Center to Advance Palliative Care

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PCLC at VCU Massey Cancer Center

View all training dates
(Note: The above list does not guarantee availability. Sessions fill months in advance and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.)

The Leaders

  • Thomas J. Smith, MD, Professor and Chairman, Hematology/Oncology and Palliative Care
  • Patrick J. Coyne, MSN, APRN, BC, Clinical Director, Thomas Palliative Care Unit

The Location

  • Richmond, Virginia

VCU Massey Cancer Center At-A-Glance

  • NCI-designated cancer center serving both cancer patients and other hospital patients
  • Operates an inpatient unit, and consult and outpatient services
  • Extensive experience in making the financial case for palliative care
  • Strong nursing and advanced practice nursing integration into the program
  • Long-standing experience serving medically underserved, minority and low-income patients
  • Offers Building Academic Palliative Care curriculum

Who Should Train at the PCLC at VCU Massey Center?

We have found that PCLC attendees tend to base their decisions on several factors, including geographic proximity, similar institutional setting and particular PCLC offerings.
  • Teams of healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, administrators, social workers, financial officers
  • Academic medical centers
  • Cancer centers
  • Hospitals seeking to establish palliative care inpatient units
  • Hospitals serving low-income and medically underserved populations
  • Community hospitals and rural hospitals

What will you gain from training at the PCLC at VCU Massey Cancer Center?

In addition to the proprietary PCLC core curriculum, VCU Massey Cancer Center can offer attendees:
  • Access to a hospital palliative care program within a cancer center setting
  • An understanding of a palliative care program that provides care to underserved communities as a safety net hospital
  • Expertise in marketing palliative care services to oncologists
  • Excellent support data and data collection techniques to show the financial viability and cost-savings of palliative care
  • Experience in integrating palliative care into medical education and residency programs
  • Information on recruiting and utilizing community volunteers within a palliative care program
  • A concrete plan of action for starting or strengthening a hospital-based palliative care program

Sample Curriculum

The on-site, two-day session centers on the PCLC core curriculum. Each session offers hands-on training to develop a successful palliative care program that matches the unique needs of the attendees' settings. Yearlong, post-training mentoring includes follow-up on successful implementation of action plans by the interdisciplinary teaching staff.

Day 1: Program Development, Finance, and Operations
Includes a review of conclusions from homework, goal setting, sessions on clinical care models and staffing, financial performance and outcome measurement

Day 2: Program Implementation and Sustainability
Includes sessions on palliative care from the primary care physician perspective, marketing and generating referrals, community partnerships, securing board and institutional support, educating clinicians and patients and program implementation

More about VCU Massey Cancer Center

The 11-bed inpatient palliative care unit at the VCU Massey Cancer Center admits about 500 patients yearly from clinics, other units at Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, ICUs, ERs, hospices, nursing homes and private homes. VCU Massey's nursing and medical consultations emphasize symptom management for all oncology patients. In addition, the program has integrated radiation oncology and bone marrow transplant into palliative care operations.

An integral part of the mission of the Thomas Palliative Care Unit at the VCU Massey Cancer Center is to provide palliative care to medically underserved, minority and/or poor patients who traditionally have not had access to such services. In 1989, the Rural Cancer Outreach Program was established to provide cancer care and palliative care in the rural, medically underserved sections of Virginia.

Registration and Travel Information

For tuition information and to register, go to www.capc.org/pclc. For specific questions about VCU Massey Cancer Center, including the availability of specific training dates, contact Carrie Cybulski, at (804) 628-1918 or ccybulski@vcu.edu. For general questions about the registration process, contact Jennifer Raiten at jennifer.raiten@mssm.edu or (212) 201-2683.

VCU Massey Cancer Center is located in the city of Richmond, VA and is approximately 15 minutes from Richmond International Airport.

The Palliative Care Leadership Center (PCLC) at VCU Massey Cancer Center is supported by the Commonwealth of Virginia and JEHT Foundation, with direction and technical assistance provided by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC).