Education / Resources

Educational Programs

🗓️ Palliative Care Clinical Rotation

We offer two-week clinical rotations for JHSOM residents and fellows with our interprofessional consult team.  For scheduling and more information, please contact Program Specialist, Christy Swain. 

If you have already signed up to do an elective with the palliative care team, please click here for other specific rotation information.

📚 Serious Illness Conversation Curriculum

A goals of care conversation explores a seriously ill patient’s values, beliefs, and priorities in the context of their medical condition, aiming to align care with what matters most. Drawing on principles of narrative medicine, our team developed the 3-Act Model, a novel, story-based framework for these conversations. Our team has successfully used this model to train Cardiology APPS, CIMS hospitalists, Geriatric Department, Geriatric Psychiatry Fellows, JHH Fellows, Oncology Residents & Fellows, Pulmonary Fellows, Medicine Interns & Residents. Download this pocketguide for easy reference.

• Integrating Narrative Goals of Care in the ICU: Educational and Clinical Outcomes
• ATS SCHOLAR 2022
• Authors: Chatterjee S, Roberts B, Wright R, Ahluwalia AK, Wright S, Wu DS.
• Narrative Approach to Goals of Care Discussions: Adapting the 3-Act Model Training to an Online Format
• JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT 2021
• Authors: Roberts, B, Mehta AK, McWhirter M, Dy SM, Wright S, Wu DS.
• Narrative Approach to Goals of Care Discussions: Assessing the Use of the 3-Act Model in the Clinical Setting
• JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT 2020
• Authors: Roberts B, Wright R, Dy SM, Wu DS.

Resources for Learners

Spiritual Care

“Spirituality is the dynamic dimension of human life that relates to the way persons (individual and community) experience, express and/or seek meaning, purpose and transcendence, and the way they connect to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, to the significant, and/or the sacred. Spirituality is expressed through beliefs, values, traditions and practices.”

• Improving the spiritual dimension of whole person care: reaching national and international consensus JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE MEDICINE 2014, Authors: Puchalski CM, Vitillo R, Hull SK, et al.
• Patients’ Expectations of Hospital Chaplains MAYO CLINIC PROCEEDING 2008, Authors: Piderman K, et al.
• Addressing the religious and spiritual needs of dying patients WEST JOURNAL MEDICINE 2001, Author: Sulmansy, D.
• Spiritual care for adult patients with cancer: from maintaining hope and respecting cultures to supporting survivors—a narrative review ANNALS OF PALLIATIVE MEDICINE 2023, Authors: Mercier M, Maglio J, Almhanna K, & Guyer D.

Symptom Management

• FF #417 Total Pain
• FF #175 Opioid Allergic Reactions
• FF #307 Opioid Pharmacokinetics
• FF #05 Nausea and Vomiting: Common Etiologies and Management
• FF #27 Dyspnea at End-of-Life
• THE TABLET | UPMC Palliative and Supportive Institute