Overview
Experienced and medically skilled palliative care teams can both improve the quality of the care of severely ill patients and help control the costs of that care. AAHPM offers a focused clinical experience at selected hospice and palliative care sites across the country and a year of mentoring and collaboration to physicians working in palliative care who seek to gain insight into alternative models or venues of care, delivery systems, or therapies.
Licensed physicians who have a foundational knowledge about hospice and palliative medicine are eligible for this clinical experience. While not a substitute for a formal fellowship training program, the AAHPM Clinical Scholars Program offers a one year experience including: one week observership with a clinical team, under the supervision of physician faculty at the training site; 12-15 hours of faculty mentorship in the form of consults; quarterly participation in discussion groups led by faculty from the training sites; and a peer network for ongoing discussion.
Upon completion of the AAHPM Clinical Scholars Program, visiting physicians will receive a Certificate of Completion.
Who Should Attend
This training program is designed for licensed physicians with or without current certification who spend, or plan to spend, a significant portion of their professional time in hospice and palliative medicine clinical work, and wish to accomplish one or more of the following goals:
- Enhance individual knowledge and practice of palliative care by experience with an expert team and the systems in place to provide care
- Enhance individual knowledge and practice of academic palliative medicine by exposure to a team engaged in training and research
- Enhance individual knowledge and practice of specific elements in palliative medicine, such as advanced symptom control and communication skills
- Enhance individual knowledge and practice of palliative care in specific clinical populations, e.g., oncology, neurology, cardiology, etc.
- Provide exposure to a system serving populations with varied racial, ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic backgrounds
- Provide exposure to populations in other clinical settings, e.g., rural vs. urban or academic vs. community
The completion of this program has no impact on board certification in hospice and palliative medicine, and is not intended to provide the level of detailed knowledge and skills of a hospice and palliative medicine fellowship program.
Foundational Knowledge
Licensed physicians are expected to have a foundation in hospice and palliative medicine. Priority will be given to physicians who have demonstrated a commitment to a career in hospice and palliative care by completing CME activities or attending palliative medicine educational conferences. Documentation will be required. Suggested examples of CME activities are:
Training Site Profiles
The following eight sites were chosen based on their outstanding reputation, superior service, and well regarded expertise in the field. To view a more detailed profile of the training program for each site, including faculty listing and sample schedule, please click on the site below:
Clinical Scholar Experience and Follow Up
The focus of this observership is the care of patients in either a home hospice or inpatient palliative care setting. The combination of consults with experienced faculty from the clinical training site and discussion groups with peers led by training site faculty will promote enhancement of the visiting physician's hospice and palliative medicine clinical experience and skills.
Each candidate for a Certificate of Completion of the AAHPM Clinical Scholars Program must complete the following three steps:
Clinical Scholar Training
Candidates must complete a minimum of 40 hours (one week) of observership at an AAHPM training site which will involve the following activities in addition to individual training site program requirements:
- observe problem-focused palliative care assessment for patients, representing a spectrum of palliative care clinical problems
- attend and participate in a weekly interdisciplinary team meeting
Post-training RequirementsIn the year following clinical experience each visiting physician must:
- develop a mentorship relationship with one physician faculty from the clinical training site
- follow the recommendations of the mentor for further study and training
- have 12-15 hours of contact with the mentor to review recent patient encounters and discuss problems/challenges/successes
- join other trainees for quarterly discussion groups led by physician faculty from the clinical training site
Program EvaluationUpon successful completion of the mentorship process, a confidential program evaluation will be forwarded by AAHPM for completion.
FeesThe administrative fee of $500 is due along with your completed application to AAHPM. The fee for the clinical experience and mentoring of $3000 will be payable to the Academy once you are matched with a training site. Please note each physician trainee will be responsible for arrangement and costs of travel, meals, and lodging while attending training.
Application Process
PhysiciansApplications from candidates for specific training sites will need to submit to AAHPM the following:
- Completed Application Form
Detailed Application Instructions
2009 Application
- Curriculum Vitae (limited to 8 pages)
- Photocopy of Physician's Medical License
- Documentation of non-AAHPM CME Certificates
- Payment of the $500 Administrative Fee
After verification that the application is complete by AAHPM, applications will be screened by the site director who may contact applicants directly regarding expectations and educational needs.
Within approximately three weeks of AAHPM having received a completed application, applicants should be notified as to whether they have been matched with a Clinical Site for participation in the program. If accepted into the program, trainees will be forwarded a confirmation letter with further instructions regarding scheduling and payment of training fees.
Please anticipate a timeline from submission of application to scheduled training of a minimum three (3) months.
For questions regarding this program, send an email to resources@aahpm.org or call 847/375-4712.
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