Medical Knowledge
Comprehend and demonstrate competence in managing uncomplicated cases of the following symptoms in the context of progressive incurable illness utilizing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic methods.
- Acute pain
- Chronic pain
- Neuropathic pain
- Nausea, vomiting
- Constipation, diarrhea
- Dyspnea
- Depression, anxiety
- Agitation, delirium
- Fatigue, anorexia, generalized weakness
- Oropharyngeal problems (oral ulcers, thrush, dysphagia, odynophagia)
- Pain management
- Demonstrate use of pain scale to monitor and adjust plan of care for acute and chronic pain.
- Use equianalgesic table to convert between oral and parenteral therapy, and from one opioid to another.
- Appreciate utility of non-pharmacological approaches to pain management.
- Discuss how to estimate prognosis for patients with cancer, stroke/neurologic disease, dementia, COPD, CHF, ASCVD, ESRD, HIV.
- Understand pharmacology of the following drug classes, and their appropriate uses in palliative care: opioids, non-opioid analgesics, anxiolytics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticholinergics, cathartics, steroids, psychostimulants, antiemetics.
- Discuss basic legal issues important to palliative care
- Advance directives - utility, limitations
- Assessing decision-making capacity
- Addressing Do Not Attempt Resuscitation orders - in-hospital and pre-hospital
- Futility in advanced illness or life-threatening injury
- Use of artificial nutrition and hydration
- Withdrawal of life sustaining treatment in advanced illness or life-threatening injury
- Responding to requests for hastened death
