Community-Generated Palliative Care Telemedicine for Rural Black and White Elders

Palliative care programs and consultations have both been shown to reduce symptoms, alleviate suffering, improve family satisfaction, enhance effectiveness of care, and are associated with hospital cost savings. Specific Aims include: 1. Gain an in-depth understanding of end of life care perspectives and preferences of rural African American and White family members to identify themes that are common between and unique to, the two groups. 2. Based on themes identified, and in collaboration with a Community Advisory Group, develop and implement a culturally-tailored pilot palliative care program for inpatients, aged 60 and over, facing a terminal illness in a rural hospital. 3. Assess pilot program’s feasibility, acceptability, and short-term effectiveness on satisfaction with end of life care (primary) and ICU referrals and hospitalizations (secondary) outcomes. Project outcomes will be used to develop a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a telemedicine palliative care program in enhancing end of life care for rural African American and White elders and their families.