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Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Pilot Program Enhances Palliative Care Training for Hematology/Oncology Fellows

bizjournals.com

Dec 26, 2024, 14:36

Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Pilot Program Enhances Palliative Care Training for Hematology/Oncology Fellows

At Fox Chase Cancer Center, a new pilot program is enhancing palliative care training for hematology/oncology fellows, addressing a significant gap in current fellowship curricula.

Fox Chase Cancer Center

Jessica Bauman, MD, director of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, explains that while palliative care is crucial for managing cancer patients’ complex needs, traditional fellowship programs often fall short in providing the necessary skills in symptom management, communication, and end-of-life care.

Fox Chase Cancer Center

In response, Bauman and her team developed a longitudinal, integrated palliative care rotation aimed at providing fellows with hands-on experience in both oncology and palliative care settings.

In the study, 19 second-year fellows referred patients with palliative care needs from their hematology/oncology practices to a palliative care clinic.

Fellows then followed these patients both in the palliative care and oncology clinics, allowing them to integrate palliative care skills directly into their patient care. Over three years, fellows referred 51 patients, participating in 95% of the 132 palliative care visits.

The results were impressive: fellows showed significant improvements in palliative care knowledge, confidence, and preparedness, particularly in areas like symptom management, communication, and prognostication.

Feedback from the fellows was overwhelmingly positive, with 94% rating the rotation as valuable and 88% agreeing that it positively impacted their clinical practice.

Many fellows also reported that the rotation helped them engage more deeply with their sickest patients and find greater meaning in their work, an important antidote to physician burnout.

The success of this pilot has paved the way for other institutions to consider adopting similar models. However, challenges such as variability in fellowship structures and the need for well-integrated palliative care teams must be addressed.