Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship
The Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and VA Boston HCS is an ACGME-accredited training program housed in the Department of Medicine at BIDMC. This fellowship program gives fellows exposure to a diverse group of patients in a variety of sites. The fellowship aims to train fellows with high levels of clinical acumen who want to become educational and clinical leaders in the field of palliative care.
VA Boston Healthcare System program leadership
Jonathan Yeh, MD, Program Director, BIDMC
Lara Michal Skarf, MD, Associate Program Director, VA Boston HCS
More information on the BIDMC Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship.
VA clinical rotations
Inpatient Consultation – Acute Care, West Roxbury
The VA Boston palliative care program serves patients aged 22-100 years with illnesses including cancer, neurological and end-stage cardiac, pulmonary, liver, and renal disease, addressing physical, psychological, social and spiritual domains of care for veterans and families. Veterans are from diverse cultural backgrounds. The Palliative care team is consulted for various decisions which range from goals of care conversations, advance care planning discussions, hospice referrals and end of life care. The fellows will be supervised by a diverse cultural population of physicians who have expertise in Geriatrics, General Medicine, Oncology, Research and Palliative Care. This service sees 40 new patients per month and is staffed by a physician, NP, SW and RN team.
While on service at the VA Brockton Hospice and Palliative Care Unit, a 15-bed unit located in a long-term care facility at the VA, fellows will round daily on patients with the team, present patients and review the plan of care with the nurse practitioner. Patients on this unit include veterans getting active treatment (e.g., daily radiation for head and neck cancer) and veterans at the end of life with complex symptoms warranting inpatient hospice care. Fellows also have the opportunity to manage patients on the 1-2 bed acute inpatient palliative care/hospice unit while rotating at the West Roxbury VA.
Hospice and Palliative Care Unit - Brockton
While on service at the VA Brockton Hospice and Palliative Care Unit, a 15-bed unit located in a long-term care facility at the VA, fellows will round daily on patients with the team, present patients and review the plan of care with the nurse practitioner. Patients on this unit include veterans getting active treatment (e.g., daily radiation for head and neck cancer) and veterans at the end of life with complex symptoms warranting inpatient hospice care. Fellows also have the opportunity to provide consultation care to veterans in our long-term care, short term rehab, inpatient psychiatry and long term spinal cord injury units on the Brockton Campus.
Palliative Care Ambulatory Clinic – West Roxbury
Fellows will learn to provide longitudinal, ambulatory palliative care through weekly half-day sessions with the Palliative Care Clinic at BIDMC or VA Boston HCS. Patients at both sites are referred for pain, non-pain symptom management, advanced care planning and psychosocial support. The VA clinic sees a variety of Veterans with advanced lung, liver, renal and cardiac disease as well as Veterans with cancer, frailty and multimorbidity. Fellows will see assigned patients during each clinic session under the preceptorship of clinic staff. Our fellows take the lead on communicating recommendations to referring providers, prescribing medications for symptom management, and following up with patients and caregivers by phone when necessary. To improve the longitudinal care experience, patients are booked subsequently with the fellow whenever feasible.
Fellows also have the opportunity to participate in a 1-2 week ambulatory rotation where they can experience all of our palliative care clinics at VA Boston, including clinics embedded in oncology, nephrology and ALS as well as additional free standing clinics.
Advanced VA Fellowships
Fellows may be interested in applying to several additional fellowship programs available at the VA in order to continue research or educational projects.
VA Fellowship in Advanced Geriatrics - This VA fellowship offers post-residency, post-doctoral, and post-masters fellowships to physicians, dentists and associated health professions – including but not limited to nurses, psychologists, social workers and pharmacists. Physicians whose initial certification is in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine or Psychiatry must also have completed an accredited subspecialty residency in Geriatrics or another subspecialty. Special Fellows are expected to be board certified in their primary specialty and board eligible in their subspecialty by the time of VA Fellowship in Advanced Geriatrics appointment and to meet credentialing and privileging requirements to qualify as a licensed independent practitioner.
VA Fellowship in Advanced Geriatrics - Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC)
Health Professions Education, Evaluation and Research Fellowship - This two-year fellowship will train you to use practice, inquiry, and quality improvement to advance healthcare professional education and become an educational leader. The VABHS Fellowship will use educational theory, an interprofessional and diverse faculty, strong academic affiliate relationships, and a partnership with the HPEER Coordinating Center to provide an exciting and innovative training experience for fellows.
For more information: Trainee Programs | VA Boston Health Care | Veterans Affairs
VA Boston HPEER Criteria (PDF)
Contact information
Nina Dones
Program coordinator, Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship
VA Boston health care
Phone: 617-667-1320
Email: nldones@bidmc.harvard.edu
HPM fellowship applications, Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship
330 Brookline Ave., Yamins 100 Suite
Boston, MA 02215