The EPEC curriculum combines didactic sessions, video presentations, interactive discussions, and practice exercises. It teaches fundamental palliative care skills in communication, ethical decision making, psychosocial considerations, and symptom management. Its curricular materials and accompanying take-home messages can easily be adapted for teaching sessions targeted at interdisciplinary audiences. The EPEC curriculum can be taught in its entirety or in parts. Institutions and groups (including medical and professional societies, caregiver groups, and individuals) may use the curricular materials for any audience and in any venue providing it is used for non-profit purposes and proper attribution is given. Curricular materials and trigger videos are available for purchase here. In addition to the core curriculum, EPEC offers versions of the curriculum that are adapted for such specialties as oncology, emergency medicine, and the care of veterans.

Certified EPEC trainers who participate in a ‘Become an EPEC Trainer’ Conference are qualified and encouraged to teach the EPEC curriculum. The EPEC core faculty and staff are available for consultation regarding the design and production of conferences. Such consultation may include pre-conference planning, strategies for success, and identification and development of tools that will encourage desired outcome measures. The EPEC Program encourages liberal use of all materials with appropriate acknowledgement. Please see our curricula pages above for further details of specific adaptations. For regional and national lists of certified EPEC trainers, please contact EPEC via e-mail.

'Become an EPEC Trainer' Conferences disseminate the core principles of palliative care and demonstrate effective teaching approaches that the trainees can then use to teach others. EPEC trainers are certified after they complete a 'Become an EPEC Trainer' Conference. These conferences are produced with direct oversight from EPEC and may be co-sponsored by another institution. Only qualified master facilitators teach at the ‘Become an EPEC Trainer’ Conference and these individuals have been trained to emphasize effective adult educational strategies throughout the conference.

EPEC continues to adapt its curriculum for specialties such as oncology, emergency medicine, and the care of veterans. An EPEC-Pediatrics curriculum is in the final stages of development and testing and will be available to the public in 2013. Specialty EPEC trainer certification requires successful completion of a ‘Become an EPEC Trainer’ Conference in that specialty. For example, to become an EPEC - Emergency Medicine trainer, one must first complete the ‘Become an EPEC - Emergency Medicine Trainer’ Conference. EPEC is responsible for certification of trainees. Check our Conferences page to view which specialty conferences are available this year.

The Professional Development Workshops provide an opportunity for EPEC trainers and others to advance their teaching skills and become candidates for the position of master facilitator. Workshop participants learn teaching skills and strategies for the effective teaching of palliative care principles and successful implementation of practice improvement and system-based change. The workshops employ adult learning theory to help participants learn and practice a variety of effective presentation and educational models. The workshops are designed to cultivate leadership and group process skills. Selected participants with particular aptitude are then invited to take the next steps toward becoming a master facilitator by co-facilitating with a certified master facilitator during a 'Become an EPEC Trainer' Conference. EPEC bestows master facilitator status on the basis of merit and availability of positions.

EPEC curricula are taught to end-learners in two formats: in-person training sessions that are led by EPEC trainers and an online distance learning system. The end-learner audience consists of interdisciplinary health care professionals who want to augment their knowledge and practice of palliative care. Although end-learners are encouraged to use the EPEC curriculum, they are not certified EPEC trainers. Individuals must participate in an institutional ‘Become an EPEC Trainer’ Conference in order to receive trainer certification.

Each year thousands of end-learners are taught the fundamentals of palliative care by certified EPEC trainers. An external evaluation of the EPEC Program indicates that each new EPEC trainer will go on to instruct several hundred end-learners during the 18 month period following the conference. EPEC trainers disseminate the EPEC curriculum to their fellow health care professionals at hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other health care settings. Trainer-held sessions occur in a variety of formats, such as mini-conferences and grand rounds presentations. Each trainer is encouraged to adapt the curriculum to meet the unique needs of his or her end-learners.

Distance Learning

Adapted to an online learning system, the EPEC curriculum is now more accessible to busy health care providers. In its distance learning format, the curriculum is partitioned into sections and is interspersed with videos, case vignettes, and discussion questions. Each of the 16 modular topics includes a post-test and an evaluation that earn continuing education credit for the learner. End-learners gain core competency in palliative care and benefit from the flexibility and convenience of this format.

The EPEC Program design now includes a new element, the Tailored Implementation of Practice Standards (TIPS) Kit. A TIPS Kit combines already available or new clinical interventions (based on validated measures and best practices) with pre-prepared practice change tools. For example, a kit designed to improve rapid pain management in the emergency department would include the preferred new pain management protocol and strategies to implement practice change in emergency departments. Each kit is designed to:

1. present the protocol in detail, including flow charts and necessary resources;
2. guide medical professionals through the process of adapting the TIPS protocol to site-specific standards and limitations;
3. recommend key evaluation measures;
4. detail standard clinical practice improvement (CPI) methods used to implement the TIPS protocol.

The end-goal of the kit is to enable health care professionals to implement a new clinical intervention, regardless of pre-existing CPI experience.