The Ithaca College Gerontology Institute hosted Dr. Richard Payne, MD, as our 2017 Distinguished Speaker. Dr. Payne is a neurologist and palliative medicine physician. Since 2004, he has been on the faculty of Duke University, and is the Esther Colliflower Professor of Medicine and Divinity. He also has a part time appointment at the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, Missouri where he is the John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics.
His talk titled, Culturally-Relevant Palliative Care: Issues and Strategies for More Inclusive Care, is available online at:
https://www.ithaca.edu/gerontology/speakerseries/spring_2017/
Click the link under his photo.
Evidence suggests the use of palliative care and hospice services improves the quality of life of seriously ill patients and families, in cost-effective ways. However, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Association (NHPCO) documents persistent racial and ethnically based disparities in hospice use between blacks and whites; 8.4% of all hospice patients identified as Black or African compared to 80.9% white or Caucasian in 2013. This difference in hospice utilization is even more striking given that African-Americans have excessive mortality from almost all causes of death, including hospice appropriate illnesses. Disparities in hospice utilization include gaps in knowledge about the goals and objectives of palliative and hospice care, different cultural and religious values and preferences of many African-Americans compared to whites that shape end-of-life decision-making, and tensions concerning how to integrate concerns for social justice in health care with an agenda to embrace palliative and hospice care. This lecture will discuss these factors and provide ideas for moving forward in providing greater access to palliative care by Africa-Americans and other communities of color.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20180124114752137