Educational Goals
The Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program has adopted the standards of the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The fellowship curriculum consists of a combination of clinical experience and didactic series, and guidance by the faculty to help fellows understand the needs of terminally ill and provide support throughout the course of advanced illness and to manage physical and emotional factors that contribute to the suffering of patients and their loved ones. Fellows will also join quality and performance improvement projects and research.
Fellows work with board-certified palliative care physicians, palliative care trained nurse practitioners, physician assistants, social workers, chaplain, and other interdisciplinary team members at three campuses across Montefiore Health System. Working with the palliative care service at Montefiore Medical Center provides an opportunity to learn the practice of palliative care in a safe, supportive environment; deal with conflict; face one’s own mortality; and build resilience and bring personal impact to daily work.
Core Curriculum
Consult Service
The diverse cultural and ethnic background of the patients and families served enriches the clinical experience. The program's mission is to provide comprehensive care, research, and education across the continuum of care. The consultation service, the 10-bed in-patient unit, and home hospice care are an integral part of the program.
The program is a service without walls, providing care in the emergency departments, critical care units, medical floors, and palliative oncologic pain clinics. The interdisciplinary clinical team includes physicians, nurse practitioners and social workers, and spiritual services.
- Hospice and Palliative Care Unit
The 10-bed inpatient palliative care unit, located on the Moses Campus, offers a multi-disciplinary team approach to patient care. Trainees rotate through the unit, learning inpatient palliative medicine and care of hospice patients.
- Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care
Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic, Led by Dr. Serife Eti and Marlene McHugh, DNP, FNP-BC, the outpatient palliative care team runs a variety of palliative oncology clinics and liaises with physical medicine and rehabilitative medicine interventional pain specialists. A multidisciplinary approach to pain management is used in these clinics. Fellows participate in these weekly clinics, learning outpatient palliative care.
- Bioethics
Bioethics is integrated within the palliative care service. The palliative care team interacts extensively with this department, allowing trainees to learn communication and problem-solving skills. Trainees spend one half day per week participating in a certificate course in bioethics.
- HIV Medicine
Dr. Peter Selwyn, chairman of the Department of Family and Social Medicine, is a world-renowned expert in HIV palliative care. He has authored numerous articles and books on the subject, and is the grant developer for the largest government-funded program in HIV palliative care. Dr. Selwyn provides a longitudinal experience of ten consult-based sessions yearly with patients affected by HIV/AIDS.
- Hospice Home Care / Pediatric Hospice Home Care
Fellows will rotate with the Metropolitan Jewish Health System Adult and Pediatrics Team.
Didactic Curriculum
Format: Lectures, small group discussion, workshops, and case conferences, self-learning
- Didactic Lectures
The fellowship has a schedule of didactic lectures to cover key topics in palliative care in a comprehensive fashion. Topics include: cancer pain management, symptom management, disease based palliative care, functioning as a consultant, grief and bereavement, spiritual assessment, communication skills, pediatric palliative care, and cultural aspects of palliative care.
- Weekly Palliative Care Interdisciplinary Meetings
Every week the fellows will join the interdisciplinary team to discuss care of hospitalized patients who require team approach to challenging issues related to their psychosocial and medical needs.
- Quality Improvement Meetings
The monthly meetings allow fellows to participate in the process of quality improvement for our clinical service, outpatient clinics, and inpatient unit.
- Palliative Medicine Journal Club
Fellows will lead the monthly interdisciplinary palliative medicine journal club. Fellows learn from and enjoy the challenge of having to engage team members from multiple disciplines in the discussion.
- Palliative Care Service Clinical Staff Meeting
These quarterly meetings provide fellows information on administrative aspects of the service.
- Medical Student Teaching
The palliative care fellows teach lectures on introduction to palliative care (presented with palliative care service faculty member). The palliative care fellows also provide informal teaching for medical students during their elective rotation on the palliative care service.
- Palliative Care Grand Rounds