Dr Steven Pantilat

DR Steven Pantilat

Fulbright Senior Scholar

Media Profile

"Although treatments for heart failure improve length and quality of life, heart failure remains the leading cause of death in the US".

 

Dr Steven Pantilat, Associate Professor and Director in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF), will have the opportunity to further his research into heart failure (HF) at the University of Sydney in Australia after receiving a Fulbright Senior Scholarship. Dr Pantilat’s Fulbright Scholarship, Assessing the Palliative Needs of People Living with Heart Failure, will commence in July.

 

According to Dr Pantilat “although treatments for HF improve length and quality of life, HF remains the leading cause of death in the US”. His research will study people with HF to learn what they understand about HF, assess symptoms, and identify unmet needs in order to design and evaluate interventions to improve care.

 

 “HF patients suffer many symptoms, but represent only 5% of hospice referrals. Palliative care provides symptom relief; offers psychosocial support; and facilitates discussions about the illness and the future for people with serious illness and the dying. Few data exist to guide provision of palliative care in HF.”

 

The overall goal of his research is to understand the palliative care needs of patients with HF and their preferences for how best to discuss palliative care issues and to determine whether these needs and preferences are associated with severity of HF.

 

“We will conduct the study in Australia at the Royal Prince Albert Hospital and compare results with the U.S. to understand how these needs may differ between countries with different systems of healthcare. The ultimate goal of this quantitative research program is to use the results of this project and previous research to develop and implement a palliative care intervention to improve quality of life for people with HF in the U.S. and Australia.”

 

While in Australia Dr Pantilat will also lecture on topics he frequently speaks on in the U.S., such as Palliative Care for People with HF, Care for Dying Patients, Pain Management, Communication with Patients Approaching the End of Life and Ethical Issues in End-of-Life Care.

 

Dr Pantilat is the founding Director of the UCSF Palliative Care Program and Palliative Care Leadership Centre and his research in this area has been recgonised through a number of awards, including five Teaching Awards. In his 7 years with the Palliative Care Service has grown it from caring for 107 patients in the first year to nearly 500 in 2006.