Mayo Clinic and Community Hospice of Northeast Florida launch fellowship in palliative medicine

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Mayo Clinic and Community Hospice of Northeast Florida are partnering to create a physician fellowship in palliative medicine that will begin September 2004. The 12-month program is designed to prepare physicians to become expert in end-of-life or chronic, non-curable disease care.

"The partnering of Mayo Clinic with Community Hospice of Northeast Florida to provide advanced palliative medicine training to physicians is a reflection not only of our organizations' mutual respect, but the desire to meet the future end-of-life needs of the greater community," says Dr. Sherry King, Vice President of Medical Services for Community Hospice and Director of Medical Education for its Charles M. Neviaser Educational Institute.

The World Health Organization defines palliative care as the active and total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. "The goal of palliative care is achieving the best quality of life for patients and their families," says the fellowship's program director, Dr. Robert Shannon from Mayo Clinic's Department of Family Medicine. "Living well, even as one dies, is as important as any other goal."

Palliative care involves more than treating pain and other end-of-life symptoms. It embodies the emotional, psychological, spiritual and social care of the patient and the patient's family as well. The fellowship curriculum includes developing knowledge and skills in all these areas. This is accomplished through time spent in the hospice and hospital settings and rotations through medical specialties such as oncology that treat many patients with life-threatening diseases.

— 30 —

###

To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.