Colorado Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program
Program Description
The Program consists of four key components: 1) Clinical Training, 2) Core
Knowledge and Skills Development, 3) Clinical Teaching Skills Development, and
4) Introduction to Research and Quality Improvement.
Clinical Training
The Colorado Palliative Medicine Fellowship 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)
| Training Area |
Locations |
Time |
| Inpatient
Palliative Care |
- UCH and VA (palliative care
consultation)
- KP/ St. Joe’s Hospital (consults/
inpatient unit)
- HMD inpatient facility
|
|
| 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
|
|
| 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
|
|
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.