Palliative Care Clerkship

VISITING: Open to visitors. TYPE OF CLERKSHIP: Selective 1. DESCRIPTION: Teaches the natural history, prognostication, and management of serious illnesses. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the knowledge, skills, and attitudes desirable in a compassionate clinician-scholar physician. Students record history (with special assessment to symptoms, functional assessment, mood and cognitive assessment), physical examination, and pertinent laboratory data for patients for whom they are responsible and present their findings, together with their diagnoses and management care plans, at rounds, and daily team meetings. Provision of patient-centered, family-oriented care is continuously emphasized. An essential aspect of the clerkship is the students' gradual assumption of direct responsibility for, and full-time involvement in, care of patients with serious illness with the house staff, fellows and a large inter-disciplinary team and this is why we have structured this as a 4 week rotation. A passing grade will require both a satisfactory performance and a successful 30 minute formal presentation on palliative care topic of interest (student will discuss ideas with Course Director to identify potential topics of interest to them). Course highlights include (a) mentoring from the course director and a cadre of mentors including Palliative Care Attendings and Fellows (b)focus on skill building and practice with special focus on communication skills (c) opportunity to work closely with a multi-disciplinary team(d) learning to care for the patient and their family as the unit of care. PREREQUISITES: This clerkship requires written approval by Clerkship Director before you can enroll. Please contact Dr. VJ Periyakoil at periyakoil@stanford.edu to check for availability of spots in the clerkship. PERIODS AVAILABLE: 1-12, full-time for 4 weeks, 1 student per period. CLERKSHIP DIRECTOR: VJ Periyakoil, M.D. (periyakoil@stanford.edu). CLERKSHIP COORDINATOR: VJ Periyakoil, M.D. (650-497-0332, periyakoil@stanford.edu). REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS: Where: This will depend on the start day of the rotation as training activities vary by the day; Time: 8:00 am. CALL CODE: 0. OTHER FACULTY: Staff. LOCATION: SUMC, PAVAMC, SCVMC.