Mastodon ACGMC Announces New Fellowship Requirements for Hospice, Palliative Medicine & Puppies Training ~ Pallimed

Sunday, April 1, 2012

ACGMC Announces New Fellowship Requirements for Hospice, Palliative Medicine & Puppies Training

(We hope you enjoyed our April Fool's jokes this year. Look for more of our past April Fool's posts here. - Ed.)


Leaders of the APRIL-FUL showing good bedside manner
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ACGMC and AVMA COE announce new requirements for fellowships in Hospice, Palliative Medicine and Puppies

Chicago, April 1, 2012.

by Abe R Feaulx, Pallimed Special Reporter

In a joint news conference, representatives of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Comedy (ACGMC) and the Alaskan Veterinary Medical Association Accreditation Council on Comedy (AVMA COC) outlined new requirements for accreditation of fellowships in Hospice, Palliative Care and Pupplies (HPCP). As many of you will recall last April 2011, the Association of Palliative Realists Interested in Looking For Unified Language (APRIL-FUL) declared the new name for the field "Hospice, Palliative Care and Puppies."

Explaining the historic cooperation between ACGMC and AVMA COC, ACGMC board chairman Dr. Moe Howard said "the recent change in the specialty's name presented an opportunity for strategic cooperation between our two organizations that we couldn't pass by. Working together, we can fulfill our mission to assure the public that graduates of HPMP training programs are fully competent to carry out all the duties of an HPCP specialist, including finding the right type of puppy to meet a patient and families needs."

The new requirements include:
  • one month rotation at a veterinary hospital accredited by AVMA COC
  • six month continuity clinic at a PetSmart or other similar community-based pet training center
  • inclusion of a pet therapist (the pet, not the person) at all IDT team meetings that the trainee attends
  • a scholarly project documenting impact of puppies on palliative care patients or staff or volunteers
In a coordinated announcement, the National Alliance of Hospice, Palliative Care and Puppies,(NAHPCP) pledged to quickly adapt the competency statements, measurable outcomes, and competency toolkit to these new requirements. "We'll be integrating evidence-based competencies that are applicable to the new training requirements into the competency toolkit. For instance, it will be very important for graduating fellows to be able to train the pet therapists on hospice IDT's in prognostication skills, such as those exemplified by Oscar the Cat," said Dr. Sitt Phydo, chair of the AAHPCP task force to promote evidence based palliative pets. (PEPP)

When asked for comment, the National Association for Cats in Hospice issued a statement declaring, "We would rather work on our own and not be dependent on any other organizations like some sniveling canine."

Happy April Fools Day 2012 from Pallimed

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