Northeast Serious Illness Collaborative Retreats
Fellows will participate in three, multi-day retreats in collaboration with regional partners at Dartmouth, Maine Medical, and Lahey Medical. Every retreat involves a community dinner and opportunities to deepen personal and professional relationships throughout the region. Rooms are covered for UVM fellows at both Lebanon NH and Portland ME retreats. Workshops are co-taught by faculty at different institutions and are structured based on fellowship milestones.
In July, you will attend a three-day workshop hosted by Dartmouth-Hitchcock dedicated to foundational symptom management skills, essential communication, opioid conversions, buprenorphine fundamentals, and consultation practices in palliative medicine.
VitalTalk and TalkVermont host a simulation-based, three-day regional retreat in the Fall that will help you tackle complex goals of care conversations and requests for hastened dying. During this retreat you will hone advanced communication skills such as navigating conflict between decisionmakers, rescuing a struggling colleague, and responding to requests for a miracle. During a community dinner you will have a chance to explore your role as a palliative care clinician around Medical Aid in Dying.
In the Spring, you will engage in a three-day retreat that prepares you to successfully transition to independent practice. Topics covered include helping others navigate moral distress, resolving team conflict, mentorship, board review, billing and complex symptom management. Fellows will also have a chance to present the outcome of a longitudinal quality improvement project at this regional event.
Leadership Development
You will also have the opportunity to develop your skills as future leader in palliative care focusing on skills in medical education, clinical operations, population health, quality improvement and team management.
Throughout the year, fellows will attend workshops dedicated to improving their skills around teaching including workshops on how to give a talk, how to facilitate small groups, and how to give feedback. Each year, our fellows will attend the Essentials of Teaching and Assessment Course through the Teaching Academy at the Larner College of Medicine.
Along with participating in their own quality improvement project, you will also receive workshops around system approaches to quality improvement, participate in a mock root-cause-analysis, and analyze safety reports that relate to patient with serious illness.
The Annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care, presented by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), is a 3-day event that brings together more than 3,400 of your colleagues and peers to share research, clinical best practices, and practice-related guidance to advance the specialty and improve patient care.
The cost of this event is covered by Fellow's Education Funds.
TalkVermont workshop attendees in discussion.
Stephen Berns, MD, Hospice & Palliative Medicine Division Chief
Two Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship faculty present at a TalkVermont advanced workshop.
Hospice & Palliative Care Medicine fellows in discussion at workshop.
GME Hospice & Palliative Medicine fellows grouped at two picnic tables.
TalkVermont advanced workshop attendees.