Improving Physician Skill at Providing End-of-Life Care
Principal Investigator: JR Curtis
Research Grant: Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ), May 2002 to October 2005
The long term objective of this project has been to improve the quality of end-of-life care provided by physicians. The specific aims were: 1) to establish the measurement characteristics of a questionnaire developed and pilot-tested by this research team to assess physician performance at specific end-of-life care skills; 2) to assess the quality of end-of-life care provided by physicians who commonly care for dying patients, including oncologists, pulmonologists, cardiologists, and nursing home physicians; and, 3) to explore mechanisms for implementing interventions for improving physician care for patients at the end of life.
Publications from this study include:
Reinke LF, Shannon SE, Engelberg R, Dotolo D, Silvestri GA, Curtis JR. Nurses’ identification of important yet under-utilized end-of-life care skills for patients with life-limiting or terminal illnesses. J Palliat Med. 2010 Jun;13(6):753-9.
Engelberg RA, Downey L, Wenrich MD, Carline JD, Silvestri GA, Dotolo D, Nielsen EL, Curtis JR. Measuring the quality of end-of-life care. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2010 Jun;39(6):951-71.