This session provides a focused overview of hospice and palliative care in the context of addiction medicine, including the overlap between substance use disorders and life-limiting illness, aligned with the ACAAM National Addiction Medicine Didactic Curriculum and ABPM content areas.
What This Covers • Core concepts in serious illness, palliative care, and end-of-life care in patients with substance use disorders • The relationship between pain, symptom burden, and substance use • Approaches to pain assessment and management using clinical decision-making frameworks • Considerations for opioid prescribing in the context of serious illness and substance use disorders • Communication strategies for care planning and aligning treatment with patient values • Integration of addiction medicine principles into hospice and palliative care settings • Case-based application of approaches to managing patients with co-occurring substance use disorders and serious illness
How This Resource Is Used This session is designed for on-demand learning and targeted content review. It can be used to reinforce specific knowledge areas or as part of structured board preparation.
Janet Ho, MD MPH
Dr. Ho is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and an internist board certified in Addiction Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She serves as a clinical leader in inpatient palliative care and addiction consult services.
She completed her medical degree at the University of California, Irvine, and her residency at Yale, followed by fellowship training in general internal medicine, palliative care, and addiction medicine.
Katrina Nickels, MD DFASAM
Dr. Nickels is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Kentucky and a physician specializing in Addiction Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Her clinical work focuses on the care of patients with substance use disorders in the setting of serious illness and complex pain.
She received her medical degree and completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Kentucky, followed by fellowship training in Addiction Medicine. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Addiction Medicine, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Murad Aldarayseh, MD
Dr. Aldarayseh is an internal medicine physician who, at the time of this presentation (March 2026), was a Hospice and Palliative Care Fellow at the University of Kentucky.
Chris Ethridge, MD
Dr. Ethridge is a family medicine physician who, at the time of this presentation (March 2026), was an Addiction Medicine Fellow at the University of Kentucky.
Reed Nerness, MD MA
Dr. Nerness is an internal medicine physician who, at the time of this presentation (March 2026), was an Addiction Medicine Fellow at UPMC.
To support a meaningful learning experience and recognize your participation:
Access PeriodAccess to this recording is available through June 30, 2027, in alignment with ACAAM’s annual academic cycle.
Recording Release CycleACAAM releases updated recorded sessions each July based on the prior academic year’s didactic series. These recordings are available for a limited time and are retired on June 30 of the following year as new content is released.