Message from the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Director

A Message from Jay Patel, MD, Program Director

Dear Prospective Fellows,

First of all, I would like to congratulate you on taking this first step in the direction of learning about and practicing this noble and rapidly evolving field of medicine. I and our program believe that this is a lifelong journey of dedication, achieving excellence, and nurturing the practice of modern medicine. We, the Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) Fellowship program at the Creighton University Arizona Health Education Alliance are experienced, committed, and passionate to train the next generation of Hospice and Palliative care professionals. 

The goal of this fellowship training program is to train well-rounded professionals in the field of hospice and palliative medicine. The program is dedicated to providing resources, educational experiences, and a clinical platform along with supervision from a broad spectrum of experienced faculty for fellows to grow throughout their training period. The robust structure of the program is aimed at training the next generation of leaders in palliative medicine and hospice care in various aspects including clinical care, academic, and administration.

Program highlights:

• Our program is proud to have an excellent interdisciplinary team model in both clinical practice and fellowship training. Our team is composed of vastly experienced fellowship-trained physicians, nurse practitioners, dedicated chaplains, nurse coordinators, hospice social workers, and so on. 
• Since this field is unique and requires a holistic approach, we feel that fellows should also get their training at respective specialty locations. Multiple training sites include free-standing inpatient hospice units, rotation at a state of art pediatric hospital, home hospice services, and other electives including interventional pain. 
• Hospice experience and training is an essential part of any HPM fellowship. Having one of the largest Hospice (Hospice of the Valley) in the country as a community partner and partner in the fellowship program is a huge advantage. Our fellows enjoy training experiences from experienced hospice physicians, a significant variety of patient populations, and a sizable volume of hospice patients in different settings including home and inpatient. 
• The primary training site, St. Joseph Hospital and Medical Center is a nationally recognized center for quality tertiary care, medical education, and research with > 600 beds and 100 + ICU beds. Some of the highlights of the institute are nationally recognized specialty services such as Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI), The Norton Thoracic Institute, the University of Arizona’s state-of-the-art Cancer Center (UACC), and Level I Trauma Center. 
• At Creighton University Arizona Health Education Alliance, we have 100+ residents, fellows, and medical students from Creighton being trained every year. Also, at SJHMC, we have nurse and nurse practitioner students from several institutes here in the valley. This guarantees an excellent opportunity for education and various academic activities during fellowship training. 
• The GME committee here is committed to making sure that all residents and fellows are well supported, educated, and trained for issues like burnout, resilience, personal well-being, and work-life balance. As a part of the GME’s wellness program initiative, we have a dedicated Wellness Advocate within our team to support our fellows in the program. 
• Our program offers a wide variety of electives for the fellows to choose from. The list may be too long to mention here but to name a few: our electives include not only the basic medicine subspecialties but also a variety like LVAD, transplant, and electives such as interventional pain. 

Our faculty and leadership here at the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship program at the Creighton University Arizona Health Education Alliance feel proud and privileged to train our fellows in such a robust and well-supported program. I look forward to hearing from you.  

Sincerely,

Jay Patel