Utah Certificate of Palliative Education
Utah Certificate of Palliative Education
Utah Certificate of Palliative Education (UCoPE) at the University of Utah
UCoPE is a four-day intensive course designed for health care providers who want to improve their generalist palliative care skills. This four-day course involves a combination of communication and symptom-management skills training in an intimate setting, with a faculty to student ratio between 2-3:1. With facilitators from pediatrics, internal medicine, oncology, psychiatry, and geriatrics, attendees will be exposed to best palliative care practices in a variety of clinical settings, including the ICU, outpatient clinic, the emergency department, hospital and hospice.
Purpose of the Certificate
There is a shortage of trained hospice and palliative medicine providers in Utah for all health care disciplines from nursing to medicine to pharmacy. UCoPE is designed to address this critical shortage by providing an intensive course aimed at improving generalist palliative care skills for both adult and pediatric patients with serious illness. This interprofessional training certificate is the first of its kind in the intermountain region. Our goal is to increase the access to palliative care trained health care providers throughout Utah.
Who Should Take These Courses
Hospitalists, primary care providers, emergency department health care providers, intensivists and hospice providers who have not had formal training in palliative care or want to build on their current palliative care skills.
Registration for Spring 2026 is open. For more information please contact Jessica Anderson at 801-213-7698 or Jessica.a.anderson@hsc.utah.edu
Are these tension points in your practice?
- When and how should I initiate ACP discussions with my patients?
- How do I give bad news but maintain hope?
- How do I care for a family who wants "everything done"?
- How should I discuss prognosis with patients?
- How can I tell if patients are exaggerating or faking pain, "drug seeking", or attempting to treat emotional or other non-pain issues with opioids?
- How should I handle situations where patients/families want treatments involving feeding tubes that I feel are inappropriate?
- What do I do when I find myself frustrated with a situation/individuals?
- How should I handle a conflict between a patient's advance directive and the wishes of their family in an emergency setting?
- How could I educate a family in a decision crisis about the Hospice benefit in the situation of having recently been told of a terminal diagnosis?
- What should I say to patients when I think that undergoing CPR will most likely cause a bad outcome for them?
- How do I respond to family's hope for a miracle?
- How can I develop a therapeutic relationship with patients who have hostile or difficult personality styles?
Upcoming UCoPE Trainings
Spring 2026: March 31st-April 3rd
Fall 2026: Sept. 29th-Oct. 2nd
Accreditation:
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 Intermountain Health, Intermountain Children's Health, the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Intermountain Health is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit
Intermountain Health designates this live activity for a maximum of 24.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s).™ Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
There is no commercial support for this activity.
Upcoming UCOPE dates
QUESTIONS? CONTACT US:
Jessica Anderson
Program Coordinator
Email: Jessica.a.anderson@hsc.utah.edu
Phone: 801-213-7698