Available as a two-week elective only.

Elective is Monday-Friday, no weekends.

Students will have exposure to Veterans facing serious illness in a variety of settings including: Hines Hospice Unit, Inpatient Palliative Care Consults, and Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic. Students will participate in weekly Inter-disciplinary Team (IDT) staffing for Hospice Unit patients and Inpatient Palliative Care Consults. Students will perform histories and physical exams, participate in family meetings and document care plans. This experience affords the students to learn from and work collaboratively with providers from a range of disciplines: physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, psychologists and chaplains.

Students will be evaluated on the basis of each of the core objectives. When applying for the elective, the student will provide a one paragraph narrative regarding what additional objective they would like to achieve from their experience. The student will be expected to make a short, informal presentation to the palliative care team on the final day of the rotation. It can be reflective regarding an experience with a patient seen during their rotation, a question regarding a therapy, ethical issue or a literature search on a topic of interest.

This course is graded Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail.