• Develop a self-sustaining required and an elective palliative care training opportunity for 3rd and 4th year medical students, that combines both didactic and experiential education.
  
• Establish a faculty development program in palliative care

Background

In 2000, the LCME mandated that all medical schools “must” teach about end-of-life care, yet few schools have developed a comprehensive educational program spanning a four year curriculum, including a required component of experiential training. The ABMS designation of Hospice and Palliative Care as a medical subspecialty in 2006 adds further impetus for medical schools to develop strong clinical palliative care training for medical students. 

There is a growing number of hospital-based palliative care consultation programs and/or community based hospice programs that have made it possible for several successful models of experiential training to emerge in US medical schools.   In 2006 the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided funds to the Medical College of Wisconsin/EPERC to 'jump-start' the diffusion of clinical palliative care training opportunities in US medical schools, building on these early successful programs.  Six schools were selected through a competitive RFA process in February 2007 (Baylor College of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine, NorthEastern Ohio University College of Medicine (NEOUCOM), Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University, and Oregon Health & Science University), providing financial support for each school to develop curriculum features and faculty training, focusing on experiential palliative care training opportunities that are integrated into one or more existing clinical clerkships. 

Based on the early success of these six schools, MCW/EPERC successfully obtained additional grant support from the the Y.C. Ho/Helen and Michael Chiang Foundation,  to recruit a second cohort of six medical schools.

VIEW - Features of Successful Proposals