Researchers Study Integrated Palliative Care Rotation for Hematology-Oncology Fellows
A pilot study presented at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting showed that integrating a palliative care rotation into hematology-oncology fellowships enhanced fellows' palliative care knowledge and skill confidence.
“Despite national guidelines advocating that patients with advanced cancer receive dedicated palliative care services, many patients lack access to specialty palliative care due to workforce shortages. Training hematology-oncologists to provide primary palliative care could close this gap and ensure [the] basic palliative care needs of patients are met,” said lead study author Jessica Bauman, MD.
Most fellows rated the rotation as valuable, indicating the potential for this program to serve as a model for integrating palliative care education into hematology-oncology fellowships nationally.