On November 11th, The New York Times featured an opinion piece authored by 2002 Paul B. Beeson Scholar, David Casarett, MD, titled “Lessons in End-of-Life Care From the V.A.”
In the article, Dr. Casarett discusses how patient experience surveys and national hospital rankings fail to capture the qualities of care that are truly important to individuals facing the end of life. Rather than look at hospital cleanness and food quality, quality control measurements need to improve on their ability to account for doctor-patient communication and how supported patients and their caregivers feel by the hospital programs.
David Casarett, MD, is the director of hospice and palliative care at Penn Medicine and a Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
For more insights on elder care, read our “Ask the Expert” interview with R. Sean Morrison, MD, on Caring for Aging Parents here.
