palliative psych

[CaMD]

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Does anyone know of any options to specialize in the psych care of onc or other terminally ill patients? I know one can do a palliative care fellowship after psych residency, which I might consider, but I'm also interested in what type of practice situations could allow me to do therapy/meds etc for mostly this patient population. Any ideas would be welcome.

 

[alina_s]

I don't know what the options would be in a strictly outpatient setting, but larger oncology departments sometimes have affiliated psychiatrists- one of the C/L attendings in my program and one of the graduates from the C/L fellowship both specialize in psycho-oncology. Not strictly palliative care, but a larger portion of it than most practices.

 

[whopper]

I don't know the answer to this, but I am speculating that geriatric psychiatry may handle this issue more than the other specialized fields of psychiatry. Anyone here a geriatric psychiatrist?

 

[peppy]

While CL psych and geri psych certainly do deal with terminal illness issues around diseases like cancer and dementia, personally, I think a straight-up palliative care fellowship would be the most logical and direct route to what it sounds like you want to do.
Most palliative care docs I've met are already very psych-oriented even if their residency training was in something like IM. If a terminally ill patient/family is having a hard time coping I think they're far more likely to ask for help from the doctor overseeing their hospice care than to try to start a new relationship with a psychiatrist they've never met before.

 

[loveoforganic]

I would assume a large part of your practice wouldn't necessary be palliative, if you were actually affiliated with a large onc practice. I would think they'd also have you available for mastectomy cases and whatnot as well, yeah?

 

[CaMD]

Alina, I don't do CL til next year, so I'll have to see how I like it and consider that options.

Whopper, I don't want to do geriatric psych, I had a gero psych clinic during my med school rotation and I don't think it's my thing. If that's the main way to get into it, then maybe it's not what I want to persue.

I don't know if onc/palliative care is either, but during my IM months this year my onc patients have been my favorite, and I've been so impressed with the palliative care consult service.

Loveoforganic, yeah, I think dealing with the psych implications of serious medical illness, life changing dx etc, not necessarily just palliative care would be very rewarding.

Peppy, that does make sense that a patient/family may not want to develop separate relationships with several doctors.

I'm just finishing my intern year, so I have time to figure this out, but I will have some elective time next year and would like to use it to try out a few different ideas.

 

[SpiritiualDuck]

It sounds like you're looking for a Fellowships in Psychosocial Oncology or psycho-oncology.

Dana Farber has a good program
Sloan Kettering has a good program too.

"PGY V Fellowships in Psychosocial Oncology
The Psychosocial Oncology Program at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) is recruiting full-time PGY V fellows in psychiatry to service the clinical needs of a busy academic psychosocial oncology service. Fellowship runs for a full year, from July through June." See Link below

http://www.dana-farber.org/pat/adult/psychosocial/fellowships.html

Clinical Fellowship Program in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psycho-Oncology (ACGME Program Number 4093531020)

"The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC)/New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center's Psychosomatic Medicine Clinical Fellowship Training Program was first established 25 years ago in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of MSKCC. As one of the largest and most academic psychosomatic medicine fellowship programs in the country, it has been unique among fellowship training programs in its primary focus on cancer as a model of illness, its highly active research environment, and its nationally renowned teaching faculty." Link Below

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69092.cfm

 

[CaMD]

Wow! Thank you for directing me to this. It sounds like exactly what I was searching for!

It sounds like you're looking for a Fellowships in Psychosocial Oncology or psycho-oncology.

Dana Farber has a good program
Sloan Kettering has a good program too.

"PGY V Fellowships in Psychosocial Oncology
The Psychosocial Oncology Program at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) is recruiting full-time PGY V fellows in psychiatry to service the clinical needs of a busy academic psychosocial oncology service. Fellowship runs for a full year, from July through June." See Link below

http://www.dana-farber.org/pat/adult/psychosocial/fellowships.html

Clinical Fellowship Program in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psycho-Oncology (ACGME Program Number 4093531020)

"The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC)/New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center's Psychosomatic Medicine Clinical Fellowship Training Program was first established 25 years ago in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of MSKCC. As one of the largest and most academic psychosomatic medicine fellowship programs in the country, it has been unique among fellowship training programs in its primary focus on cancer as a model of illness, its highly active research environment, and its nationally renowned teaching faculty." Link Below

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69092.cfm

 

[jettavr6]

Pain fellowship (multi-disciplinary) after residency. Great tool set to help in palliative care/psych types of situations. When it comes to palliative care, we need to stop thinking in a split mind/body model mentality. The two are 100% connected, and need to be treated as such.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

Pain fellowship (multi-disciplinary) after residency. Great tool set to help in palliative care/psych types of situations. When it comes to palliative care, we need to stop thinking in a split mind/body model mentality. The two are 100% connected, and need to be treated as such.

the route I'm going for the exact reason you stated.

I don't plan on doing palliative as my primary focus but as a child pain doc, I'm sure I will do plenty.