20th Annual Rocky Mountain Palliative Care Days

Description: This is a two-day conference focusing on interdisciplinary palliative care principles of symptom management and psychosocial delivery of care based on current research, education and clinical practice.  

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this course, participants will be able to describe and share effective evidence-based methods for assessing and treating specific serious illness symptoms, identifying areas related to compassion fatigue, moral distress, and boundary setting to improve the delivery of palliative care.  

Contact Hours Applied For: At least 8 for the entire event

None of the planners or presenters for this activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies. There is no commercial support from ineligible organizations/ companies being received for this activity.

Continuing Education:

ANCC NCPD Contact Hours for nursing and Social Workers:

Day 1: 1.2 contact hours and Day 2: 7.1 contact hours)

Provider CME: 7.5 CME for for both days

This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. This activity is jointly provided by Your CE Source and the University of Colorado. 

Go to YourCESoure to claim CME credit:  https://www.yourcesource.org

Click on "Claim CE Credit" to register yourself in the system for free by clicking on "Create one now!" Complete the "Create A Profile" page and click "Save". Only the fields with a red asterisk are required!  You'll be directed to the "Edit Profile" page. Please ignore the "password and confirm password" information. This has been emailed to you.  Please complete the other required fields marked with a red asterisk (address info) and click "Save". Now you are on the "My Continuing Education" page. Click on "Enter Code" button. Enter the code: 21922026. Confirm the number of credit hours participated in the activity, check the "I Do" box and click "Submit".  Complete and submit the activity evaluation form (if applicable). On the far right, the "Action" box you can print or email your certificate.

UCHealth is providing nursing continuing professional development contact hours for this conference. We have recently transitioned to CloudCME for our Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) program, so you will need to set up an account in order to obtain your contact hours.

• Click Here to set up your profile. If you have a UCHealth email address you will sign in with your UCHealth email and password. If you do not have a UCHealth email address, please create a new account.  Once you have created your account, please text the email address used for sign-in to 877-837-0622. You are now ready to earn credit! Please note: you will still need to record attendance on the day of the event via text message and complete the evaluation for each course to receive credit. For questions related to CloudCME, please reach out to CNE-CME@uchealth.org

Day 1 (Thursday, October 22, 2026)

Program Schedule:

8:00-8:30

Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30-8:40

Welcome, Review Plan for the Day and Highlights from Past Year

Heather Coats,  PhD, APRN-BC, FPCN, FAAN

8:40-9:25

60 min

Oral Podium Session 1

1.      Effect of a palliative telecare team on symptoms and care experience among adults with cardiopulmonary disease (Presenter- Allison Lange MD/David Bekelman MD, MPH) 

2.      Nurse-Led Telephonic Care for Persons Living with Dementia After Emergency Department Discharge: Connecting to Palliative Care (Emily Pincus, RN)

3.      Efficacy of Advance Care Planning Group Visits in a Randomized Clinical Trial for Older Adults in Primary Care (Hillary Lum, MD, PhD)

Moderator: Sarguni Singh, MD

9:25 -9:40

Break

9:40- 10:25

Oral Podium Session 2

1.      Delineating a Spectrum of Physician Participation in Medical Aid in Dying: A Qualitative Exploration (Denae Gerasta,BA)

2.      Documenting Serious Illness Communication Across Care Transitions in Advanced Cancer (Thomas Mee, MD)

3.      Comfort Without Conversation: Patient and Provider Perspectives on Cannabis Discussions in Oncology (Morgan Douglass, PhD)

Moderator: Krista Wonderly, PhD, RN

10:25-10:40

Oral Presentations Reflection

Maria Silveira, MD, MA, MPH, FAAHPM

University of Michigan and Ann Arbor VA Medical Center

10:40-11:00

Rapid Poster Presentations (1 min each)

1.      MOST Wanted: Turning Goals Into Actionable Orders (Melissa Fuller, APRN, AGCNS-BC)

2.      Understanding end of life care through caregiver perspectives: A content analysis of survey result (Christine Jones, MD, MS)

3.      Implementation and evaluation of a virtual nurse-social worker palliative team for Veterans with heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or interstitial lung disease: protocol for a hybrid type 2 multicenter cluster randomized stepped wedge trial (Marina McCreight, MPH)

4.      Designing a National Program to Improve Hospice and Palliative Care for Veterans: The I-HOPE QUERI (Leah Haverhals, PhD, MA)

5.      Anticipatory Grief in Advanced Heart Failure Caregiving: Understanding Caregiver Experiences and Clinician Perspectives(Krista Wonderly, PhD, RN, CCRN)

6.      Facilitators and Barriers to Dementia-Friendly Hospital Care and Family Inclusion: A Qualitative Descriptive Study (Ellen Munsterman, PhD, AGCNS-BC

7.      Palliative care education for primary care clinicians associated with implementing practice changes (Emily Maraschky, MD)

8.      New Horizons: Training the Next Generation of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellows to Incorporate Professional Balance & Boundaries (Melissa Palmer, JD, LCSW, ACHP-SW, APHSW-C)

9.      Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Intrathecal Pain Pumps for Cancer-Related Pain (Geordyn Hoge, MD)

10.   10. Advance Care Planning Documentation Among Veterans Living with Parkinson's Disease (Kate Magid, MPH)

11.   11.Measuring the Gap: Chart Review of Non-Motor Symptom Management in VA Parkinson's Disease Care (Rachel Fix, LCSW)

12.   12. Implementing Tele-palliative Care in State Veterans Homes: Baseline Findings from the I-HOPE Evaluation (Rachel Fix, LCSW)

Moderator: Hiliary Lum, MD, PhD

11:00-11:40

20 min

Poster Viewing and Networking

11:40-11:55

Lunch- Box Lunch for eating during Keynote

11:55-12:55

Keynote Presentation:

Right Care, Right Time: Leveraging SMART Trial Designs to Optimize Adaptive Interventions in Palliative Care

Maria Silveira, MD, MA, MPH, FAAHPM (accepted)

University of Michigan and Ann Arbor VA Medical Center

mariajs@med.umich.edu

12:55-1:15

Closing Remarks and Evaluations

Heather Coats,  PhD, APRN-BC, FPCN, FAAN

Day 2: (Friday, October 23, 2026)

Program Schedule:

7:00-7:45 Registration and Continental Breakfast

7:45-8:00: Welcome and Introductions: Hareklia Brackett, APRN CNS, ACHPN

8:00-9:00: Keynote: Pal care, cancer symptoms, telehealth for lung ca?

  Maria Silveira, MD, MA, MPH, FAAHPM

University of Michigan and Ann Arbor VA Medical Center

9:00 -9:10: Break

9:10 -9:20: State of the Science Article 1: Palliative Care Fellow: Austin Adair, MD

9:20-10:20: Primary Palliative Care: Why we need it and What's Next:

Yael Schenker, MD, MAS: Denver Health Chief Academic Officer

10:20-10:30: Break

1030-1050: State of the Science Article 2 and 3: Palliative Care Fellows:

Rebecca Epling, MD and Anna Leigh McVicar, MD

10:50-1200: A Multidiscplinary Approach to Treating Dyspnea, Delirium and Distress in Palliative Care:

Lynn Weber, PhamD, Elssa Kolva PhD

12:00- 1:00: Lunch Provided

1:00-1:50: Breakout Session # 1 (See Below - Each breakout is presented twice. Please sign up for two.)

1:50-2:00: Break and Switch Rooms

2:00-2:50: Breakout Session # 2 (See Below)- Each breakout is presented twice. Please sign up for two.)

2:50-3:00: Break and Switch Rooms

3:00-3:20: State of the Science Article 4 and 5: Palliative Care Fellows:

Thomas Mee, MD and Jason Worley, MD

3:20-4:20: Moral Distress and Compassion Fatigue:

  Caitlyn DiCola, BSN, RN, CCRN, SCRN, Darcy Campbell, AGNP-C, ACHPN, and Noelle Punessen, AGACNP-BC

4:20-4:30: Closing Remarks and Evaluations: Hareklia Brackett, APRN CNS, ACHPN

Breakouts: (at 1pm and 2pm)

You may attend 2 breakouts.

A. An Overview of Malignant Bowel Obstruction: Stephanie Grayson, MD

B. Palliative Care Consultation Prep: Pre/Post Debriefing as a Tool:

Hareklia Brackett, APRN, Andy Wood, MDiv & Megan Prescott, LCSW

C. Balance and Boundaries: Honing Our Professional Identity in Palliative Care:

 Melissa Palmer, LCSW and Jana Miner, M.Div

D. Use of Psychedelics and Marijuana in Palliative Care (Risks, Benefits, Burdens) 

 Expert Panel:

Jana Bolduan Lomax, PsyD, Angela Bryan, PhD, Darren Fisher, RN, Laurel Tropeano, LCSW