Palliative Medicine/Geriatric Track
Track Coordinator: Otto Weis, MD, Clinical Director
This track is designed to provide additional training for residents interested in immersion experiences in Palliative Medicine and Geriatrics. The residents will be able to individualize their training by selecting the amount of time they would prefer to spend in the Palliative Medicine and Geriatric portions of this track. In addition, there will be a variety of settings in which to further their Palliative Medicine training as well as their Geriatric training, depending on the resident's interest and need.
Educational Objectives:
By the end of the track the resident will be able to:
- Provide exceptional clinical care to the older adult patient.
- Be competent with the knowledge and skills that is needed by future family physicians to provide optimal care of the geriatric patient.
- Provide exceptional and compassionate care to patients at the end of life.
- Engage in and support a multi-disciplinary approach to the geriatric and palliative care patient.
- Provide advocacy for geriatric care and end of life care in our current health care delivery system.
Core Curricular Components:
- A Core Clinical Curriculum in Palliative Medicine will utilize Middlesex Hospital Hospice unit as a prime site, instate free-standing hospice programs and Middlesex Hospital Homecare. Clinical geriatric experiences will be at Portland Care and Rehabilitation and Middlesex Convalescent Center working with local medical directors. A geriatric assessment clinic has been established at South Farms, a local assisted living community. Didactic and clinical experiences will be available through the Travelers Center for Aging in Hartford, CT as well. Additional sites may include other Connecticut tertiary nursing home settings. Additional outpatient experiences in geriatrics will be available through UCONN Health Center and Middlesex Hospital Homecare.
- This track will utilize active patient management, bedside teaching, multi-disciplinary groups, small group discussions and computer assisted learning modules.
- Teaching experiences supervised by geriatric and palliative medicine faculty include conducting palliative morning report, presentations to the hospice/palliative medicine team, patient care conferences and active membership in the Middlesex Hospital Bioethics Committee and Pain Management Service.
- Involvement in long-term pathway projects on pain management and end of life care.
Certification
Certification under Palliative Care may be an option to residents after graduation, licensure and board certification in Family Medicine. The criteria for Palliative Care certification is currently being developed by the American Board of Family Medicine.
What’s P4?
Our residency program includes a fourth year of some of the most innovative learning experiences a resident can find anywhere, including our Tracks of Excellence.