“Improving Symptoms and Quality of Life in Chronic Heart Failure”

Please note: All research in progress seminars are off-the-record. Any information about methodology and/or results is embargoed until publication.

*Please note the irregular time for this seminar*

Abstract

David Bekelman, MD, MPH is a visiting lecturer at Stanford University and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.  He is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Nursing at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.  Dr. Bekelman is a board-certified internist, psychiatrist, and palliative care specialist. In this talk, he will present his research related to measuring and improving quality of life, testing novel health care delivery interventions, and behavioral clinical trials.  He will describe his ongoing research that is examining ways to integrate palliative and psychosocial care into the primary care setting.  These interventions expand the “reach” of palliative care by combining training of nurses and social workers in basic palliative care with case review by palliative care specialists.  He will also discuss how his team has managed challenges in recruiting ill patients and their family caregivers into research, coordinating care, and integrating specialist care in the patient-centered medical home.