Massage Therapy in Serious Illness: Building the Case for Interprofessional Integration

Massage therapy remains underutilized in palliative care, in part because few training pathways prepare massage therapists to function as true clinical partners.  In this Interprofessional Grand Rounds session, presenters will introduce MPATH (Massage Palliative Advanced Training for Healthcare), a nine-month certificate program for massage therapists designed to address that gap. The session will cover the program's foundations: a competency-based medical education model, synchronous interdisciplinary instruction, and a six-month clinical externship grounded in established palliative principles from various organizations, including CAPC, VitalTalk, the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and The John A. Hartford Foundations's Age-Friendly Health Systems framework.

Presenters will also share their experience building a collaborative working relationship at Mount Nittany Health, where one presenter completed her MPATH externship. They will present a patient case in which integrating massage therapy resulted in meaningful improvements in symptom management and patient engagement, and offer lessons learned and practical guidance for palliative care programs considering this interprofessional collaboration.