Faculty

faculty photo
Donald L. Patrick
Professor
I use qualitative and quantitative methods on research to improve population health through health policy, environmental modification, community mobilization, and behavior change. Reduction in health disparities through public health action requires evaluation and dissemination of information and effective interventions and policies. Students and faculty in the University and people in the Community are partners to make changes that improve health and quality of life for all
PhD  
Columbia University, 1972
Public Health
MS  
Columbia University, 1968
Public Health
AB  
Northwestern University, 1966
Psychology
Adjunct Professor, Department of Pharmacy
Adjunct Professor, Epidemiology
Adjunct Professor, Rehabilitation Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Sociology

Department of Health Services Program Affiliations:
  -  Social and Behavioral Sciences Track, (MPH program)
  -  PhD program in Health Services
  -  Center for Disability Policy and Research

Donald Patrick was the first Director of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health, holding this position from 1987 to 2006. He teaches in the MPH and PhD programs in Health Services. He publishes widely on outcomes in vulnerable populations, chronic illness, health disparities, and end-of-life care. He directs the Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program funded by the National Cancer Institute. He teaches Assessing Outcomes in Health and Medicine. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine. He was founding president of the International Society for Quality of Life Research. He is co-convenor of the Quality of Life Methods Group of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Contact Information
4333 Brooklyn Ave NE, Rm 14-101
Box:  359455
Seattle, WA 98195-9455
(voice)  206-685-7252     (fax)  206-616-3135
donald@u.washington.edu
Teaching Interests
Assessment of Health Status and Quality of Life, Population Health and Social Determinants, Health Behavior and Health Promotion
  • HSERV 513
    U.S. Health and Health Care: Population Health, Social Determinants, and Health Disparities
  • HSERV 584
    Assessing Outcomes in Health and Medicine
  • HSERV 592
    Biobehavioral Cancer Fellowship Enrichment
  • HSERV 592
    Social and Behavioral Sciences Seminar
Research Interests
Outcomes in health policy and treatment effectiveness; improving end-of-life care; health behavior and health promotion; disability policy; community intervention; resource allocation;
Projects
Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control
The mission of the Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program is to train health services researchers, public health researchers, and health policy analysts in biobehavioral and outcomes research, communications, and practice outcomes as applied to cancer prevention and control. Funding for the program is made possible by a five-year training grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
http://depts.washington.edu/bcpt/
Improving End-of-Life Care
The End-of-Life Care Research Program works to improve the quality of dying and death through improving communication among patients, families, and providers of end-of-life care, through improving the quality of end-of-life care, and through education and training of practitioners who care for persons at the end of life.
http://depts.washington.edu/eolcare/
Seattle Quality of Life Group
The Seattle Quality of Life Group works to improve the health and quality of life of children, youth, and adults by:
  • advancing the development, acceptance, and use of self-reported measures of health and quality of life
  • collaborating with groups who endure health and quality of life disparities because of persisting health conditions, stigma, or unequal opportunity
  • conducting literature syntheses, research, demonstration, and evaluation projects with state of the art scientific methods to assess health and quality of life of these populations
  • promoting the use of results by decision-makers & the public.

http://www.seaqolgroup.org
External Funding (sampling of current and past involvement)
Surgical vs Conservative Treatment for Metastatic Epidural Spinal Cord Compression
AOSpine North America
PI:   Kopjar           Dates:    04/2007 - 03/2012
The aim of this trial is to evaluate functional and quality of life outcomes of surgical vs. conservative treatment for metastatic epidural spinal cord compression.

Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program
National Cancer Institute
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    07/2006 - 06/2011
The goal of this project is to develop a training program with a new core curriculum in biobehavioral research and interventions, health communications, and practice outcomes as applied to cancer prevention and control.

Hearing Loss and Quality of Life of Children and Youth
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    03/2007 - 01/2010
The goal of this project is to use qualitative and quantitative methods to define the important quality of life issues related to hearing loss in children and youth.

Quality of Life of Overweight Youth: A Multicultural View
National Institutes of Health
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    09/2006 - 06/2009
The long-range goal is to develop a self-reported, multicultural measure of quality of life specific to youth ages 11-18 who are overweight.

Delivering Effective Primary Care to Older Adults
National Institutes of Health
PI:   Phelan           Dates:    07/2003 - 06/2008
The major goals of the project are to evaluate the effect of (1) provider practice style on patient functional status; (2) a community-based replication of a disability prevention intervention in delaying patient functional decline; (3) integrating geriatric care teams into outpatient, primary care.

National Research Service Award Institutional Research Training Grants
AHRQ - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
PI:   Martin           Dates:    07/2003 - 06/2008
The purpose of this NRSA training grant is to provide pre- and postdoctoral training in health services research, health policy and population health.

An ICU Intervention to Improve End-of-Life Care
National Institutes of Health
PI:   Curtis           Dates:    09/1999 - 02/2008
The major goal of this project is to evaluate an organizational, nurse-focused intervention to improve the quality of end-of-life care in the ICU.

A Randomized Trial of CAM Comfort at the End of Life
National Institutes of Health
PI:   Lafferty           Dates:    09/2003 - 08/2007
The long-term goal of this project is to improve the quality of patient dying and death by the appropriate use of complementary medicine (CAM).

Stigma and Quality of Life of Youth with Facial Differences
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    08/2004 - 10/2007
The long-range goal of this study is the creation and dissemination of an evidence-based social skills training program using video technology that will enhance the social skills of adolescents with craniofacial differences.

State Capacity Projects for Assessing and Preventing Secondary Conditions
WA State Department of Health
PI:   Kinne           Dates:    04/2002 - 06/2007
The primary goal of this project is to continue funding to focus the assessment, assurance, and policy development functions of public health on needs of people with mobility-related disabilities.

Improving the Quality of End-of-Life Communications with Patients with COPD
US Department of Veterans Affairs
PI:   Au           Dates:    10/2003 - 12/2006
The primary aim of this study is to evaluate a multifaceted intervention to improve the quality of end-of-life communication between patients with moderate or severe COPD and their clinicians.

R25T: Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program
National Cancer Institute
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    07/2001 - 06/2006
The goal of this project is to develop a training program with a new core curriculum in biobehavioral research and interventions, health communications, and practice outcomes as applied to cancer prevention and control.

Quality of Life Among Youth with Craniofacial Conditions
National Institutes of Health
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    02/2000 - 04/2006
The goal of this project is to describe the impact congenital and acquired craniofacial conditions (CFCs) on the health and quality of life of adolescents, and to validate CFC-specific quality of life outcome measures for evaluating effectiveness of treatments.

Crossing the Threshold: How Experimental Medical Technology Becomes Standard Care
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
PI:   Deyo           Dates:    09/2001 - 11/2005
The goal of this project is to describe the transition of new technology from experimental to standard of care; examine the processes by which multiple stakeholders influence technology adoption; describe the unintended consequences of disseminating marginal technology; and critically assess options for making this transition more consistent and effective.

Improving Physician Skill at Providing End-of-Life Care
AHRQ - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
PI:   Curtis           Dates:    04/2002 - 04/2005
The major goals of this project are 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 skills; and to assess the quality of end-of-life care provided by physicians who commonly care for dying patients.

Family Experience Pilot Study
Eli Lilly
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    07/2001 - 10/2004
The major goal of this project is to pilot test the feasibility of examining the impact of ADHD on the family.

Health Related Quality of Life in Trauma: A Supplement to NSCOT
Johns Hopkins University
PI:   Diehr           Dates:    09/2003 - 09/2004
The major goal of this study is to examine the results of our ongoing National Study on the Costs and Outcomes of Trauma Care to examine two approaches for incorporating death in an analysis of trauma outcomes and will use these approaches for estimating the burden of injury in terms of years of healthy life lost.

Measuring Community Accessibility for People with Disabilities
Centers for Disease Control
PI:   Kinne           Dates:    09/2000 - 03/2004
The major goal of this project is to develop, test, and disseminate reproducible, valid and generalizable contextual measurement instruments that identify and assess important community factors affecting accessibility for persons with disabilities.

Peony Project Mid-Term Evaluation
World Association for Children and Parents
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    04/2003 - 09/2003
The World Association for Children and Parent's (WACAP) Peony Project's mission is to develop sustainable medical services for children with disabilities in Henan Province. The Center for Disability Policy and Research at the University of Washington will serve as technical advisor to WACAP in Peony Project mid-term evaluations.

Managed Care and Physician Satisfaction: Managed Care II
AHRQ - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
PI:   Grembowski           Dates:    09/2001 - 09/2002
The major goals of this project are to evaluate (1) whether primary physician dissatisfaction is harming patient-physician relationships and health outcomes; and (2) patient satisfaction with specialists and outcomes. Secondary data from a previous Physician Referral Study will be used.

HMO SIP 98 (Health Club Benefit)
Centers for Disease Control
PI:   LoGerfo           Dates:    09/2001 - 09/2002
This is an extension with a supplement to the HMO SIP 98, a sub-budget of the Health Promotion Research Center's core Cooperative Agreement with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Quality of Life Among Adolescents with Craniofacial Conditions: Phase One Study
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    02/2000 - 01/2002
To explore the impacts of congenital and acquired craniofacial conditions on adolescents in order to develop a quality of life outcome measure to evaluate effectiveness of treatments.

Improving Clinician-Family Communication in the ICU
NIH - Nursing
PI:   Curtis           Dates:    09/1999 - 09/2001
Study of end-of-life decision-making and communications in ICU settings

Quality of Life Among Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Eli Lilly
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    07/1999 - 06/2001
Comparison of the quality of life of male adolescents who have diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with male adolescents who do not have chronic conditions and assessment of the reliability and validity of a newly developed instrument for assessing quality of life among adolescents, the Youth Quality of Life Scale (YQOL).

Managed Care and the Patient-Physician Relationship
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
PI:   Grembowski           Dates:    09/1999 - 06/2000
To strengthen the patient-provider relationship through information analysis between managed care, quality of P/P relationships, and health outcomes

Proceedings of the Health Outcomes Methodology Symposium
AHRQ - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
PI:   Patrick           Dates:    11/1999 - 06/2000
Oversight and preparation of manuscripts from the Health Outcomes Symposium for publication.

Effectiveness of Treatment Strategies for Low Back Pain (Year 3 of 4)
AHRQ - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
PI:   Deyo           Dates:    08/1994 - 08/1998
Compare long-term functional and work-related outcomes of alternative surgical and non-surgical treatments and to assess the impact of back pain guidelines and health reform efforts on regional and national trends in back surgery rates, re-operation rates, spinal fusion rates, and non-surgical hospitalization rates.


Selected Publications

Patrick DL, Bushnell, DM, Rothman M. Performance of two self-report measures for evaluating obesity and weight loss. Obes Res. 2004 Jan;12(1):48-57.

Kinne S, Patrick DL, Doyle DL. Prevalence of secondary conditions among people with disabilities. Am J Public Health. 2004 Mar;94(3):443-5.

Patrick DL, Curtis JR, Engelberg RA, Nielsen E, McCown E. Measuring and improving the quality of dying and death. Ann Intern Med. 2003 Sep 2;139(5 Pt 2):410-5.

Patrick DL and Erickson P. Health Status and Health Policy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993

Deyo RA and Patrick DL Hope or Hype: How New Medical Technology Delivers False Promises. New York: AMACOM Press, Forthcoming

Dissertation, Thesis and Capstone Committees (recent graduates)
2007
Chair, thesis committee for Yan Guo
Overweight, smoking, and quality of life among adolescents in Washington State

2006
Chair, thesis committee for Gina Keppel
Young adult depression and college enrollment status

2006
Member, dissertation committee for Ann Derleth
Health related quality of life: A comparison of indices derived from health status questionnaires

2006
Member, thesis committee for Ian Maki
For better or for worse: Societal health and same-sex marriage bans

2005
Chair, thesis committee for Beatriz Carlini
The tobacco industry's response to the COMMIT trial : an analysis of legacy tobacco documents

2005
Advisor, thesis committee for Beatriz Carlini
The tobacco industry's response to the COMMIT trial : an analysis of legacy tobacco documents

2004
Chair, dissertation committee for Helene Starks
Dying on one’s own terms: access to care, timing of death, and effects on families


Links
Institute of Medicine
The mission of the Institute of Medicine is to advance and disseminate scientific knowledge to improve human health. The Institute provides objective, timely, authoritative information and advice concerning health and science policy to government, the corporate sector, the professions and the public. The Institute's members, elected on the basis of their professional achievement, serve without compensation in the conduct of studies, conferences, and other Institute inquiries into matters of national policy for health. Election to active membership is both an honor and a commitment to serve in Institute affairs.
http://www.iom.edu/membership.asp
International Society for Quality of Life Research
The scientific study of Quality of Life relevant to health and healthcare is the mission of the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL). The Society promotes the rigorous investigation of health-related quality of life measurement from conceptualization to application and practice. ISOQOL fosters the worldwide exchange of information through:* Scientific Publications,* International Conferences,* Educational Outreach, and Collaborative Support for HRQOL Initiatives.
http://www.isoqol.org/
Cochrane Collaboration
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit and independent organization, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions. The Cochrane Collaboration was founded in 1993 and named for the British epidemiologist, Archie Cochrane. The major product of the Collaboration is the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews which is published quarterly as part of The Cochrane Library.
HOPE OR HYPE: The Obsession with Medical Advances and the High Cost of False Promises
Published by AMACOM (2004)
Dr. Richard Deyo and Dr. Donald Patrick reveal how doctors, hospitals, drug companies, device manufacturers, advocacy groups, politicians, the media, and patients themselves conspire to uncritically promote high-priced, high-tech medical "breakthroughs" that are routinely marginal, sometimes useless, and sometimes harmful.
More info . . .