The Palliative Care Program at Penn Medicine is a flagship partner of Ariadne Labs’ Serious Illness Care Program. The program is designed to foster “more, earlier, and better” conversations between clinicians and their patients about what’s most important in patients’ lives. The multi-component program combines evidence-based tools, interactive training and coaching, and integrated systems change to support these conversations.
With over 30 trainers on staff, the Palliative Care Program has trained over 700 clinicians across Penn Medicine since late 2017, including the entirety of the Oncology Service Line. To date, those clinicians have had over 14,000 separate conversations with patients’ regarding their goals, values, and priorities – all documented in an easily located portion of the electronic medical record. Initial analysis of this program at Penn Medicine indicates that a documented serious illness conversation is associated with increased positive patient outcomes.
For more information on the Serious Illness Care Program visit Ariadne Labs. To discuss training your team at Penn Medicine, contact Laura Dingfield, Director of Education.
For a mobile-friendly version of the Serious Illness Guide, please click here.
Watch Penn Medicine clinicians demonstrate the use of the Serious Illness Guide.