Paradoxes of Providing Patient-Centered Care to the Seriously Ill

Speaker: Kathleen Montgomery

Affiliation: University of California, Riverside

Time: Monday 19/03/2012 from 14:00 to 15:00

Venue: Access Grid UWS. Presented from Campbelltown (26.1.50), accessible from Parramatta (EB.1.32) and Penrith (Y239).

Abstract: In this talk, I will trace the development of the concept of patient-centered care and the essential tenets that are commonly accepted and practiced today. Then, I will turn to discussing the difficulties of adhering to these tenets when providing care to seriously ill cancer patients, using two examples: one involving the need for health care professionals to obtain informed consent before undertaking aggressive, high-risk therapy, and the other involving the processes of care that patients experience during such aggressive treatment. These examples suggest that current conceptualizations of patient-centered care may be inadequate to guide health care professionals providing care in high-risk, high-tech situations.

Biography:

Kathleen Montgomery (PhD, sociology, New York University) is Professor of the Graduate Division and Professor (Emerita) of Organizations and Management at the University of California, Riverside; and Honorary Associate of the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine at the University of Sydney. Her research interests concern relationships between professions and organizations, issues of trust and integrity, and the experiences of seriously ill patients. Recent papers have appeared in The Milbank Quarterly, Health Affairs, Social Science and Medicine, Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, Social Studies of Science, and elsewhere.

She is the 2011 recipient of the Myron D. Fottler Exceptional Service Award, given by the Academy of Management's Health Care Management Division in recognition of her contributions to the profession in research, mentoring, and leadership.