Curriculum - Palliative Care & Hospice Program

Throughout the year, fellows will have a dedicated half-day of didactic teaching sessions every week with no clinical responsibilities during that time. These sessions are a safe space for small-group learning, exploration, and growth through interactive discussions. Sessions are led by interdisciplinary palliative care faculty at UNC and Transitions LifeCare as well as experts from throughout the UNC Health System.

We are excited to announce a newly developed curriculum for our didactic sessions grouped under ten palliative care categories. While these lists will continue to evolve, prospective UNC HPM fellows should know that they would receive education in the vast majority of topics on this list.

Advanced Disease Processes:

1. Advanced Heart Failure
2. Depression and Anxiety
3. Neurocritical Care and Neuroprognostication
4. Renal Palliative Care
5. Liver Disease
6. Dementia ACP Training

Communication

1. How to Introduce Palliative Care to Patients and Families
2. Consultation Etiquette
3. Best Case/Worst Case Communication
4. Code Status Discussions
5. Best Practices for Family Meetings
6. Supporting Children of Seriously Ill Patients
7. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Palliative Care Providers
8. Capacity Assessment
9. Advance Directives

Equity and Inclusion

1. Best Practices in Using Interpreters
2. Social Location and Worldview
3. Worldview and Power Dynamics
4. Cultural Considerations at End of Life
5. Allyship and Microaggressions
6. Systemic Racism and Palliative Care
  Social Justice
7. Stories of African-American Mistrust
8. Correctional Palliative Care

Hospice/End-of-life Care

1. Intro to Hospice
2. Artificial Nutrition/Hydration at End of Life
3. Syndrome of Imminent Death
4. Palliative Sedation
5. Principle of Double Effect
6. Prognostication
7. Hospice Documentation- CTI’s and F2F’s
8. Care at the Time of Death
9. Physician Aid in Dying
10. Compassionate Extubation

Professional Development

1. CV’s, Cover Letters, Netwoking, Interviewing
2. How to Craft the Right Job for You
3. Working with the Interdisciplinary Team
4. Mentoring
5. Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration
6. Practical Ethics
7. Interactive Ethics Case Review
8. Financial Planning
9. Professionalism
10. Teaching Communication in Real Time
11. Preparing for the HPM Boards

Resiliency

1. Things No One Told You About Hospice and Palliative Medicine
2. Writing Condolence Notes
3. “Man’s Search for Meaning” Book Club Discussion
4. Narrative Writing Curriculum (five sessions)
5. Being a Woman in Medicine

**Monthly half-days with psychologist Karen Kingsolver, chaplain Bailey Brislin, and fellowship field trips are also part of the resiliency curriculum and take place outside of the didactic curriculum.

Scholarship

1. Intro to Scholarship
2. Career Planning
3. Writing a Scientific Abstract
4. Simulated Root Cause Analysis
5. Clinical Practice Guideline Development

**Many sessions throughout the year are also set aside for fellows to work on their QI projects

Symptom Management

1. Intro to Opioids
2. Opioid Conversions
3. PCA’s and Fentanyl
4. Methadone
5. Buprenorphine
6. Ketamine
7. OUD and Palliative Care
8. Psychopharmacology
9. QTc Monitoring
10. Delirium
11. Nausea and Vomiting, Mucositis, Hiccups
12. Psychedelics
13. Malignant Bowel Obstruction
14. Anorexia Cachexia Syndrome
15. Medical Cannabis
16. Pain and Dyspnea Assessment for Non-verbal Patients
17. Dyspnea

Whole Person Concerns

1. Writing Condolence Letters
2. The Role of Spiritual Care
3. Spiritual Care Assessment Models
4. Dignity Therapy
5. Caregiving
6. Miracles and God Language
7. Being a Woman in Medicine

Pediatrics

1. Intro to Pediatric Palliative Care
2. Ages and Stages of Grief
3. Pediatric Spiritual Care
4. Pediatric Pain Management
5. Management of Non-Pain Symptoms in Pediatric Palliative Care
6. Peds Oncology Palliative Care
7. Caring for Children with Severe Neurologic Impairment
8. Peds Concurrent Care Hospice