Curriculum

Our curriculum in the Ascension Resurrection Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowship is designed to educate the next generation of physicians to meet a new specialty standard of care. The program helps physicians develop academic, clinical, research and administrative skills that are consistent with the practice, development and improvement of palliative medicine and to rise to leadership in the field. We emphasize communication, care planning, symptom management and relief of suffering. The program also covers complex decision making and the regulatory and administrative processes essential to serve patients and loved ones challenged by life-limiting illness or at the end of life.

Goals

  • To educate the next generation of physicians in hospice and palliative care, meeting a new specialty standard of care that includes the benefits of high-quality interdisciplinary care readily available to patients confronted with life-limiting illness and at the end of life.
  • To train physicians to demonstrate competence in specialist-level expertise in palliative care. The program helps physicians develop academic, clinical, research and administrative skills that are consistent with the practice, development and improvement of palliative medicine and to rise to leadership in the field.
  • To help physicians develop a broad base of knowledge and analytical skills in palliative medicine. The program emphasizes communication, care planning, symptom management, relief of suffering, mentoring complex decision-making, and provide competence in the regulatory and administrative processes essential to serve patients and loved ones challenged by life-limiting illness or at the end of life.

Rotations

  • Palliative services (seven months)
  • Palliative pediatrics (two weeks)
  • Hospice service (three months)
  • Radiology & oncology (two weeks)
  • Selective (one month)
  • Elective (one month)
  • Scholarly (one month)

Clinical rotations

The fellows will be actively involved in working with the interdisciplinary teams in a variety of clinical settings. The fellow will rotate in the following clinical activities, with attention to ensuring the fellow integrates seeing patients across these care settings.

Inpatient palliative care consultation service

Fellows will spend 6 to 7 four week rotations on the inpatient consultation services. A minimum of 12 weeks hospice rotations, dedicated to patients in both inpatient and community venues along with well-established interdisciplinary teams fostering integration of care.

Inpatient hospice unit

The fellow’s clinical experience includes rotation in a dedicated hospice unit, providing care to high acuity patients and their families, managing complex symptom control, education and counseling and appropriate preparation through the dying process.

Home and long-term care

Fellows will see patients at home and in long-term care settings, focusing on facilitating inpatient-outpatient continuity of care, especially as related to the practice of palliative and hospice medicine.

Outpatient clinic

Fellows will have a palliative care clinic during the week for a minimum of 6 months and may be assigned a faculty preceptor. The fellows will see patients with a variety of diagnosis and have the opportunity to see patients across care settings, hospital to clinic or clinic to home hospice or hospital.

Electives

Fellows can select from a variety of elective rotations, and can also arrange a specific elective based on the fellow’s interests.

Didactics

Regional fellows’ conferences

In order to foster camaraderie and collegiality with all the Chicago-area fellows, we have established a regional fellows’ conference series with the other hospice and palliative medicine fellowships in Chicago at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, The University of Chicago, Rush University/Stroger Hospital of Cook County.

These monthly half-day sessions are rotated between institutions to allow the fellows to learn from all the academic palliative medicine faculty in Chicago. The sessions lay the foundation for core topics in palliative medicine through a formal, structured teaching session over the course of the academic year. The series is presented in a variety of formats, including didactic, interactive, case-based discussions and role play. Fellow’s time is protected to enable meeting this attendance requirement.

Informal, structured teaching

Opportunities include Journal Club advanced topics in palliative medicine and participation in education of the house staff. The sessions are conducted throughout the week by core faculty and clinicians in the Section of Palliative Medicine.