Prescribing Ketamine for Symptom Management in Patients with Serious Illness

Registration Fee

Members: $100.00
Non-members: $150.00

WHEN

Monday, February 2 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. ET

This date is full.
Wednesday, March 4 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. ET

This date is full.

Where

Zoom

Offers CE

This virtual workshop offers a comprehensive and practical overview of ketamine use in palliative care, with a focus on managing refractory pain and treatment-resistant depression in patients with serious illness. Participants will gain an understanding of the pharmacology of ketamine, including its action as an NMDA receptor antagonist, and examine why it may be uniquely effective in cases where conventional therapies fall short. The workshop covers current—and evolving—evidence for ketamine's use in palliative settings, including its benefits, limitations, and safety considerations. Through real-world case vignettes, clinicians will learn how to identify appropriate candidates for ketamine use, determine the most appropriate administration routes, strategies for dosing, and how to mitigate side effects. The workshop will also address regulatory and logistical barriers to prescribing, providing tools and insights to help participants integrate the use of ketamine safely and effectively into clinical practice. Designed for physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, and physician associates/assistants, this workshop offers both foundational knowledge and practical approaches to expand your palliative care symptom management toolkit.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this activity, participants will be able to:

Describe the pharmacologic properties and mechanism of action of ketamine, including its role as an NMDA receptor antagonist.
Identify appropriate clinical indications for ketamine use in serious illness, particularly in cases of refractory pain and treatment-resistant depression.
Evaluate the current evidence base for ketamine use in palliative care, including its benefits, limitations, and areas of uncertainty.
Formulate individualized prescribing strategies that optimize therapeutic benefit while minimizing adverse effects and safety risks.
Develop practical approaches to address regulatory, ethical, and logistical barriers to the integration of ketamine into palliative care practice.

What You’ll Earn

To earn Continuing Education credits for this live event, you must join Zoom using the same email address as your CAPC user account (you can verify the address on your capc.org dashboard). We cannot provide Continuing Education credits if you join by phone for the live event. You must also attend at least 90% of the event, and complete the evaluation.

Only logged-in users can earn the following free Continuing Education Credits:

2.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
Nursing: 2.00 CNE, 2.00 Pharmacotherapy

Accreditations and Disclosures

Physician

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 Medical Society of the State of New

(MSSNY) and the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). MSSNY is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The Medical Society of the State of New York designates each session of this live activity for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ displayed per session. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 2.0 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

As an ACCME-accredited provider, MSSNY is required to identify and mitigate relevant financial relationships of all individuals in control of CME content.

Financial relationships are relevant if the following three conditions are met for the prospective person who will control content of the education:

✓ A financial relationship, in any amount, exists between the person in control of content and an ineligible company.

✓ The financial relationship existed during the past 24 months.

✓ The content of the education is related to the products of an ineligible company with whom the person has a financial relationship.

John Maese, MD, Member of MSSNY Subcommittee on Educational Programs, has disclosed that he owns stock in Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson.

None of the other individuals in control of content has relevant financial relationships to disclose.

All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated.

Minutes: 120 or 2.0 contact hours

Released: 11/10/2025; Valid through 3/04/2026

Physician Assistants

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME. Medical Society of the State of New York designates this enduring material with 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ as specified, which can be applied to the continuing education of Physician Assistants. Physician Assistants should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nurses

This nursing continuing professional development activity was approved by Connecticut Nurses’ Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Minutes: 120 minutes or 2.0 contact hours

Released: 11/10/2025; Valid for credit through 11/10/2027

This course meets the requirements of the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners to offer 2.0 Category 1 Designated Pharmacotherapeutic Credit Hours as required for maintenance of national certification for nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists. This activity incorporates current clinical application of pharmacology across the life span including drug specific information, safe prescribing practices and information, safe medication administration, prescribing methodologies, new regulations and/or similar content.

Verification of Attendance (VOA)

All users that are not eligible for continuing education will receive a Verification of Attendance certificate upon completion of the course.

Course Media Instructions and Additional Information

Software Requirements: CAPC’s online curriculum, tools and technical assistance are

designed to be fully compatible through multiple platforms: computer, smartphone (iOS or Android) or tablet running the following web browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.

Content: Each course is comprised of interactive learning components (articles, tools, or supporting materials), video and audio. The learner will be expected to complete various interactive processes such as matching, simulated clinical decision-making, fill in the blanks, and highlighting content.

Target Audience: Each program is developed for nurses, physicians, physician assistants, and palliative care program leaders.

Activity Description/Statement of Needs: CAPC’s online curriculum provides training in two critical areas. Technical assistance courses are designed to help palliative care program leaders address key challenges such as implementing palliative care in community health care settings. Clinical coursework provides fundamental training in pain and symptom management, communication, and other key skills needed to work with patients with serious illness.

Faculty Disclosures and Financial Relationships: It is the policy of CAPC to ensure objectivity, balance, independence, transparency, and scientific rigor in all CE, CNE and CME educational activities per the highest standards of ANCC and ACGME guidelines. For all courses, Faculty/Presenters/Authors/Content Reviewers/Planning Committee Members complete forms to disclose their relevant financial relationships. No relevant financial relationships were identified for any individuals with the ability to control content of the activity.

Disclaimers: The opinions expressed in the courses are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsor, the educational partner, or the supporter. Please review complete prescribing information of specific drugs or combination of drugs, including indications, contraindications, warnings, and adverse effects before administering pharmacologic therapy to patients. Activities do not contain information on commercial products/devices that are unlabeled for use or investigational uses of products not yet approved.

Copyright Information: All rights reserved by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). No materials may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews.

Course Directors

Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, FAAHPM
Founder, Director Emerita and Strategic Medical Advisor, Center to Advance Palliative Care
Co-director, Patty and Jay Baker National Palliative Care Center
Professor, Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
Catherine Gaisman Professor of Medical Ethics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Andrew E. Esch, MD, MBA
Director, Palliative Care Program Development, Center to Advance Palliative Care