) This application satisfies the criteria of the RFA including the six special requirements. In addition, our application offers three unique circumstances which enhance the intent of the RFA: the cultural diversity of our patient population, our geographic setting and the configuration of health care economics in this region. Our current census reflects the cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic, linguistic, life-style and diagnostic diversity of the patients we serve. On the West Coast, we are the only university-based hospice that provides palliative care education and thus serves as a natural magnet for such education throughout this area. The concentration of managed care in Sacramento affords the opportunity to provide palliative education in a context that closely resembles the future configuration of health care delivery. We have extensive experience spanning fifteen years providing palliative care education to a variety of health care providers and professionals in training. This application extends the University of California Davis Medical Center Hospice educational program by increasing the number of students and standardizing the core learning experience for trainees. We have in place plans to effectively publicize and recruit participants and have secured substantial commitments for participation from a multiplicity of disciplines and educational sites.The methodology and evaluation of our program are covered in depth. The role modeling provided by our interdisciplinary team will be replicated as our trainees graduate and enter their unique practice environments. Further dissemination will occur through the publication of research initiated by the grant recipients. The content and scope of our educational activities are described in detail. Comprehensive didactic treatment of relevant palliative medicine topics is included, as well as substantial in milieu experience. Students will be paired with members of the hospice interdisciplinary team delivering direct care in homes, congregate living environments and clinics. Quality palliative medicine blends the science of effective symptom relief with the art of support and presence for the patients, the caregivers, the treatment team, and for the very process of dying. This program will educate health care professionals in the palliative arts; show up, listen, provide witness and support patients who are in the process of dying.
Our aim then is straightforward: educate role models, those most able to disseminate the art and science of palliative care to the current and future generation of health care providers and consumers.
