Didactic Curriculum

The HPM fellowship has a didactic curriculum designed to supplement and enhance the fellows' learning experiences throughout the year. Listed below are some of the major components of the didactic curriculum.

• Orientation: The fellowship begins with a few days of orientation. During this time, fellows are oriented to the hospital system, the policies and procedures for Medical Education and the fellowship, and the data systems they will utilize during the fellowship. 

• Boot Camp: Boot camp follows immediately after orientation and lasts for about a week and a half. Boot camp is designed to cover key palliative medicine concepts through small group discussions, literature reviews, and teaching.  

• Weekly Noon Conference Lectures: The Hospice & Palliative Medicine fellowship and the Geriatric Medicine fellowship have a joint didactic schedule. Noon conference lectures are twice each week, with one lecture focusing on Geriatrics and the other on Hospice & Palliative Medicine. Lectures cover core topics that enhance the fellows' clinical knowledge, and they are led by faculty and expert guest speakers.

• Weekly Self-Care with Palliative Chaplain: Once per week, fellows spend an hour with the palliative team chaplain. Sessions are confidential and allow fellows to talk about patient cases, emotional challenges, or anything else that is affecting them at the time. This is protected time and clinical duties are not scheduled during these sessions. 

• Weekly Board Review: Beginning early in the fellowship, fellows have weekly board review sessions where they discuss practice questions and learn test-taking strategies with program faculty. 

• Case Conferences: Fellows lead 3 case conferences over the course of the year. Case conferences provide a time for fellows to reflect on a difficult or interesting patient case and engage in group discussion about ways to approach patient care. 

• Journal Club: Fellows lead 3 journal clubs over the course of the year. Fellows find a recent journal article and create a presentation to educate the Hospice & Palliative and Geriatrics care teams about their chosen topic. 

• Grand Rounds: Fellows lead 1 grand rounds presentation during the fellowship. Fellows select their topic and educate the audience about how their selected topic impacts patient care or how physicians should practice. 

• Schwartz Rounds: Schwartz Rounds take place once per month. An interdisciplinary panel of providers and staff present an emotionally challenging case and provide an opportunity for dialogue about the care team and how to manage burnout. 

• Ethics Committee: Fellows attend 4 ethics committee meetings throughout their fellowship and participate in at least 1 ethics consult. The committee helps patients, families, and healthcare workers identify, understand, and resolve difficult ethical questions. 

Wellness