Promoting Specialty Diversity in Hospice and Palliative Medicine: A Call to Action

Coleman, Natasha; Spoozak, Lori; McCammon, Susan; Cooper, Zara; Arnell, Tracey D.; Berlin, Ana

doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2022.11.011

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This workforce gap in surgical specialties, including surgeons and anesthesiologists, is particularly concerning. 65 With only 75 surgeons in the United States who specialize in hospice and palliative care, 66 there is likely a shortage of racial and ethnic representation among clinicians. This deficit potentially hinders the capacity to serve the diverse needs of surgical patients in palliative care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial disparities in inpatient palliative care consultation among frail older patients undergoing high-risk elective surgical procedures in the United States: a cross-sectional study of the national inpatient sample

Kim

Muench

Maki

et al. 2023

Health Affairs Scholar

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Surgical interventions are common among seriously ill older patients, with nearly one-third of older Americans facing surgery in their last year of life. Despite the potential benefits of palliative care among older surgical patients undergoing high-risk surgical procedures, palliative care in this population is underutilized and little is known about potential disparities by race/ethnicity and how frailty my affect such disparities. The aim of this study was to examine disparities in palliative care consultations by race/ethnicity and assess whether patients’ frailty moderated this association. Drawing on a retrospective cross-sectional study of inpatient surgical episodes using the National Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project from 2005 to 2019, we found that frail Black patients received palliative care consultations least often, with the largest between-group adjusted difference represented by Black–Asian/Pacific Islander frail patients of 1.6 percentage points, controlling for sociodemographic, comorbidities, hospital characteristics, procedure type, and year. No racial/ethnic difference in the receipt of palliative care consultations was observed among non-frail patients. These findings suggests that in order to improve racial/ethnic disparities in frail older patients undergoing high-risk surgical procedures, palliative care consultations should be included as the standard of care in clinical care guidelines.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial disparities in inpatient palliative care consultation among frail older patients undergoing high-risk elective surgical procedures in the United States: a cross-sectional study of the national inpatient sample

Kim

Muench

Maki

et al. 2023

Health Affairs Scholar

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…11 As of January 2021, 85 surgeons had been certified in HPM by the ABS (75 are currently active), a mere 1% of the 8326 diplomates in HPM from 2008 to 2020. 12 In the fall of 2022, the ABS moved from being a co-sponsoring board to a qualifying board for HPM certification, and at the time of this writing, all surgeons certified in HPM are now certified and/or recertified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.…”

Section: Key Takeawaysmentioning

confidence: 99%