The following is a summary of “Facilitators and Barriers to Recruiting Surgeons into Hospice and Palliative Medicine Training,” published in the MAY 2023 issue of Pain Management by Salyer, et al.

There was scarcity of individuals who received hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) fellowship training and a surgical specialty, including general surgery, general obstetrics and gynecology, or affiliated subspecialties. In addition, the reasons why some surgeons opt to pursue HPM fellowship training have not been adequately explored. For a study, researchers sought to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder palliative medicine fellowship training among physicians from a surgical specialty.

The researchers conducted individual semistructured interviews with 17 surgeons who had received HPM fellowship training. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically to determine the underlying themes.

The participants identified pivotal experiences such as exposure to positive palliative care or suboptimal surgical care experiences as significant motivators for pursuing specialty palliative care training. Participants also chose HPM training because they felt that practicing from an HPM perspective aligned with their personal care philosophy and offered professional opportunities to achieve career goals. Additionally, surgeons reported encountering bias from both HPM and surgical faculty, and some HPM fellowship programs did not accept surgical trainees. Finally, the logistical challenges of coordinating a one-year fellowship were another obstacle to formal HPM training.

Understanding the motivations of surgeons who pursue HPM training and identifying the challenges they face in completing the fellowship program could help to expand surgeon representation in palliative care. HPM and surgical faculty should be aware of the benefits of specialty HPM training for surgical trainees and practicing surgeons. Further research should be conducted to explore HPM fellowship best practices for welcoming and training surgeons and other underrepresented specialties.

Source: jpsmjournal.com/article/S0885-3924(23)00037-4/fulltext