Program Information
The ACGME accredited Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship is a one-year program with a 12-block rotation academic calendar. Our interdisciplinary palliative care team averages approximately 300 patient consults per year.
Fellows will train in all inpatient units across Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. Units include NICU, PICU, CVICU medical/surgical units, and cancer institute. During these rotations, fellows work as members of the interdisciplinary consultation teams, receiving clinical training in the full range of palliative care assessment, multidimensional care planning including appropriate acute and non-acute symptom management, counseling patients and families, supporting ethical health care decision-making, and working with referring physicians and teams to implement palliative care recommendations in the inpatient setting. This experience will provide fellows with skills and knowledge necessary to work effectively with interdisciplinary team members, other physicians including surgeons, intensivists, hospitalists and other medical subspecialists, as well as patients and their families to prevent and relieve suffering. Fellows care for patients from a diverse range of multicultural and socioeconomic populations with a broad spectrum of diagnostic and palliative care needs, including cancer and non-cancer conditions, cognitive impairment, ventilator dependence, g-tube dependence, cystic fibrosis and epilepsy among other conditions with mixed payer resources. The hospital has diagnostic laboratory, imaging services, and a range of consulting physicians.
Program Mission Statement
The Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Fellowship mission is to train fellows to provide high-quality, compassionate, and expert care to patients with life-limiting or life-threatening illness(es) and to their families, utilizing an interdisciplinary and family-centered approach to enhance quality of life and delivery of care in an empathetic, culturally sensitive manner with competency standards aligned with the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Program Aims
To achieve the mission of the institution and training program the fellow will work closely with teaching faculty and the interdisciplinary team members, undergo a rigorous hospice and palliative medicine curriculum, participate in teaching residents, have graduated responsibility and autonomy, and undergo continual performance evaluation over the course of training. In addition to the goals of the hospice and palliative medicine fellowship program of improving quality of life for both the child and the family, the program also seeks to become a leader of excellence for pediatric palliative medicine through ongoing quality and safety improvements, research, instilling leadership, promoting the highest ethical practices and patient centered care. The fellow’s training will also include quality improvement and safety participation, research, mentorship, and communication/interpersonal training skills.
Learn More About the Program
Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowships
Program Highlights
- Length: 1 year
- Stipend: Training stipend and benefits provided.
- Requirements: Candidates must have completed an ACGME-accredited pediatric residency program and be eligible for a State of Florida Medical Training License.
- Application: Complete an ERAS application. This position is filled through the National Resident Matching Program.
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Program Leadership
Laura Drach, D.O.
Fellowship Program Director
Dr. Drach specializes in hospice and palliative care medicine at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. She was one of the founding members of and serves as the division chief for the pediatric palliative care program at the hospital. She joined the hospital staff as a bedside nurse in 1994. Dr. Drach won the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital clinical collaboration and teamwork award in the 2016 Johns Hopkins Medicine Clinical Excellence Awards.
Jacinda Hays, D.O.
Associate Program Director
Dr. Hays specializes in palliative care at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. She joined the hospital staff in 2020. Before joining Johns Hopkins All Children’s, Dr. Hays was the adult and pediatric inpatient palliative care physician at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia, and the neonatal abstinence syndrome program director at Carilion Women’s. She was also the medical director of newborn nursery at Mednax Health Solution Partners at Carilion Children’s.
Fellow
Patricia O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. O’Brien completed a dual M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Florida. She completed her pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She was previously an Assistant Professor and Pediatric Hospitalist at the University of South Florida before deciding to pursue further training in hospice and palliative medicine.
Her clinical interests include end of life care, hospice and providing family-centered care. Her scholarly interests include learner education, team collaboration and trauma informed care. In her spare time, Dr. O’Brien enjoys reading, traveling, drawing and spending time with her dog.
At a Glance
Focus
Hospice and Palliative Medicine cares for patients with life-threatening and terminal illness resulting from all diagnoses. Palliative Care focuses efforts on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness and improves quality of life for both the patient and the family.
Palliative Care Team
The Palliative Care team consist of a variety of specialists, including:
- Palliative Care nurse practitioners
- Child Life
- Social work
- Music therapy
- Chaplains
- Hematology/oncology
- Hospital medicine
- Grief counselors
Research and Education
The fellow will have the opportunity to participate in research, quality improvement and education through scholarly activity. Didactic lectures will occur on a weekly basis during training. Training will include home visits at Empath Health, a local hospice provider, as well as a rotation with an inpatient Pediatric Rehabilitation Program.
Sample Block Schedule
| Block | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Rotation | Inpatient | Inpatient | Pain | Elective | Hospice | Inpatient |
| Block | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Rotation | Long-term Rehab |
Clinic | Hospice | Hospice | Inpatient | Inpatient |