Ethical issues in palliative care.

Ethical concerns are common in palliative care settings. Rather than provide an exhaustive list of possible ethical problems one may come upon, this article describes areas of concern that are frequently encountered by perioperative health care providers, especially anesthesiologists, in the palliative care arena.

An integrated biopsychosocial approach to palliative care training of medical students.

In 1996 the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York, began a major curricular reform called the Double Helix Curriculum, integrating basic science and clinical training over 4 years of medical school. This transition provided a unique opportunity to develop and implement a fully integrated, comprehensive palliative care curriculum. In this three-part paper, we will describe: (1) our process of finding curricular time, setting priorities, and deciding on pedagogical strategies; (2) an overview of how palliative care teaching was integrated into the general curriculum, including examples of different teaching opportunities; and (3) our evaluation process, and some ongoing challenges.