Department of Medicine

Division of Palliative Medicine

Welcome!

Welcome to the website for the Division of Palliative Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  As one of its newest divisions, Palliative Medicine joins many traditional and distinguished disciplines of medicine that make their academic home within the Department of Medicine.  Since 2003, the division has provided the roots and home to a growing number of academic pursuits, clinical initiatives, and community.

What is Palliative Medicine?

Palliative Medicine is the medical discipline comprised of the broad knowledge and advanced skills necessary to help with the delivery of hospice and palliative care services to patients and their families.  It is a newly recognized subspecialty within medicine which is devoted to achieving the best possible quality of life for patients with life-threatening illness and their families.   It requires a commitment to the relief of suffering from physical, psychological, social and spiritual symptoms, while optimizing function and quality of life.   Patient-centered and family-focused care is at the core of this discipline which uses an interdisciplinary team approach to meet the needs of patients and families from diverse backgrounds.  The aim of this discipline is to train physicians with the advanced skills and clinical expertise needed in the multidimensional care of patients with advanced illness, and to address issues related to death, dying and bereavement.  The Palliative Medicine specialist’s role is to complement the care provided by other disciplines of medicine and certification in the subspecialty is supported by the following American Board of Medical Specialties boards:

• American Board of Anesthesiology
• American Board of Emergency Medicine
• American Board of Family Medicine
• American Board of Internal Medicine
• American Board of Pediatrics
• American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
• American Board of Radiology
• American Board of Surgery
• American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology [pending 9/06]

True to this broad support from different disciplines within medicine, palliative medicine is seen as a field that does not address the needs of one particular group of patients or one particular disease process.  It addresses the important overarching needs of all people dealing with the effects of diseases that produce a very personal illness experience that affects individual families in individual ways.  This individualized care is the essence of true care regardless of the type or stage of a person’s disease.