals, who want to learn effective strategies for caring for infants, children, teens, and young adults with serious or terminal illnesses.

While palliative care is designed to ease suffering in patients at any age and stage of serious illness, caring for pediatric patients differs from palliative care for adults, and requires an extra level of skill. The Certificate in Clinical Pediatric Palliative Care delivers in-depth, evidence-based clinical skills, and strategies for pediatric specialists or hospice, palliative care, and home health professionals, who want to learn effective strategies for caring for infants, children, teens, and young adults with serious or terminal illnesses.