If you are interested in learning to guide patients and families faced with incurable diseases and life-threatening illnesses in a patient-centered and compassionate manner grounded in evidence-based practice, Mayo Clinic's one-year Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship in Jacksonville, Florida, is for you.

The primary goal of the fellowship is to train physicians in the principles of palliative care as defined by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization: Palliative care is patient and family-centered care that optimizes quality of life by anticipating, preventing and treating suffering. Palliative care throughout the continuum of illness involves addressing physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual needs and facilitating patient autonomy and access to information and choice.

Physicians who care for dying patients need to understand the principles of palliative medicine. As a palliative medicine fellow, you are immersed in an intense level of evaluation of the total patient and family unit, with special attention to their wide-ranging needs and appropriate treatment.

The Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida, provides:

• Comprehensive training in multidisciplinary holistic pain and symptom management of patients with serious illnesses
• Training in the history of hospice and palliative medicine as they relate to current concepts of interdisciplinary, holistic symptom evaluation and management
• A focus on both the patient and family unit
• An opportunity to work and study with a patient-focused team of professionals, including chaplains, medical social workers, psychologists, pharmacists and other allied health staff
• Participation in the active and total care of patients of varying ages and socio-economic backgrounds whose diseases are not responsive to curative treatment
• A practice setting in which you provide guidance in psychological, social and spiritual matters as a part of the holistic care, while embracing the patient's own beliefs and existential concerns
• A diverse program with participation in an inpatient palliative care team, inpatient hospice team, outpatient palliative care team and outpatient hospice team serving patients in their homes, nursing facilities and assisted living centers
• A diverse program with inpatient and outpatient palliative medicine and hospice teams

Accreditation

The program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Certification

After successfully completing the program, you are eligible for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine certification exam offered by the American Board of Family Medicine.

Program history

The Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida accepted its first trainee in 2005. We anticipate that one trainee will complete this program annually.

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