Palliative Perspective Podcast

Hospice care is often structured around a 40-hour workweek—but patients and families need support 24/7. In this episode, we explore what happens during the “other 123 hours”: nights, weekends, and holidays when staffing is leaner, coverage areas expand, and each clinician carries greater responsibility—even as symptom crises and end-of-life transitions unfold. Through frontline insights, we examine the risks, resilience, and resour...

In this episode, filmmakers Barry Koch and Jason Zamer are joined by Angela Novas, Chief Medical Officer of the Hospice Foundation of America, to discuss A Butterfly Has Been Released. The documentary follows hospice nurse Allyson during the final 39 days of her life with brain cancer. Determined to turn her dying into a teaching moment, she hosts a living funeral, shares deep conversations with loved ones, and chooses a natural gr...

In this powerful episode, longtime HPNA member Linda Blum, APRN shares experiences from the last few years of her rich nursing career in volunteerism —training incarcerated caregivers in a California state prison hospice program. Linda explores the ethical complexity of end-of-life care behind bars, from POLST conflicts and CPR decisions to pain management in a correctional setting where Medicare rules don’t apply. 

Through ELNEC e...

Health care inclusivity is more than a framework, it’s a daily practice that shapes learning, teamwork, and patient outcomes. In this episode of HPNA’s Palliative Perspective, Jill, Vanessa, and Jenn—longtime collaborators in nursing professional development and creators of Disruptor Diaries—explore what health care inclusivity truly means across education, clinical practice, and the workforce. 

Drawing from lived experience in car...

In this moving episode of HPNA Palliative Perspective, we welcome Esther Pepper, RN, BSN, CHPN®, a veteran hospice nurse from Alaska whose more than two decades of compassionate service have shaped her debut memoir, My Calling: Chronicles of an Alaskan Hospice Nurse. 

Drawing from years on the front lines of end-of-life care, Esther shares what hospice nursing truly looks like—the challenges, the grace, and the profound human con...

In this companion episode to the October Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing (JHPN) editorial, we sit down with members of HPNA’s DEIB Committee to explore the story behind a powerful decision—choosing to retain the committee’s name—and the thoughtful, intentional process that led there. Nurse leader and postdoctoral fellow Kirsten Inducil Buen, PhD, RN, MA, reflects on her clinical background, mentorship journey, and the cha...

From the 2025 HPNA Annual Conference in Disney Springs, this special podcast episode brings the poster hall to your ears — featuring concise, powerful overviews from nurse-led and interdisciplinary researchers advancing the field of hospice and palliative care. 

In this special episode, we spotlight a series of innovative, nurse-led and interdisciplinary projects shaping the future of palliative care across diverse settings—from in...

In this episode of the HPNA Palliative Perspective Podcast, we welcome Doug Wubben, a health care professional with a diverse background in nursing and coaching. 

Doug brings extensive experience as an Oncology Case Manager and Goals of Care Educator, roles that have shaped his deep understanding of person-centered communication and interprofessional collaboration. Currently, he works as a Life & Leadership Coach, supporting cl...

Welcome to Episode 50 of the HPNA Palliative Perspective podcast—a meaningful milestone, and one that gave us pause to reflect on the incredible leaders who’ve shaped the hospice and palliative care space. In early conversations about this episode, we considered dedicating it to Betty Ferrell, a visionary in the field and the longtime Editor-in-Chief of JHPN, the Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing. 

But, in true Betty fashio...

In this episode, Shena Gazaway joins us in a discussion of her nurse-led research, providing primary palliative care in patients’ homes— where this care is urgently needed but often overlooked. We explore how she leads serious illness conversations, manages complex chronic conditions, and builds trust with patients and families to ensure care aligns with their values.  

From qualitative studies to pilot-tested toolkits that empower...

What role can psychedelics play in helping terminally ill patients face death with peace, clarity, and meaning? 

In this episode, we welcome Hannah Whitmore, PhD, RN, CHPN®, a Registered Nurse and PhD researcher whose work—The Pragmatism of Palliative Care—explores the clinical potential of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (PAT) to support death acceptance in patients at the end of life. Dr. Whitmore brings a compassionate and evidence...

In this special episode, recorded on June 24 and released on June 25, we bring you a timely dispatch from Washington, D.C., where the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) leadership and staff engaged in direct advocacy on Capitol Hill.  

Join Gayle Gerdes, Vice President of Health Policy Source and consultant to HPNA, and HPNA Manager of Advocacy and Health Policy Sarah Potter as they reflect on their experiences meetin...

In this episode, we hear from Deb Russell, RN, MSN, FNP-BC, APRN-CNP, ACHPN® with more than 20 years in the field, currently leading care in an outpatient, harm-reduction-based palliative clinic. She provides palliative support to patients undergoing active cancer treatment who are also living with substance use disorders—a population with complex and often unmet needs. 

Deb shares firsthand insight into: 

• Navigating symptom m...

In this deeply personal and resonant episode, longtime hospice nurse and podcast host of The Heart of Hospice, Helen Bauer, BSN RN CHPN®, shares an intimate look at the soul of hospice nursing — the part that’s rarely documented but always deeply felt. With more than seven years behind the mic and a career alongside patients and families at the bedside, Helen reflects on the intimacy and intensity of hospice care, and the challenge...

In this episode, we explore the profound impact of Kelli Anspach MSN, CV-BC, NPD-BC, CHPN®'s thriving and sustainable training program, which has successfully trained more than 1,000 hospital nurses over the past 10 years through the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) program, founded by Betty Ferrell PhD, MSN, CHPN®. By providing nurses with the essential skills and knowledge to lead compassionate palliative care con...

Join us for an insightful episode featuring seasoned Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Meggan Mikal-DeMont DNP, APRN-FPA, PCNS-BC, CPNP-PC, CHPPN ®, FPCN® with more than10 years of experience in palliative care and pain management. In this whole-hearted interview, she reflects on her husband’s nine-month experience with Stage IV colorectal cancer and offers an insider’s perspective as both a palliative care clinician and caregiver- how ...

In this episode, we hear from nurses and nurse practitioners who attended the 2025 Annual Assembly of Hospice & Palliative Care. Whether it’s their first time attending or they attend this conference year after year, they share what brings them to the event, what inspires them, and the key takeaways they plan to bring back to their clinical practice. Tune in for an inside look at how the Annual Assembly is shaping the future of...

In this episode, we explore two innovative projects—Project UPHOLDS (Utilizing Palliative care for Heart failure Optimized using Lay navigators to Decrease Suffering) and Project ADAPT HF (ADdressing All Pain Through navigator-led palliative care optimized for Heart Failure)—which focus on utilizing community-based lay navigators to optimize palliative care for heart failure, especially among older Black adults. We delve into the i...

In this episode, three HPNA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (DEIB) Committee members reflect on their lived experience- how positionality impacts the way they show up to their work as hospice and palliative care clinicians and researchers and how they've shifted from cultural competency toward cultural responsiveness.

Together, these experts discuss how our knowledge and actions must evolve in the face of new informat...