The Bereavement Journey and Tissue Donation Conference

Wednesday, July 29, 2026, 9:00 AM - 5:15 PM, Nationwide Children's Hospital Conference Center, Columbus, OH


AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (6.25 hours), AAPA Credit(s) (6.25 hours), ANCC Contact Hour(s) (6.25 hours), APA Credit(s) (6.25 hours), ASWB ACE Credit(s) (6.25 hours), Non-Physician Attendance (6.25 hours)

The Bereavement Journey and Tissue Donation: A Multidisciplinary Approach
An educational symposium for interdisciplinary healthcare professionals caring for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer and other high-risk, poor prognosis diseases. This seminar focuses on providing compassionate, comprehensive support for patients, families, and care teams when navigating conversations about autopsy and tissue donation as well as anticipatory grief, coping with poor prognoses, and bereavement. Participants will learn practical, evidence-based communication strategies, understand the roles of interdisciplinary team members, and explore ways to integrate palliative care, legacy-building, meaning-making, and structured grief support across the practice of pediatric oncology/hematology/BMT and other pediatric specialties with poor prognostic outcomes. The seminar emphasizes supporting patients and families as well as interdisciplinary providers across the care continuum, including early introduction of discussions, revisiting conversations over time, and structured post-death/bereavement follow-up. This full day symposium will offer a variety of educational content, including keynote presentations from leading experts; shorter practical, high-yield educational sessions; and panels including interdisciplinary care team members as well as bereaved parents.

Intended Audience:

• Pediatric oncologists and hematologists, as well as pediatric providers across pediatric specialties taking care of children, adolescents, and young adults with high-risk, poor prognosis conditions

• Pediatric oncology nurses and advanced practice providers taking care of children, adolescents, and young adults with high-risk, poor prognostic conditions

• Pediatric palliative care providers working with oncology patients

• Psychologists, social workers, child-life specialists, and chaplains supporting oncology patients and families with serious illness

• Pathologists involved in tumor tissue donation and autopsy

• Researchers focused on pediatric oncology, serious illness, autopsy/tissue donation, and end-of-life care

• Other clinicians involved in oncology patient care who support families facing serious illness and bereavement

Conference Topics Include:

• Autopsy and tissue/tumor donation: history, overview, logistics in pediatric serious illness

• Communication surrounding end-of-life, autopsy, & tumor donation

• Autopsy reviews/bereavement debriefings

• Importance of bereavement care in pediatric serious illness

• Interdisciplinary collaboration in end-of-life and bereavement care

• Partnering with bereaved parents and caregivers

• Legacy building and memory-making

• Cultural considerations in bereavement and end-of-life care

• Psychosocial outcomes, grief experiences, and needs of bereaved families

• Provider grief, coping, & resilience following death of patient

1. Describe the medical, ethical, and psychosocial foundations of pediatric autopsy and tissue donation within the contexts of serious illness, end-of-life care, and bereavement.
2. Identify bereaved caregiver informational needs, values, and concerns related to autopsy, tissue donation, and post-death follow-up meetings.
3. Apply evidence-based communication strategies to offer autopsy and tissue donation with patients, adolescents and young adults, and caregivers across the illness trajectory, including early introduction, revisiting discussions over time, and tailoring conversations based on patient age, neurocognitive level, cultural and emotional factors.
4. Explain the roles and contributions of multidisciplinary team members, including palliative care, oncology, nursing, psychology, social work, chaplaincy, child life, pathology, and research, in supporting families before and after a child’s death.
5. Analyze institutional autopsy processes and bereavement debriefing models to determine their impact on caregiver understanding, bereavement experiences, and continuity of care.
6. Evaluate the benefits and limitations of bereavement tissue donation for families, clinicians, and researchers, including ethical, cultural, emotional, and systems-level considerations.
7. Develop practical strategies to integrate early palliative care, legacy-building, and structured bereavement follow-up into clinical practice to support family-centered care and clinician well-being.

• In Person Registration - $100

• Virtual Registration - $100

• Student/Trainee - $40

• OSU Staff - $75 (Must have OSU email)

• NCH Staff - $75 (Must have NCH email)

In support of improving patient care, Nationwide Children's Hospital is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC),  and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), to provide continuing medical education for the healthcare team.

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations received in writing no less than 20 days before the course will be refunded, less a 20% administrative fee. No refunds will be made on cancellations received after that date. Please send cancellation requests to [email protected].

Nationwide Children's Hospital reserves the right to cancel or postpone this program if necessary; in the event of cancellation, course fees will be fully refunded. We are not responsible for other costs incurred such as non-refundable airline tickets or hotel penalties.

Accessibility Statement
 
Nationwide Children's Hospital is committed to ensuring that its programs, services, goods and facilities are accessible to individuals with disabilities as specified under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008.  If you have needs that require special accommodations, including dietary concerns, please contact the CME Conference Coordinator.

The Nationwide Children's Hospital® adheres to ACCME Criteria, Standards and Policies regarding industry support of continuing medical education. Disclosure of faculty and their commercial relationships will be made prior to the activity.

Mitigation of Relevant Financial Relationships

Nationwide Children's Hospital adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity, including faculty, planners, reviewers or others are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (commercial interests). All relevant conflicts of interest have been mitigated prior to the commencement of the activity.

Wednesday, July 29, 2026