Are we Growing Leaders? Exploring Leadership Training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship

Although leadership competencies are recognized as critical to the practice of hospice and palliative medicine (HPM), the specific leadership content that matters most, and whether that content is taught in fellowships, remain unclear.

The purpose of this study was to characterize the current state of leadership curricula in HPM fellowships and understand which leadership topics fellowship program directors (PDs) consider to be most important to include in a leadership curriculum for fellows.

A needs assessment survey was sent to 194 individuals identified as PDs by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM). Descriptive statistics were used for analysis.

Most respondents reported that leadership topics are important for fellows to learn. Six topic areas related to communication and self-management were rated as having great need or were included in existing curricula by more than 60% of respondents. PDs identified ten topics to be of great need for fellows, all but one of which were included in at least 40% of programs' curricula. Negotiation was the exception being included in only 20% of programs' curricula. The response rate was 20%.

Respondents rated leadership topics as important for training, yet many topics are not included in fellowship curricula.