Pediatric Palliative Care and Quality of Life

Catalog description

Pediatric Palliative Care and Quality of Life- This course provides an introduction to pediatric palliative care for 4th year medical students. The course aims to help students to hone their skill in providing patient and family centered care, in particular communication (breaking bad news) and medical decision making through observation of family meetings. This course will also provide an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of symptom management such as pain, dyspnea, nausea and constipation. It enables students to identify psychosocial and spiritual distress as well as cultural beliefs that will affect health care decisions. This 2-week (Monday-Friday), 2-credit elective provides students the opportunity to observe and work alongside pediatric palliative care practitioners in an inpatient setting. The importance of interdisciplinary teamwork will be emphasized. Students meet on the first day of class in Duke South Blue Zone Palliative Care offices at 8:45am - page attending at 970-4357 to verify meeting location. This is a 10-day rotation and students are required to be present with the team a minimum of 8 days (80% of the course) in order to make the most of the rotation and to ensure that our clinicians are able to appropriately assess and grade the learning experience. If students need to miss more than 2 days of the rotation, they will need to drop the course at least 10 days prior to the start date to allow time for other learners to have the opportunity to enroll. All absences must be approved by the course director (Dr. Megan Jordan) prior to the start of the rotation. After you enroll in the course, you must email Dr. Jordan to request you preferred 2 weeks during the 4-week section (either the first 2 weeks or the second 2 weeks of the section). She will confirm the 2 weeks that are assigned. (The preferred 2 weeks will be assigned to the person that…