Palliative Care

Catalog description

This is a face to face clinical rotation receiving 3 or 6 credit hours. The student should function with increased autonomy in patient care and must demonstrate competency in several of the Entrustable Professional Activities required for graduation. This rotation allows the medical student to explore the sub-specialty of palliative medicine and care for the seriously ill patient. For this rotation, in the outpatient setting, the cancer patient receiving active treatment of either surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy is the predominant population, while inpatient a variety of seriously ill patients are served. Palliative medicine, as practiced both in and out of hospice, has, like all other specialties, a distinctive approach and body of knowledge. While we will seem to be seeing patients in much the same way as on your other clinical rotations, we will attempt to show you what makes palliative medicine different and, to us, special. Through an interdisciplinary team approach to patient care, the rotation is developed to provide supervised opportunities for students to explore and develop clinical and interpersonal skills, knowledge, professional attitudes, and practical experience to use in future practice.