Hospice and Palliative Medicine a Fully Approved Subspecialty

Hospice and Palliative Medicine has been unanimously approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) as a subspecialty of Internal Medicine. Leadership for this effort was provided by David E. Weissman, MD, and the Medical College's palliative care programs at Froedtert Hospital, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center.

Dr. Weissman is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin Palliative Care Program. The aim of palliative care is to assist patients and their families with the emotional and physical anguish of chronic illness, especially as they approach the end stages of life.

"These efforts have helped raise the standards of clinical care, education and scholarship in the field and helped make specialty status possible," said Dr. Weissman. "Now, as a result of the subspecialty designation, patients and their families will have more choices about how to make decisions in the face of serious illnesses, and we will be able to train physicians to provide the most compassionate and patient-centered care possible."

"Getting fully approved as a medical subspecialty is an important step forward for the field of Hospice and Palliative Medicine," said G. Richard Olds, MD, the Linda and John Mellowes Chairman and Professor of Medicine. "The fact that we were able to take a leadership role in the approval says a lot about the reputation of Dr. Weissman and the College's palliative care programs. The College is a national leader in this area."

The College has been a national leader in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) since 1991, when it became one of the first medical schools to have a dedicated undergraduate course in Palliative Medicine. Students take the course during their sophomore year of medical school.

Since then, the College has taken the lead in other Hospice and Palliative Medicine efforts:

• It received recognition in 2005 from the American Hospital Association, along with Froedtert Hospital, for having one of the top palliative care programs in the country.
• It coordinates EPERC, an online peer-reviewed resource center that provides educational materials for palliative care training.
• It coordinated the National Residency Palliative Care Education Project, a six-year effort to work with 390 residency programs across the country to institute a palliative care curriculum.
• It is designated as one of six Palliative Care Leadership Centers (together with Children's and Froedtert hospitals). Since designation, the Center has mentored more than 65 hospitals in the development of a clinical palliative care program.
• It is home to the first international peer-reviewed specialty journal devoted to Hospice and Palliative Medicine, The Journal of Palliative Medicine.
• It is home to an accredited fellowship program in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Dr. Weissman said that specialty status will create an impetus on a national level to improve medical student and resident education, and will create opportunities for fellowship training support from Medicare - something that is only available to ABMS-approved specialties.

The ABMS is the umbrella organization for the approved medical subspecialty boards in the United States. Its recognition of Hospice and Palliative Medicine as a subspecialty implies that the field requires a unique body of knowledge and symptom management and communication skills different from existing specialties.

Other College faculty and staff from the Division of Neoplastic Diseases and Related Disorders involved in bringing the ABMS subspecialty approval to fruition include: Linda Blust, MD, Assistant Professor; Ruth Drazewski, RN, Clinical Nurse Specialist; Joan Golden, RN; Lisa Marr, MD, Assistant Professor; Sandra Muchka, RN, Clinical Nurse Specialist; and Drew Rosielle, MD, Assistant Professor.

Faculty and staff from other areas who were involved include Julie Griffie, RN, Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Breast Care Center; Marcos Montagnini, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics and Gerontology); and Jo Weis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine.

MCW Health News presents up-to-date information on patient care and medical research by the physicians of the Medical College of Wisconsin.