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My research focuses on how clinicians operationalize ethical precepts in the care of seriously ill patients. I work at the interface of communication skills training, medical ethics, and palliative care, in an effort to improve clinicians’ skills. My current research focuses on teaching palliative care communication skills to clinicians using both face to face courses and new technologies and understanding the impact of these educational interventions. I also work with junior investigators to better understand the impact of primary palliative care interventions in oncology and cardiology. Finally I am interested in studying health system wide interventions to improve seriously ill patients’ and families’ experiences.
Three principles have guided my scholarly work: (1) Being a catalyst in collaborative work with other investigators—including sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, psychologists, physicians, and nurses—to bring about changes in the world; (2) Being a clinician. Part of the reason I still spend 30 percent of my time seeing patients is because providing clinical care is where most of my ideas come from; specifically, I am interested in the difficult situations that clinicians face and how to improve our practice in these scenarios; and (3) Being an educator. My scholarly work is tied to my efforts to improve clinicians’ ability to deal with difficult clinical scenarios. Thus, while some of my work is empirical, a number of my most quoted papers focus on providing clinicians with mental models that help them communicate with seriously ill patients in a clearer and more empathic manner.
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