Research

A Learning Laboratory

Although all patients deserve the best possible palliative care, there will never be enough specialists to meet the needs of an aging population.  That’s why researchers affiliated with the Duke Center for Palliative care focus on finding new ways to improve the experience of serious illness for all patients.  We use methods taken from biomedical science, health services research, psychology and sociology to develop innovative ways to integrate palliative care into the care of populations

Duke’s Palliative Care research program focuses on:

  • The development of an innovative model of population-based palliative care research that develops, tests, and implements scalable interventions that integrate the principles and skills of palliative care into the fabric of health systems and communities.
  • The creation of a learning laboratory in partnership with Duke Health, the Durham community, and the Carolinas, to meet the palliative care needs of patients and families wherever they are, whatever their diagnosis, at any point in their illness.

Duke Palliative Care ResearchHPM Research

Our goal is to bring the tools of discovery to develop, test, and implement interventions that improve the experience of those living with serious illness, their loved ones, and those who care for them. Our interventions focus primarily on:

  1. Communication and decision-making
  2. Disparities in health care
  3. Pain and symptom management
  4. Psychosocial and spiritual care
  5. Innovative models of care

Members of our research community seek solutions that meet the needs of populations living with serious illness.  We work to develop interventions that are feasible and effective in specialist and generalist settings, and which are scalable and transportable across health systems and communities. We bring together clinicians and researchers in project teams to ensure integrated discovery and implementation of clinically meaningful ideas tested in practical settings, with cutting edge research tools.  We’re also committed to growing the next generation of palliative care researchers through our highly collaborative environment of Medicine, Nursing, Population Health Sciences, Business, Public Policy, and Divinity Schools. 

Our Team