Gretchen Schwarze

Gretchen Schwarze

Discipline: Physician
Funding awarded to: University of Wisconsin

National dissemination of a communication tool to increase access to palliative care for surgical patients

To align treatment decisions with patient preferences, reduce utilization of unwanted invasive treatments near the end of life, and increase the use of palliative care for frail older patients with life-limiting surgical problems. This proposal aims to foster and support my development as a leader by translating the outcomes of our research to create broad-based clinical change tailored to the needs of frail older patients and the surgeons who care for them.

“My long-term goal is to improve decision making and end-of-life care for older patients, as this is a clinical issue I face regularly treating patients with vascular disease. As an academic vascular surgeon, clinical ethicist and health services researcher, I have spent the past eight years focused on how surgeons treat patients at the end of life, how decisions about high-risk invasive treatments are made and how to increase access to palliative care in the surgical setting.”