How I Do It a Surgical Palliative Care Rotation for Residents

To address the need for increased exposure to the essential components of Palliative Care in our residency, we created a 4 week rotation in Surgical Palliative Care for all of our categorical interns. The rotation includes time on an interdisciplinary inpatient consultative palliative care service as well as time in the outpatient clinic and in the operating room with the Surgical Palliative Care attending. Most patients who are seen and evaluated have surgical issues, allowing exposure to the fundamental aspects of palliative care as they pertain to surgical practice across the continuum of healthcare settings. Communication around serious illness, complicated decision making, complex pain and symptom management, withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, and end-of-life care are all integral parts of the rotation. The rotation has been very favorably received by the residents, and the impact on the culture of the department has been tremendous as well. The structured approach provided, including goals and objectives and the weekly schedule, make this rotation easily replicable in other residency programs.