Patricia J. O'Malley, MD

Director, Pediatric Emergency Services and
Pediatric Palliative Care Team
MassGeneral Hospital for Children

Suite 321 Zero Emerson Place
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: (617) 726-2066 (ext.26603)

Educational and professional experience:

BA French Literature, Reed College
BMS, Dartmouth Medical School
MD, Duke University Medical School
Pediatric Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital
Pediatric Anesthesia and Critical Care Fellowship, Children’s Hospital Boston
Schwartz Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital
Part-time Fellowship in Palliative Care, Massachusetts General Hospital
Board Certification: Hospice and Palliative Medicine: ABMS

 

Current teaching and research interests:

I have been working to develop a pediatric palliative care service at the MGHfC, using a model that involves deputizing the team of providers already in place around a child and family to become the palliative care “team.” Since October 2008 I have been joined by a pediatric nurse practitioner and parent advocate/program manager.  With our pediatric chaplain and a child psychiatrist, I have introduced caregiver bereavement gatherings and reflection rounds for PICU residents into the pediatric training program at MGHfC. I have helped the hospital develop better operational practices around communication with bereaved families of MGH patients who have died (Patient Death Notification).  I have been training faculty and resource for the ten hospice agencies in Massachusetts who are providing pediatric palliative care throughout the state in the visionary new DPH  program created by Massachusetts state health reform, as well one of the New England regional faculty for the national Initiative in Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC).