CU Anschutz Family Medicine Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship

Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship

Expert training for caring for patients in the toughest of times.

The mission of the Colorado Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship is to develop specialty-level palliative physicians who are outstanding clinician-educators (or researchers) and are prepared to assume leadership roles in palliative care or in their primary specialty with a palliative care focus.

The Colorado Hospice and Palliative Medicine Medicine Fellowship program provides comprehensive palliative care education and clinical experiences for physicians seeking to specialize in hospice and palliative medicine. The fellowship curriculum consists of one year, clinically-focused experience.

Applicants interested in an academic career should be aware that a unique palliative care research opportunity is also available through Dr. Jean Kutner, a national leader in palliative care research. These training experiences may be arranged sequentially; applicants with interest in both the clinical and research training should discuss with the fellowship director.

Hospice and Palliative medicine have changed significantly over the last 20 years, in ways we could not have imagined when we began practicing and teaching in this field of medicine. We anticipate that change will continue, that our graduates will need to provide specialty-level palliative care in a variety of settings, and will need to guide others who do so as well. With that in mind, our program provides fellows with the skills and insights to expertly manage patients with serious illnesses in varied inpatient and outpatient settings.

We focus on core communication, clinical knowledge, and skills during fellows' training. As the year progresses, fellows build on those core learnings - extending and applying them in a variety of settings and patient populations.

Fellows gain expertise through structured reading and online assignments, weekly didactics, teaching, weekly palliative care conferences, presentations at case conference and journal club, and through increasing responsibility in patient care. Fellows also develop flexibility to work effectively with varying patient populations and team structures at our different practice sites.

Fellows who complete the program practice in community and academic settings, many in Colorado. All have passed their initial board exam in HPM.

The Colorado Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship accepts up to five fellows annually.

We encourage applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).

Program information can be found on the ACGME website.

The Department of General Internal Medicine offers a Palliative Care and Aging Research Internship.

The University of Colorado and the Department of Family Medicine (DFM) are dedicated to enriching the educational experience on our campuses by cultivating a climate of inclusiveness, respect, and understanding for everyone.

Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion is part of our mission and of increasing importance as we seek to attract the best and the brightest to join our team - apply for our fellowships, internships, and residencies – and help us to better serve our patients and our community.

Please visit the DFM Diversity web page and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion website for additional information on services and resources.

The Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship consists of four key components:

Clinical training.
Core Knowledge and communications skills development.
Clinical teaching skills development.
Introduction to research and quality improvement.

The program represents the collaborative efforts of prominent health care organizations: University of Colorado School of Medicine, University of Colorado Hospital (UCH), the Veteran's Administration Eastern Colorado Health Care System (VA), The Denver Hospice (TDH), Colorado Children's Hospital, Denver Health and Hospitals (DHH).

Palliative medicine fellows receive clinical training in diverse settings guided by faculty with varied backgrounds and have the opportunity to provide continuity across a continuum of locales and service models as a result of the inter-relationships between these organizations.

Curriculum

Our 12-month clinical curriculum includes:

30 weeks inpatient palliative care consultation service (at 3 separate hospitals)
4 weeks inpatient hospice
4 weeks home hospice
4 weeks long-term care
2 weeks pediatric palliative care
2 weeks medical oncology inpatient service
2 weeks community engagement curriculum
4 weeks elective time

Palliative medicine fellows rotate at multiple clinical sites over the course of the year. Our program’s training exposes fellows to diverse patient populations, a variety of service models, and different inter-disciplinary team structures.

University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) 12-14 Weeks
University of Colorado Hospital at Anschutz Medical Campus is a 678-bed quaternary care hospital. UCH is a Level 1 trauma center and the largest academic medical center in the Rocky Mountain Region. The inpatient palliative care consultation service (PCCS) sees patients referred from inpatient services including five ICUs, medical oncology, pre-LVAD consultations, pre-liver transplant consultations, and general medicine services. The interdisciplinary team at UCH includes social workers, chaplains, and creative arts therapy.

Denver Health and Hospitals (DHH) 4-8 Weeks
Denver Health was established in 1860, and has been caring for the people of Denver and the Rocky Mountain Region ever since. They are known as Denver’s safety net hospital, and are committed to the care of all people, including the under- and uninsured and refugees. This rotation features both Palliative inpatient consultations and ambulatory clinic experiences, where fellows will learn to provide culturally competent care to societally vulnerable patients.

Rocky Mountain Region VA Medical Center (VA) 4-8 Weeks
The Rocky Mountain Regional (RMR) VA Medical Center serves veterans living in the Front Range and Southern Colorado and is part of the broader Eastern Colorado Health Care System. The outpatient palliative care clinic team consists of medical providers (a nurse practitioner, two attending physicians, and trainees), a social worker, a psychologist, and a pharmacist. Fellows care for patients from the Denver metro area for in-person visits, as well as rural veterans and those outside of the metro area via tele-health. The inpatient team includes an attending physician, a nurse practitioner, a social worker, and a psychologist, as well as rotating trainees. As the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system, VA has unique resources with which to improve veterans’ quality of life, such as concurrent hospice care, which allows for hospice alongside palliative-intent disease-directed therapies.

Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO) 2 Weeks
Children’s Hospital Colorado is one of the top children’s hospitals in the nation, serving children from across the Rocky Mountain Region. The palliative medicine team provides comprehensive care for patients living with serious illness with the goal of relieving patient suffering and improving overall quality of life. Fellows spend time with the inpatient palliative care consultation service as well as in the ambulatory setting. The palliative medicine team provides comprehensive care for patients living with serious illness with the goal of relieving patient suffering and improving overall quality of life.

The Denver Hospice (TDH)
The Denver Hospice is a community-based, not-for-profit organization serving the Denver metro area. Fellows spend 4 weeks at TDH’s state-of-the-art, 24-bed inpatient care center where they will practice management of complex pain and symptom management. They also spend do 4 weeks of home hospice, learning the role of the hospice physician in the community setting as well as spending time with other interdisciplinary team members.

Didactics
Fellowship didactic lectures take place on Monday and Tuesday mornings. Topics include a core curriculum on symptom management and communication skills as well as lectures from interdisciplinary experts on topics such as ethics, resilience, spirituality, and more.

Tuesday Afternoon Conferences
Weekly citywide palliative care conferences take place every Tuesday afternoon, alternating between Journal Club, Clinical Care Conference, Grand Rounds, Research Works in Progress, and Palliative Care Champions. Fellows take turns each month presenting Journal Club and patient cases for the Clinical Care Conference.

Wellbeing Curriculum
Our wellbeing curriculum includes many elements. Fellows meet monthly with the palliative care psychologist for a confidential processing group and discussion of wellbeing topics chosen by the fellows. Other unique experiences include a museum-based education excursion, mortality processing group with a chaplain, and forest therapy walks.

Community Engagement Curriculum
A unique aspect of our training program is the Community Engagement Curriculum, which seeks to expose fellows to the unmet community needs of people living with serious illness and develop learners’ capabilities to engage community/population resources. During this 2-week rotation, fellows engage in self-directed learning to utilize data to identify community needs and barriers to care, interact with community organizations, and experience providing care to patients outside of the traditional clinic and hospital settings.

Core Knowledge & Skills Development

Program faculty provide instruction on core topics in palliative medicine through weekly Palliative Care Conferences. Sessions include a combination of didactic, lecture, interactive small group workshops, role play, and standardized patient exercises. Palliative medicine fellows facilitate monthly Palliative Care Journal Club and Case Conferences. Through this experience, fellows develop skills in the critical interpretation and translations of palliative care medical literature.

Clinical Teaching Skills Development

Fellows receive training designed to improve participants' teaching and feedback skills. Fellows are provided opportunities for structured practice of teaching skills with internal medicine residents, family medicine residents, medical students, nurses, and other interdisciplinary providers. Fellows are often asked to present to other groups and are encouraged to obtain individual mentoring through the University of Colorado Academy of Medical Educators. Through the course of their training, fellows will be involved in teaching in one-on-one, small group, and large group settings.

Intro to Research & Quality Development

Through didactic, interactive sessions, and focused mentorship, palliative medicine fellows receive introductory instruction in research and quality improvement methods. Each fellow completes a quality improvement or patient safety project during their fellowship. Fellows who desire an academic research career in palliative medicine are encouraged to consider a unique research fellowship with a palliative care focus offered through a training grand by Dr. Jean Kutner. It is possible to sequence the fellowships for applicants who know their goals in advance.

Faculty and Staff

Fellows

Yaa Asare

Primary Board Certification: Internal Medicine

Residency: University of Colorado

Medical School: University of Colorado School of Medicine

Why did you select the University of Colorado to complete your Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship training?

I am grateful to have consulted with the Palliative Care team throughout my years in residency, and have seen the passion, expertise, and collegiality that contribute to its structure. I was also drawn by the opportunity to work with diverse patient populations across the numerous rotation sites. Finally, as Colorado has been home for most of my life, it was fitting to continue my training surrounded by family and friends.

Nik Kaufman

Primary Board Certification: Family Medicine

Residency: University of Colorado Family Medicine Residency

Medical School: University of Florida College of Medicine

I chose CU because of the opportunities to bring hospice and palliative care to Denver's underserved communities and to continue working with CU's amazing faculty.

Ezekiel Sharples

Primary Board Certification: Family Medicine

Residency: St. Mary's Family Medicine Residency in Grand Junction, Colorado

Medical School: University of Washington - Montana WWAMI

Why did you select the University of Colorado to complete your Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship training?

I love the mountain west and wanted to stay in this area for training. During residency in Grand Junction we often worked closely with specialists at Anschutz and I was always so thankful for their expertise. The HPM team at Anschutz has an incredible diversity of training backgrounds and individuals at different stages in their career, which results in an amazing breadth and depth of knowledge for fellowship training. I like snowboarding and mountain biking and wanted to continue my training somewhere that I could keep enjoying these hobbies. I'm so stoked to be joining the UC Fellowship in 2024!

Erin Sigler

Primary Board Certification: Internal Medicine

Residency: UNC

Medical School: Texas A&M

Why did you select the University of Colorado to complete your Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship training?

So many reasons! The people- everyone was incredibly welcoming on my interview day and I felt right at home despite it being a virtual interview. The multiple training sites- I wanted to train somewhere with diverse training opportunities and patient populations. The outdoors- I recharge by being outdoors and what better place to recharge and be outside than Colorado?

Amanda Tompkins

Primary Board Certification: Internal Medicine

Residency: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center- Global Health and Underserved Populations Track

Medical School: University of Colorado SOM

Why did you select the University of Colorado to complete your Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship training?

I was looking for a program with diversity in training sites and where I would have the opportunity to work with veterans and underserved people, such as the population served by Denver Health. Also, Colorado is home to my spouse and I and we are excited to be returning to our home state and to CU where we have strong connections and community to build on!

Contact:

Krystle Wetherbee
Program Coordinator
krystle.wetherbee@cuanschutz.edu

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