Articles, Poster Presentations, Quality Improvement & Research Day
- “Revoked: Hospice Educational Pamphlet” – Jorge Ahues, MD (06/2026)
- This quality improvement project evaluated whether a standardized educational pamphlet provided at hospice enrollment could reduce hospice revocations by improving patient and family understanding of hospice care and addressing common misconceptions. Although overall revocation rates remained low and unchanged across participating sites, the intervention was associated with a significant delay in early revocations, shifting a proportion of disenrollments from the first two weeks to days 15–30 after enrollment.
- The findings suggest that standardized patient education may improve decision-making during the critical early hospice period. Given its low cost and ease of implementation, consideration should be given to integrating the educational pamphlet into the electronic medical record (EMR) to support consistent distribution at admission and expanding its use across all Empath Health hospice programs. Successful system-wide adoption will require executive sponsorship to support standardized implementation, staff engagement, and ongoing monitoring of utilization and outcomes.
- “AI in the Gray Zone: Ethics of End-of-Life Resource Allocation in Large Language Models” – Javier Zaglul, MD (06/2026)
- This study evaluated whether four leading large language models generated consistent and ethically aligned recommendations for ventilator allocation during a simulated resource scarcity scenario. Although all models considered clinical severity and likelihood of survival, they produced markedly different prioritization decisions and applied differing ethical frameworks, including survival probability, life-years, pregnancy, and social value.
- The findings demonstrate that while AI can serve as a valuable educational and decision-support tool for ethics training and disaster preparedness, current models lack the consistency and patient-centered reasoning required for autonomous clinical decision-making. The study highlights the importance of strong governance and continued human oversight as health systems evaluate the integration of AI into high-stakes clinical workflows.
- “Alternative treatments for breathlessness at end of life” – Christine Munoz, MD, Faustino Gonzalez, MD (2026)
- “Utility of supplemental oxygen in preimminently/imminently dying patients, and alternative treatments for dyspnea” – Christine Munoz, MD, Faustino Gonzalez, MD (2026)
- “Reduce hospice revocation with information pamphlet” – Jorge Ahues, MD, Faustino Gonzalez, MD (2026)
- “Understanding hospice care pamphlet” – Jorge Ahues, MD, Faustino Gonzalez, MD (2026)
- “Risk stratification of critically-ill hospice patients for safe disposition at end of life” – Vincent DeGregory, DO, Faustino Gonzalez, MD, Stuart Bagatell, MD (2025)
- “Hospice Physician Pathway Program” – Safira St. Fort, MD, Vishesh Pathak, DO (2025)
- Ganesh, J., Khouzam, S., & Kerley, K. (2024, June). Interprofessional Palliative Care Grand Rounds: End-Stage Seizure management. VA Rounds Presentation.
- Mohan, R., Dayanand, P., Mirza, S., Ghumman, W., & Faber, C. (2024, March 19). A rare presentation of myocardial bridging with heart failure symptoms. Read it on PubMed (opens in a new tab).
- Gonzalez, F. (2024, March 13). End of Life Care. Presentation at South University for Physician Assistants.
- Gonzalez, F. (2024, March 12). Hospice and Palliative Care: Managing Difficult symptoms. Presentation at South University for Physician Assistants.
- Gonzalez, F. (2024, March 7). Interprofessional Hospice Simulation or IPE Hospice Simulation. Simulation Lab at Palm Beach Atlantic College, School of Pharmacy.
- Dakroub, B., DiScala, S., Vartan, C., Miller, M., Silverman, M., & Chalavarya, S. (2023, December 21). Management of critical glucose values in hospice. Read it on PubMed (opens in a new tab).
- Faulkner, W., DiScala, S., Vartan, C., Dakroub, B., Silverman, M., & Bharadwaj, M. (2023, November 24). Medication use evaluation of docusate sodium in constipation prophylaxis and opioid induced constipation at the WPB VA HCS community living center. Read it on PubMed (opens in a new tab).
- Gonzalez, F. (2023, November 4). Resiliency and Introspection. Oncology Nurses Association.
- MacLeod-Dyess, S., Prestia, A., Levene, R., & Gonzalez, F. (2020). An interdisciplinary framework for palliative and hospice education and practice. Read the manuscript (PDF).
- Gundersen, E. (2013, June). Hospice Management of Opioid-Induced Bowel Dysfunction. Poster presented on Research Day at JFK Medical Center, Atlantis Florida.
The Fellowship Program is grateful to the Trustbridge Hospice Foundation, Inc., and the Alice Busch Gronewalt Fund B, which is a donor advised fund administered through Palm Health Foundation.