Psychiatrist in Palliative Care Course

Lesson 1 • Epidemiology of Psychiatric Illness in Serious Illness

Presents prevalence data on depression, anxiety, and delirium in palliative populations. Establishes the clinical burden justifying psychiatric involvement.

Lesson 2 • The Psychiatrist's Role in Palliative Teams

Defines psychiatric contributions to interdisciplinary palliative teams. Clarifies scope of practice and collaborative boundaries with other clinicians.

Lesson 3 • Ethical Foundations in Palliative Psychiatry

Introduces core bioethical principles as applied to end-of-life psychiatric care. Prepares clinicians for ethically complex decision-making throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • Validated Screening Tools for Palliative Populations

Reviews psychometrically validated instruments adapted for serious illness contexts. Enables accurate, efficient symptom detection across cognitive and physical limitations.

Lesson 2 • Adapting the Psychiatric Interview

Modifies standard psychiatric interview techniques for patients with limited energy and prognosis. Builds rapport-centered, efficient assessment approaches.

Lesson 3 • Formulating the Palliative Psychiatric Case

Integrates biopsychosocial and spiritual data into a coherent palliative psychiatric formulation. Produces actionable, team-shareable clinical summaries.

Lesson 4 • Differentiating Psychiatric from Medical Symptoms

Teaches clinicians to distinguish psychiatric syndromes from somatic illness manifestations. Reduces misdiagnosis in patients with overlapping medical and psychiatric presentations.

Lesson 1 • Integrating Spiritual and Existential Dimensions

Connects psychiatric care with spiritual and existential suffering in serious illness. Trains clinicians to collaborate with chaplains and address meaning-based distress.

Lesson 2 • Anxiety Disorders and Existential Fear

Differentiates clinical anxiety from existential distress in dying patients. Guides pharmacological and psychotherapeutic management of anxiety syndromes.

Lesson 3 • Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Depression

Presents brief, evidence-based psychotherapies adapted for palliative settings. Equips clinicians to deliver or refer for meaning-centered and cognitive interventions.

Lesson 4 • Pharmacological Treatment of Depression

Reviews antidepressant selection, dosing, and tolerability in palliative populations. Addresses drug interactions, organ failure, and shortened treatment timelines.

Lesson 1 • Pharmacological Management of Delirium

Covers antipsychotic and sedative use for delirium symptom control in palliative settings. Addresses dosing, monitoring, and safety in medically fragile patients.

Lesson 2 • Identifying and Reversing Precipitating Causes

Systematically identifies modifiable delirium triggers in palliative patients. Guides clinical decision-making on when reversal is appropriate vs. burdensome.

Lesson 3 • Terminal Delirium and Family Communication

Addresses the unique clinical and ethical challenges of delirium in the final hours of life. Prepares clinicians to support families through distressing delirium episodes.

Lesson 4 • Pathophysiology and Subtypes of Delirium

Reviews neurobiological mechanisms and clinical subtypes of delirium in serious illness. Establishes the foundation for targeted assessment and intervention.

Lesson 1 • Antidepressants and Anxiolytics in Palliative Care

Guides selection and dosing of antidepressants and anxiolytics for palliative symptom profiles. Addresses tolerability, onset time, and route of administration constraints.

Lesson 2 • Deprescribing and Medication Burden Reduction

Teaches systematic deprescribing of psychotropics as goals of care shift toward comfort. Reduces polypharmacy burden while maintaining psychiatric symptom control.

Lesson 3 • Antipsychotics for Psychiatric and Symptom Control

Covers antipsychotic use for delirium, nausea, agitation, and psychosis in palliative patients. Addresses metabolic, cardiac, and extrapyramidal risks in vulnerable populations.

Lesson 4 • Psychostimulants and Rapid-Onset Agents

Presents psychostimulants and ketamine as rapid-acting options for depression and fatigue. Addresses indications, contraindications, and monitoring in short-prognosis patients.

Lesson 1 • Surrogate Decision-Making Processes

Explains surrogate selection, standards, and the psychiatrist's role in supporting surrogates. Prepares clinicians to facilitate surrogate-team communication effectively.

Lesson 2 • Legal and Ethical Framework for Capacity

Defines decision-making capacity and its distinction from legal competency. Establishes the ethical and regulatory basis for capacity evaluations in clinical practice.

Lesson 3 • Psychiatric Conditions Affecting Capacity

Examines how depression, delirium, dementia, and psychosis impair decision-making capacity. Guides clinicians in distinguishing treatable impairment from permanent incapacity.

Lesson 4 • Advance Care Planning and Psychiatric Input

Integrates psychiatric expertise into advance care planning conversations and documentation. Ensures mental health factors are addressed in patients' future care preferences.

Lesson 1 • Evidence-Based Grief Interventions

Reviews psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatments for complicated grief syndromes. Equips clinicians to deliver or refer for targeted grief-specific therapies.

Lesson 2 • Bereavement Follow-Up and Referral Systems

Designs bereavement follow-up protocols and referral pathways for high-risk survivors. Ensures continuity of psychiatric care beyond the patient's death.

Lesson 3 • Supporting Families During Active Dying

Prepares clinicians to provide psychiatric support to families at the bedside during dying. Addresses acute distress, anticipatory bereavement, and family communication.

Lesson 4 • Prolonged Grief Disorder: Diagnosis and Assessment

Applies current diagnostic criteria for prolonged grief disorder in bereaved individuals. Trains clinicians to distinguish it from depression, PTSD, and normal grief.

Lesson 1 • Psychiatric Consultation Models and Workflows

Designs efficient psychiatric consultation workflows within palliative care programs. Optimizes referral criteria, response times, and documentation standards.

Lesson 2 • Desire for Hastened Death and Suicidality

Differentiates rational desire for hastened death from treatable suicidality in palliative patients. Provides a structured clinical and ethical response framework.

Lesson 3 • Managing Refractory Psychiatric Symptoms

Addresses treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and agitation in end-of-life patients. Guides escalation strategies including palliative sedation and specialist consultation.

Lesson 4 • Quality Improvement in Palliative Psychiatry

Applies quality improvement methodology to psychiatric care within palliative programs. Builds skills in identifying gaps, designing interventions, and measuring outcomes.