EPEC Program
Education of healthcare professionals is one of the major venues to improve end-of-life care in Texas. TxPEC is pleased to be participating in the EPEC program (Education for Physicians in End-of-Life Care). This important professional education effort was developed by the Institute on Ethics of the American Medical Association in 1999, and was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The EPEC curriculum has been designed with input from nationally respected experts in the field and feedback from participants of early training sessions. It acknowledges that there is a disparity between the ways in which people die in the U.S. and the way in which they want to die. With appropriate education, physicians can play a key role to improve care for patients and their families.

At the heart of the program is a core curriculum that provides healthcare professionals with the basic knowledge and skills needed to care appropriately for dying patients. The program consists of four 30-minute plenary modules and twelve 45-minute workshop modules, presented in a two-day, self-contained format. It combines didactic sessions, videotape presentations, interactive discussions, and practical exercises. It teaches fundamental skills in communication, ethical decision-making, palliative care, psychosocial considerations, and pain and symptom management.

TxPEC attempts to make the EPEC training program broadly accessible by offering flexible formats and various training locations around the state. In addition to offering individual modules for people attending professional conferences, such as the Texas Medical Association and the Texas & New Mexico Hospice Organization, we also offer a six-hour version of the curriculum, EPEC Essentials, that works well for nurses, social workers, as well as for physicians and other health professionals.

We can arrange to offer the full EPEC program or EPEC Essentials by request for groups of twenty or more participants. Currently, we want to facilitate the training through the emerging local/regional partnerships that are identifying the need for professional education; we will schedule a training program in any location where there is sufficient participant pool and adequate facilities.

To sign up for upcoming EPEC training events, or to schedule an event in your community, contact Anne Moore, TxPEC Education Director, at amoore@txpec.org

EPEC Train-the-Trainer
This two-day program prepares healthcare professional to become EPEC trainers. Trainees participate in the full EPEC curriculum and the program includes practice presentations of selected modules.

Contact Anne Moore for details, amoore@txpec.org

Call for Trainers
If you are an EPEC trainer, let us know your interest in teaching EPEC courses for TxPEC. If you are a new trainer, you can be partnered with seasoned trainers and gain valuable experience. Email to Anne Moore, amoore@txpec.org

EPEC Essentials
EPEC Essentials is a 6-hour course providing information and education about:

	communication skills needed to help patients and families face life threatening illness,
	basics in pain and other symptom management, and
	legal and ethical issues relevant to end-of-life care.

It is appropriate for physicians, nurses, physician assistants, chaplains, and social workers. EPEC Essentials is a condensed version of the AMA'a Education for Physicians on End of Life Care. Continuing education units are provided.

Requests for EPEC training typically come through the local TxPEC partnerships, which provide a base of support for making local arrangements.