Advancing palliative care education and practice is the aim of the institute’s annual National Symposium for Academic Palliative Care Education Research. It is the only conference of its kind in the United States focused solely on the needs of academic faculty whose work is shaping a new generation of palliative care providers.
The hallmarks of the two-day event are intense networking, collaboration and engagement around innovative and emerging academic palliative care teaching and research. Over the past four years, the event has highlighted hundreds of projects in disciplines ranging from medicine to social work to spiritual care and more.
The symposium draws faculty, clinicians and researchers from leading universities across the country, including CSU campuses San Diego State, CSU San Marcos, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State San Bernardino, Sacramento State, San José State and Sonoma State. Many attendees present their work as part the symposium’s robust schedule of paper sessions, poster sessions, workshops and plenaries.
“It was so energizing to take the project I worked really hard on for my DNP and share it with a group of people who have similar interests in education,” said Kate Murphy, DNP, CRNP, AOCN, ACHPN, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, who presented a poster at the 2018 symposium. “The conversations with other educators about their experiences had my mind swirling with ideas for future projects and collaborations.”
“Being able to present my poster felt like validation of months of work I put into it,” she added.
The 2020 National Symposium has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic; however, two virtual events will keep a spotlight on palliative care education and research. The events feature Jessica Zitter, M.D., addressing racial disparities in the pandemic (October 8), and Michael Fratkin, M.D., exploring the expansion of telehealth for palliative care (November 5). A virtual poster session will be accessible through the fall. For details, visit www.csupalliativecare.org/symposium.