Pediatric Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Fellowship 2025-2026

Pediatric Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Fellowship 2025-2026

The Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) is an interprofessional care team dedicated to improving symptoms and quality of life in children with advanced illness, and their families. The team, which includes physicians, advanced practice nurses, a registered nurse, a nurse case manager, and social workers, provides services at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) offers a one-year pediatric palliative care fellowship for a qualified nurse practitioner (PNP or FNP) within the Harvard Interprofessional Pediatric Palliative Care Fellowship Program.

The mission of the Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital is to train future leaders in pediatric palliative care by embracing interprofessional education and diverse perspectives to promote excellence in communication, teamwork, symptom management, and professional growth and resilience in caring for seriously ill children and their families.

PACT Nurse Practitioner Fellowship

PACT offers a full-time, 12-month, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Fellowship. The pediatric nurse practitioner fellow will train alongside two physician fellows and one social work fellow in this distinctive interprofessional program. The fellowship includes mentored clinical supervision on PACT across settings (inpatient, outpatient, community, bereavement) in the care of children with serious illness and their families in the domains of communication, pain and symptom management, psychosocial assessment and management, advance care planning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and various delivery models in palliative care.

This fellowship is designed to conform to the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association's Standards for Clinical Practicum in Palliative Nursing for Practicing Professional Nurses, Scope and Standards of Practice, and Competencies for Advanced Practice Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses.

What to expect:

The pediatric and adult interprofessional palliative care fellows attend educational/training sessions together throughout the year. The learning activities (and supervision) are intertwined with the clinical work. The fellowship starts in July with intensive summer didactics that focus on the fundamentals of palliative care (e.g. a core curriculum of symptom management, communication, advance care planning, working on inter-professional team). In the fall, fellows have half-day didactic sessions once or twice per month in addition to clinical work/academic projects distributed across the fellowship year.

Qualified candidates will have:

• Master of Science in Nursing from an accredited program.
• Board certified or board eligible by January 31st, 2025: Pediatric Primary Care, Pediatric Acute Care or Family Nurse Practitioner
• Licensed as an advanced practice registered nurse in Massachusetts prior to the start of the fellowship in July 2025, with the authority to prescribe controlled substances to all ages. Prior experience as a nurse or nurse practitioner preferred.

Interested candidates should submit application via Boston Children’s Hospital as well as supplemental materials as described below:

1. Resume/CV

2. Unofficial Graduate School Transcript

3. Personal statement describing your interest in palliative nursing, learning objectives for the fellowship year, and goals for advancing palliative care in the nursing field (500-word limit).

4. Three letters of recommendation that include at least one clinical and one academic reference.

The application process opens November 1st, 2024 and closes January 3rd, 2025 for the upcoming academic year that begins July 2025. For application link and more information, please visit: https://www.childrenshospital.org/programs/pediatric-advanced-care-team/fellowships/nurse-practitioner-fellowship

For questions and to submit supplemental application materials, email the Fellowship Director, Jenna Freitas, at: jenna.freitas@childrens.harvard.edu

Boston Children's Hospital's mission is to provide the highest quality health care. It is also the Hospital's mission to enhance the health and wellbeing of the children and families in our local community. In support of this mission, Children's strives to be the leading source of research and discovery, seeking new approaches to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of childhood diseases as well as to educate the next generation of leaders in child health.

The Nursing Department at Boston Children’s Hospital does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, language, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, or disability in the admission to or enrollment in its programs and activities.