The Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program consists of four key components:
1) Clinical Training
2) Core Knowledge and Skills Development
3) Clinical Teaching Skills Development
4) Introduction to Research and Quality Improvement
Clinical Training
The program represents the collaborative efforts of prominent health care organizations: University of Colorado Denver, University of Colorado Hospital (UCH), the Veteran’s Administration Eastern Colorado Health Care System (VA), Kaiser Permanente (KP)/ St. Joe’s Hospital (SJH), Hospice of Metro Denver (HMD), Life Quality Institute (LQI), and Evercare (EC).
Palliative medicine fellows receive clinical training in diverse settings guided by faculty with varied backgrounds, and have the opportunity to provide continuity across a continuum of locales and service models as a result of the inter-relationships between these organizations.
Clinical Training Summary (example):
|
Inpatient Palliative Care |
UCH and VA (palliative care consultation)
KP/ St. Joe’s Hospital (consults/ inpatient unit)
HMD inpatient facility |
Two months each |
|
Hospice and Home Care |
HMD home care
HMD nursing home/assisted living facility |
One month full-time + half-day/wk
One month |
|
Long-term Care |
KP Outpatient Palliative Care Services
HMD Pathways Palliative Care Consultation
LQI Pathways Palliative Care Management
VA Home-based Primary Care |
One month |
|
Ambulatory Palliative Care |
Community-based Total Long-term Care (PACE) OR Chronic Care Clinic OR HMD Interdisciplinary Team |
6 months of fellowship, half-day/wk |
|
Electives |
Ethics consultation
Integrative Medicine
Geriatrics
Geri-Oncology
Psychiatry
Pediatrics
Adolescent Medicine
HIV
Rad-Oncology
Pulmonary/Critical Care
Cardiology
Neurology
Research and Quality Improvement
Others |
Two months |
Core Knowledge and Skills Development
Program faculty provides instruction on core topics in palliative medicine through weekly Palliative Care Conferences. Sessions include a combination of didactic lecture, interactive small group workshops, role play and standardized patient exercises. Palliative medicine fellows also participate in (and periodically facilitate) monthly Palliative Care Journal Club on the oncology inpatient unit at UCH. Through this experience, fellows develop skills in the critical interpretation and translation of palliative care medical literature.
Clinical Teaching Skills Development
Fellows of the Colorado Program receive training designed to improve participants teaching and feedback skills. In addition to video-taped teaching and role play sessions, fellows are provided opportunities for structured practice of teaching skills with Internal Medicine residents, Family Medicine residents, medical students, nurses and other interdisciplinary providers. Through the Life Quality Institute and the Colorado Hospital Outreach Program, fellows engage in palliative care outreach education for Colorado’s rural communities.
Introduction to Research and Quality Improvement
Through didactic and interactive sessions and focused mentorship, palliative medicine fellows receive introductory instruction in research and quality improvement methods. Although not required, the Program strongly encourages all fellows to complete a scholarly research or quality improvement project during the one-year training program. Such opportunities are readily available through core faculty and ongoing projects within the Population-based Palliative Care Research Network (PoPCRN) – an award-winning, national practice-based research network of hospice and palliative care organizations. Fellows who desire an academic career in palliative medicine are encouraged to complete at least two years of training (dependent on funding availability) and are required to successfully complete and publish a mentored research project.