Improving the Quality of End of Life Care for Patients with COPD
Principal Investigator: JR Curtis
Career Investigator Development Award: American Lung Association, July 1998 to June 2002
The objectives of this study were to identify the barriers and facilitators to patient-physician communication about end-of-life care for patients with end-stage COPD, to develop and validate a measure of the quality of patient-physician communication about end-of-life care for persons with end-stage COPD, and to determine whether increased quality of communication is associated with increased quality of end-of-life medical care.
Improving The Quality Of Clinician-Patient Communication For Non-English Speaking Patients With COPD
Principal Investigator: JR Curtis
Research Grant: Firlands Foundation, July 2001 to June 2005
The long-term objective of this proposal was to improve the quality of end-of-life care for patients with chronic lung diseases who are from other cultures. This was a pilot study to gain a better understanding of how to communicate with patients from other cultures and countries about end-of-life issues and by developing culturally-sensitive techniques and interventions that aimed improve communication about end-of-life care. The specific aims were: 1) to describe the role of culture and ethnicity on the attitudes that patients with severe COPD have toward communication about end-of-life care; and 2) to assess the cultural relevance of a questionnaire designed to measure the quality of communication about end-of-life care.
Publications from these studies include:
Janssen DJA, Curtis JR, Spruit MA, Downey L, Schols JMGA, Wouters EFM, Engelberg RA. Patient-clinician communication about end-of-life care care for Dutch and US patients with COPD. Eur Respir . 2011 Aug;38(2):268-76. Epub 2011 Jan 13.
Downey L, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR, Lafferty WE, Patrick DL. Shared priorities for the end-of-life period. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2009 Feb;37(2):175-88. Epub 2008 Aug 22.
Engelberg R, Downey L, Curtis JR. Psychometric characteristics of a quality of communication questionnaire assessing communication about end-of-life care. J Palliat Med. 2006 Oct;9(5):1086-98.
Curtis JR, Engelberg RA, Wenrich MD, Au DH. Communication about palliative care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. J Palliat Care. 2005 Autumn;21(3):157-64.
Knauft ME, Nielsen EL, Engelberg RA, Patrick DL, Curtis JR. Barriers and facilitators to end-of-life care communication for patients with COPD. Chest. 2005;127: 2188-2196
Stapleton RD, Nielsen EL, Engelberg RA, Patrick DL, Curtis JR. Association of depression and life-sustaining treatment preferences in patients with COPD. Chest. 2005 Jan;127(1):328-34.
Curtis JR, Engelberg RA, Nielsen EL, Au DH, Patrick DL. Patient-physician communication about end-of-life care for patients with COPD. Eur Respir J. 2004; 24: 200-205.