Self-Care Skills and Resilience for Palliative Care Clinicians

Stress is a serious threat to the health, efficacy, and satisfaction of physicians, nurses, social workers and other health professionals caring for patients with serious or life-limiting illness. Without diligently practicing self-care, palliative care practitioners may face a cascade of adverse clinical, personal and professional outcomes.

Studies show clinicians who are chronically stressed provide poorer care, are subject to malpractice suits, are at risk for potentially serious illness, and have trouble connecting with patients and colleagues.

Self-Care and Resilience for Palliative Care Clinicians provides effective tools and resources for easing stress, boosting resilience and improving clinician well-being.

What You’ll Learn

• Communicate to professional colleagues why self-care is important in working with seriously-ill patients
• Utilize at least two of three effective self-care strategies
• Incorporate into a daily practice three strategies to strengthen personal resilience

What You’ll Earn

2 continuing education (CE) credits approved by the following accreditation bodies:

• CEs are provided through California State University San Marcos, accredited by the Western Association of  Schools and Colleges (WASC).
• The Doctors Company designates this activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of The Doctors Company and California State University Shiley Institute for Palliative Care. The Doctors Company is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Kathleen A. Bonvicini, MPH, EdD, is the Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Healthcare Communication (IHC), a nonprofit organization based in New Haven, CT, that has been designing and implementing skill-based communication training to health professionals since 1989. Dr Bonvicini has conducted and published her research in empathic connection specific to clinician empathy, interviewing techniques, and other clinician-communication topics. Previous to her work with IHC, Dr Bonvicini has 15 years of psychiatric research experience at Yale University and has extensive experience in clinical interviewing with highly diverse populations. Dr Bonvicini has held faculty positions with the Department of Public Health at Southern Connecticut State University and with the Department of Psychology at Albertus Magnus College for twelve years.

Barbara Andrews, MPPM, MPH, has been the Director of Grants and Projects with the Institute for Healthcare Communication (IHC) since 2011. She brings extensive experience in grant seeking and management, health policy, business research, and program development and management. Before joining IHC, she served as a consultant to nonprofit health and aging services organizations, providing advice on grant strategy development, grant writing, grant program management and research. For more than 12 years she was a senior executive at the Connecticut Association of Not-for-profit Providers for the Aging (CANPFA, now LeadingAge Connecticut).

Completion and Refunds

In order to complete this course and obtain a certificate, you must view the course in its entirety, correctly answer all case studies and quiz/test questions (as appropriate) and complete the evaluation. You will have 90 days to access this course from the date of purchase. No refunds are given for self-paced courses.