or graduate student, you will be prepared to serve diverse populations during terminal illness, and to perform effectively as members of an interdisciplinary team whose goal is to promote holistic care and excellence at end-of-life. Our cutting-edge curriculum embodies the hospice interdisciplinary team, with courses that focus on psychosocial, spiritual, physical and legal and ethical needs of patients and families. Our graduates secure fulfilling positions within S.E. Michigan’s high concentration of hospice and palliative care facilities. Hospice and palliative care delivery exists across the healthcare continuum in a variety of settings, including: free-standing hospices, hospice residences, hospice-hospital partnerships, pediatric hospice care, hospice in the ICU, and hospice within long term care facilities. In addition, bereavement support services within hospices are expanding, with many hospice leaders choosing to partner with various agencies in an effort to provide seamless service to grieving families in need of support and education. In response to this need for grief support in communities, the hospice faculty created a bereavement specialty that provides the forum for graduate students to supplement an existing degree by earning a certificate, or elect the bereavement cognate as their area of concentration within the hospice degree.
The hospice student body is very special indeed, in that as a cohort of caring and compassionate people, they realize that hospice care is not about dying, rather it is about living fully until we die. We know that you will bring to this program many life experiences that will enhance classroom discussion among like-minded classmates. We will do everything we can to help you achieve your educational, personal and professional goals. We hope you join us in the effort to make hospice a "household word," where patients and families are aware of options at end-of-life that come from informed health care professionals.
We encourage you to contact a faculty advisor to schedule some time to discuss your plan of study and future goals.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kelly Rhoades
Chairperson and Professor
Hospice Education Department
