These resources are provided to help you make the most of your rotation in palliative medicine which will be conducted at the UAB Palliative and Comfort Care Unit and the Birmingham VA Medical Center Safe Harbor Project:

• Guided Readings and Movie Viewings

• Scheduled Topics for 8:00 AM Discussion Sessions

• List of topics, review materials, and articles

Clinical

Each resident will be assigned to a  two week palliative care clinical experience during the month rotation. This clinical rotation will be either at the Birmingham VAMC Safe Harbor Unit or the UAB Palliative and Comfort Care Unit. Please review your schedule to see which unit you will be working in the week before the rotation begins. You are expected to attend the discussion sessions from 8:00-9:00 a.m. (in lieu of the ambulatory morning report). You will attend your scheduled continuity clinics and other noon conferences as required.

Clinical Activities

1. Pre-round on assigned patients in the in-patient unit at assigned facility and prepare daily notes.
2. Participate in rounds with the attending and Palliative Medicine Team.
3. Attend and participate in the Interdisciplinary Team Meeting.
4. In-patient and out-patient consults will be assigned by the Palliative Medicine Team to be reviewed and evaluated and then presented on rounds.
5. The clinical activities will occur Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as patient care will allow. Residents are not responsible for call at night or on the weekends.
6. Case based teaching and readings will be directed by the cases presenting to the service.

Didactic

All residents (and students) on the Palliative Care/Neurology rotation will meet every Monday, Tuesday and Friday throughout the month from 8:00-9:00 a.m. in the VA Safe Harbor conference room for discussion sessions. The Palliative Care attending and/or fellow will facilitate the Palliative Care discussion sessions. Please review the calendar and read/review the materials assigned for the session before the discussion. The following discussion questions will be used for the articles reviewed in the Palliative Care discussion sessions:

• What was new, surprising or interesting in the reading?
• What issues need to be discussed to bring further clarity?
• How will you incorporate this new knowledge into your daily practice?

During the two week clinical rotation, work with your attending to choose 10 topics from the didactics list to review articles and discuss. This may be less formal, and may relate to cases being seen or areas of particular interest to you. During the month rotation, you will be expected to review 20 topics related to Palliative Medicine, read the assigned daily discussion session articles and discuss with the Palliative Medicine attending.

For more information about Resident Rotation, please contact: