The pursuit of board certification signifies a practitioner’s dedication to achieving a recognized benchmark of competence, ensuring patients receive superior care through peer oversight and rigorous standards. The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus recognized this pivotal need and proactively collaborated with Eric Holmboe, MD, from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). This collaboration was instrumental in the design and implementation of their accredited program, specifically the Master of Science in Palliative Care (MSPC) program. This innovative program integrates asynchronous online learning modules and meticulous work reviews, complemented by bi-weekly video conferences. These video sessions are crucial for fostering interactive learning through oral case presentations and in-depth discussions.
Physicians admitted to the MSPC program have the unique opportunity to further specialize by applying for the Community Based-Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Seminars. These seminars are meticulously structured to provide an in-depth exploration of interprofessional palliative care didactics, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the field.
A cornerstone of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) seminars is the practical clinical experience embedded within the fellows’ own communities. This experiential learning is achieved through consulting on palliative care cases and documenting their assessments and recommendations via a secure online platform. Furthermore, these cases are presented by the fellows to the esteemed HPM faculty at CU Anschutz through video conferencing. This direct interaction facilitates expert supervision and invaluable feedback, mirroring the mentorship inherent in traditional fellowship models. This method ensures consistent oversight, constructive feedback, and expert role modeling, elements crucial for professional development. The seminar curriculum is enriched with diverse activities including role-playing scenarios, journal clubs to critically analyze current literature, discussions on assigned readings to broaden theoretical knowledge, and video demonstrations of advanced assessment techniques.
To meticulously track progress and competency development, fellows utilize a secure online palliative medicine clinical portfolio. This portfolio serves as a repository for their consultation and clinical experiences, including detailed written consultations. It also documents the breadth and nature of their exposure to the core elements of the required competencies as defined by the ACGME Milestones. Crucially, the portfolio also captures faculty evaluations, feedback provided to fellows, and the fellows’ responses to this feedback. Furthermore, it includes faculty assessments of each fellow’s progress in achieving the essential milestones and key competencies. Concurrent with the fellowship seminars, participants are expected to complete the MSPC degree. A significant component of this degree is a capstone palliative care quality improvement project, which fellows undertake within their home practice setting. This multifaceted approach ensures that graduates of the program comprehensively fulfill all requirements for both HPM fellowship completion and board eligibility within a structured two-year timeframe.
Comparison Chart of CU Anchutz Programs
