Palliative Care Month Complete

Today I finished a month on the palliative care service. It was a really great rotation. I spent the first two weeks at Scripps Mercy doing consults and the last two weeks in the palliative medicine clinics in La Jolla and downtown San Diego. A few things I did/learned this month...

  • Received mentorship in leading Goals of Care conversations
  • Learned about symptom management - especially pain, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, and insomnia
  • Learned about Advanced Care Planning
  • Learned how to explain a POLST (Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment)
  • Learned how a palliative physician approaches a new consult with a patient and their family
  • Learned about how physician-assisted end of life care works in California
One of the most touching patient encounters happened this week. I met a patient with metastatic esophageal cancer and his wife. They have been married 50+ years and had a beautiful relationship with one another. They were answering questions for one another, while also respecting the autonomy of one another. They had a really thoughtful way of explaining their religious practice, their life priorities, and their concerns for the future. This made our hour-long conversation in the palliative clinic very productive, and I really felt like we helped this patient on a number of fronts by the end of the appointment.

Overall, I was really pleased with the month. I have a better sense of what palliative care has to offer my oncology patients. I also have several new tools to help with symptom management in the oncology clinic.

This month I also had the chance to present some of my service work with the local farmworker community at the ASCO Quality 2022 conference. This is a photo of me at the poster in Chicago, IL.


I also had the chance to attend a workshop in Nashville, TN for medical education. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends from across the nation. Here's a picture of us at the meeting venue.





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