November 21, 2000
BIRMINGHAM, AL — UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) has established the UAB Center for Palliative Care, by action of the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees on November 17, 2000. Palliative care encompasses the total care of patients whose disease is not curable, involving pain control, symptom management and dealing with psychological, social and spiritual problems. The goal of palliative care is achievement of the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.
“There is a rapidly growing awareness of a need for substantial improvements in end-of-life care in the United States,” says Dr. John Shuster, director of the center. “UAB and the Birmingham medical community are already recognized internationally as leaders in end-of-life care. The UAB Center for Palliative Care will give us new avenues for research, training and patient care.”
The center is an extension of the current UAB Palliative Medicine Program, established in May of 1999. The center will be sponsored by both the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing. Dr. Pamela Fordham, from the School of Nursing, will serve as Deputy Director of the center.
“Currently, no other academic institution in the United States has developed a program for palliative care as an interdisciplinary or cooperative effort between medicine and nursing,” says Shuster. “The landmark collaboration of multiple schools in this effort is timely and should serve as a model for other research institutions.”
The center’s mission targets the development of five programs. The center will establish a program of research aimed at improving palliative and supportive care; provide a comprehensive range of training activities in palliative and supportive care; create a program of outreach efforts aimed at sharing knowledge, expertise, and resources; develop a network of participatory relationships to involve the community in the center’s work and mission; and build partnerships with other programs providing palliative and supportive care to Alabamians, their families and friends, and their communities. Research priorities for the new center include symptom assessment and control, bereavement, end-of-life outcomes measurement, and ethnic/racial and cultural disparities in end-of-life care.
UAB’s Palliative Medicine Program already has connections with institutions in China, Saudi Arabia and Australia to partner in research and training, which will be enhanced by the new center.
“Our goal is to make the UAB Center for Palliative Care a leading contributor to the improvement of palliative and supportive care, locally and worldwide,” says Shuster. “We hope our efforts will lighten the burden of suffering for patients, their families, their friends, and their communities.”