Fellows will spend four (4) weeks at The Connecticut Hospice for their inpatient hospice rotation, overseen by Dr. Joseph Sacco, the chief medical officer.

The Connecticut Hospice, is America’s oldest hospice located on the waterfront in Branford, Connecticut. Licensed as hospital, the Connecticut Hospice provides inpatient level of hospice and inpatient palliative care for adults and children. While fellows’ experience will focus on general inpatient hospice, exposure to other levels of care will help them distinguish the various levels of hospice care and how this differs from palliative care in an inpatient setting. The inpatient hospice provides a home-like alternative to hospitalization for patients in need of specialized end-of-life care for up to 25 patients.

During the rotation, fellows will round daily with the on-site physician seeing all inpatients, including general inpatient level of hospice care (“GIP”), routine level of hospice care (“routine”), respite care, and both palliative and acute inpatient care. Emphasis will be on management of adverse symptoms such as pain, dyspnea, nausea, agitated delirium, seizures and other symptoms requiring rapid titration of oral, intravenous or sub-cutaneous analgesic medications including opioids, benzodiazepines, and other controlled substances. The rotation will also provide fellows with experience providing empathetic, clear communication regarding end-of-life care options with patients and families, and assessing patients for hospice eligibility. In addition to the physician, fellows will work closely with the nurse practitioner, social worker, pharmacists, spiritual care providers and other members of the hospice interdisciplinary team. After an introductory period, fellows will develop a panel of patients whom they follow daily and assume responsibility for their care, under the guidance of members of the CT Hospice medical staff, including ordering medications and bedside care and entering progress and admission notes.

Fellows will be expected to attend IDT meetings and participate in developing the plan of care for patients whom they see.

Fellows will be required to provide one informal talk on a palliative care topic during their rotation.