The mission of the Palliative & End-of-life Care Research Program is to improve the quality of palliative and end-of-life care for patients and their families. The Palliative & End-of-Life Care Research Program is composed of clinical and health services investigators and staff working on research projects that have as their overall goal the improvement of palliative and end-of-life care. In addition to providing core support for these specific projects, the Program serves as a resource to other investigators conducting related research.
It is also a goal of the Program to participate in education by providing the resources for medical students, medical residents, physician-fellows, nurses, and others to participate in these projects and conduct related research projects. The Program personnel also conduct clinical education for medical and nursing staff interested in improving patient-clinician communication about end-of-life care and improving the quality of care at the end of life.
Finally, several of the assessment tools being developed and validated by the Program will be used in quality improvement projects targeting end-of-life care. The ultimate goal of these instruments is to improve care at the end of life.