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Training Program Awarded Accreditation
August 2009
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has awarded
our Midwest Hospice and Palliative Medicine Integrated Fellowship* program the maximum three-year accreditation term, a time period signifying exceptional quality.
More than 8,000 medical education programs have ACGME accreditation, but only 46 of those programs train physicians in hospice and palliative
medicine.
Being part of this elite group affirms the competence and prestige of our fellowship program. But it also
illustrates the need for more training programs in palliative medicine.
Fellows in our one-year collaborative program receive palliative care training in a variety of healthcare settings and participate in an intensive curriculum of lectures, discussions and mentorship. Since 2001, ten fellows have finished the program with eligibility to sit for the palliative medicine board exam. Graduates have gone on to serve as hospice medical directors or to train further in hematology and oncology.
Eugene Guerrero, MD, is a 2004 graduate of the fellowship program and now serves as medical director at Hospice of the Southwest in Arizona.
“[The program] provided me with a solid foundation in palliative medicine and an appreciation for the
therapeutic benefits of focusing on all areas of suffering—physical, emotional, social and spiritual,” Dr. Guerrero said. “Today, I educate not only our staff about palliative medicine, but also other healthcare professionals and insurance companies.”
Martha Twaddle, MD, director of the program, commented that accreditation by ACGME “means that our fellows are exposed to rigorous training standards that are created at a national level—standards by which we develop our curriculum, evaluate our trainees and faculty, and continuously improve our program.
"[Accreditation]
compels us to be better teachers and to have more structure, intent and outcomes around our teaching.”
*The fellowship is a collaborative effort of Rush University Medical Center, John H. Stroger, Jr.
Hospital of Cook County and Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter.
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 Eugene Guerrero, MD, on a recent visit with Martha L. Twaddle, MD.
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