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Kathleen M. McKillip, MD

Assistant Professor

Contact

School of Medicine
Medical Humanities
Department of Medicine
Hospital Medicine
Palliative Care
CUMC - Creighton University Medical Center - Medical Education Building Suite 301

Kathleen M. McKillip, MD

Assistant Professor

Dr. McKillip is a Palliative Medicine physician and Academic Director, Program in Interdisciplinary Palliative Medicine at Creighton University School of Medicine.

Her research and curricular interests seek to bridge experience with caring for seriously ill patients across all developmental stages with her interests in the liberal arts and developmental cognitive psychology. Her courses seek to establish a humanistic clinical approach to complex suffering. Her research seeks to  examine cognitive heuristics that inform clinician's response to complex medical suffering. Her internal and external patient advocacy seeks to uphold dignity of patients with complex healthcare needs.

Within the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, she is past chair of the Early Career Professionals SIG and current chair of the Case Committee. She serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Palliative Care and received a Kingfisher Institute Curriculum Innovation grant in 2019. She has received multiple awards related to patient advocacy and research.

She is tenure track Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Medical Humanities at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska.  In her spare time, she enjoys making music and playing in her garden with her family.

Teaching Interests

  • Hospice and Palliative Medicine

Department

Medicine

Position

Assistant Professor

Articles

  • Am J Hosp Palliat Care
    Cichon GJ, Betts LJ, McKillip KM, Silberstein PT. Patterns of Palliative Treatments in Stage IV Esophageal Cancer. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2023 Mar 6:10499091231159365. doi: 10.1177/10499091231159365. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36878494. 2023
  • Southern U.S. J Pain Symptom Management
    Currie ER, Wolfe J, Boss R, Johnston EE, Paine C, Perna SJ, Buckingham S, McKillip KM, Li P, Dionne-Odom JN, Ejem D, Morvant A, Nichols C, Bakitas MA. Patterns of pediatric palliative and end-of-life care in neonatal intensive care patients in the Southern U.S. J Pain Symptom Management. 2023 Feb 16:S0885-3924(23)00057-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2023.01.025. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36801354. 2023
  • J Affect Disord
    McKillip, Kathleen, McKillip KM, Moss F. Power, silence, and debriefing: Hidden harms when palliative teams encounter racism. J Pain Symptom Management. 2021 Jun;61(6):1311-1315. 2021
  • Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
    McKillip KM, Moss RFF. Power, Silence, and Debriefing: Hidden Harms When Palliative Teams Encounter Racism. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.01.128.
    S0885-3924(21), p. 00150-0 2021
  • Annals of Internal Medicine
    McKillip KM. The Watch.
    173(5), p. 416 2020
  • Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine
    McKillip KM, Lott AD, Swetz KM. Respecting Autonomy and Promoting the Patient's Good in the Setting of Serious Terminal and Concurrent Mental Illness.
    92(4), p. 597-602 2019
  • Am J Bioethics
    McKillip KM, Barnett MD, Swetz KM. Communication Education, Modeling, and Protocols Transform Clinicians to Agents of Empowerment.
    17(11), p. 40-42 2017

Presentations

  • Reznicek M, Piemonte N, McKillip KM, Kowalke B. Panel: Teaching and Reading Vulnerability in Medical Humanities. Presentation: Transgressing medicines hidden curriculum with candor of uncertainty in palliative care. Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research 4th Annual Conference, via Zoom on April 21, 2021. 2021
  • Kowalke B, McKillip KM. Using First-Person Narratives of Neurodiversity to Enhance Communication and Understanding. Presented at The Examined Life Conference, The Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA via Zoom. 2020
  • Currie ER, Li P, Boss R, Wolfe J, Perna SJ, Buckingham S, McKillip K, Dionne-Odom JN, Ejem D, Antia L, Bakitas M. Access to pediatric palliative care in minority and rural deep south neonatal intensive care (ICU) patients: Patterns of care from 2009-2017. Poster presented at the Alabama Rural Health Association, Prattville, AL. 2019
  • McKillip KM, Barnett MD. Prognostication in Pediatric Palliative Care. In workshop titled, Whoa, This Patient is How Young? Strategies for Adult Providers Caring for Pediatric Patients Presented at AAHPM Annual Assembly, in Orlando, Florida. 2019
  • Currie ER, Li P, Boss R, Wolfe J, Perna SJ, Buckingham S, McKillip K, Dionne-Odom JN, Ejem D, Antia L, Bakitas M. Access to pediatric palliative care in minority and rural deep south neonatal intensive care (ICU) patients: Patterns of care from 2009-2017 Poster presented at AAHPM American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Annual Assembly, Orlando, Florida. 2019
  • McKillip, KM. Heuristics in Nonverbal Patients' Pain Management: Peering Into the 'Black Box' of Palliative Clinical Decision Making Poster presented at the 22nd International Congress on Palliative Care, in Montral, Quebec. 2018
  • Currie ER, Perna SJ, Buckingham S, McKillip K, Boss R, Wolfe J, Dionne-Odom J N, Ejem D, Azuero A, & Bakitas M. Neonatal Palliative Care in the U.S. Deep South: Exploration of Patterns of Care and Health Disparities Poster presented at the 22nd International Congress on Palliative Care, in Montral, Quebec. 2018
  • Currie ER, Perna SJ, Buckingham S, McKillip K, Boss R, Wolfe J, & Bakitas M. Do health disparities in the deep south impact neonatal palliative care? Implications for rural nurses Poster presented at the International Rural Nurses Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 2018
  • McKillip KM, Smith MP, Lundgren SW. Now that I Think About It, Your Heart is Actually Fine presented at the Society for General Internal Medicine in Hollywood, FL. 2016
  • McKillip KM, Smith MP. Tests are Negative, But Still Positive presented at the Society for General Internal Medicine in Hollywood, FL. 2016
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