Palliative Care

The Palliative Care Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Fellowship is a 12-month program designed to equip the nurse practitioner and physician assistant with the specialized skill sets necessary to assist patients and families who are diagnosed with a prolonged or life-threatening illness. The program is structured to develop and strengthen clinical proficiencies while increasing confidence to aid in transition to practice. This is accomplished by working alongside a multidisciplinary team of seasoned healthcare providers. Completion of this exceptional fellowship affords graduates the expertise to deliver comprehensive healthcare services together with coordination of care that is essential in providing appropriate symptom management with a focus on best days and quality of life.

Clinical Settings

Palliative care APP fellows are exposed to a variety of patient populations in both inpatient and outpatient settings. These include a level on trauma hospice, rural hospitals, home setting, general inpatient and home hospice, home-based palliative care sites and skilled nursing facilities. Training opportunities are available in both urban and rural communities. These clinical rotations provide fellows with hands-on experience, a network of referral sources, established skills inventory and an opportunity to collaborate with other specialties. Emphasis is placed on developing strategies for effective cooperation within a multidisciplinary team with a focus on patient and family-centered care.

Comprehensive Post-Graduate Approach

The Palliative Care Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Fellowship promotes transition to practice through evidence-based instruction and experience. The innovative curriculum offers an expansive immersion in the areas of inpatient and outpatient palliative care, critical care and trauma, hospice and geriatrics, as well as an elective training experience concentrated to the fellow's particular interest in this field. Fellows benefit from a core curriculum, weekly didactic education, direct patient care, specialty rotations, simulation training, journal club, case presentations and interprofessional educational opportunities. This comprehensive post-graduate approach offers the advantage of a guided learning experience and direct patient care while in a supervised learning environment that increases confidence and presents a smoother transition to practice.

Graduates will perform with increased proficiency in the areas of preventive, emergent, acute, chronic, rehabilitative, palliative and end-of-life care with development of expertise in behavioral health diagnosis commonly encountered in outpatient clinics placing them one step above the traditional internal medicine provider.

• Palliative care core curriculum
• Medical critical care and/or trauma intensive care
• Outpatient palliative medicine
• Hospice (both general inpatient and home settings)
• Geriatric emergency room consultation
• Pediatrics
• Palliative care in rural hospital settings
• Palliative care in a post-acute care setting
• Leadership/Administrative experience
• Pain management

• Consultation etiquette
• Advance directives
• Communication techniques
• Assessment of capacity for decision making
• Prognostication ability
• Pain and symptom management
• Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments
• Spiritual care assessment
• Cultural competence
• Medical ethics
• Grief and bereavement
• Moral distress
• Compassion fatigue and self-care
• Value of evidence-based care
• Organ-system based palliative care