Keynote: Care for the Whole Person: Improving Quality of Life Beyond Biopsychosocial Approaches to Palliative Care

Casey Shillam, PhD, MSN, RN, is the Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Portland. She was the founding Director of Western Washington University's RN-BSN Nursing Program. Casey serves on the Health Policy Advisory Council for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Washington, DC, and was selected for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Leadership for Academic Nursing Program (LANP) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow program. This opening session will set the stage for the conference by providing an overview of important aspects of palliative care outside of traditional medical approaches to care. Particular focus is placed on differentiating between religiosity and spirituality and the importance of supporting spiritual and cultural preferences in palliative care. On completion of this session, participants should be able to: 1. Describe the impact of providing spiritual care on the biopsychosocial model of palliative care; 2. Distinguish between religiosity and spirituality; 3. Explore different dimensions of spiritual care in palliative care; 4. Develop a strategy for incorporating spiritual care into current practices.