Joshua Lakin, MD
Joshua Lakin serves as the clinical lead for the Serious Illness Care Program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, both in primary care and general inpatient medicine settings. His recent research focuses on the implementation of the program in non-cancer settings. He plays a key role in the Serious Illness Care Program at Ariadne Labs, working to develop and evaluate simpler approaches for driving more, better, and earlier conversations about goals and values with seriously ill patients and their families.
The most vexing issue with setting up a serious illness conversation program is not convincing hospital administrations and physicians of the value of these conversations. Rather, stumbling blocks more often involve the logistics of implementing a system that would regularly identify and schedule meetings with those who would most benefit from an in-depth discussion about… Continue reading Paper explores ways to identify patients who would benefit from a serious illness conversation
A new viewpoint written by palliative care experts at Ariadne Labs and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) highlights key strategies for communicating prognosis with patients. The viewpoint discusses the challenges associated with delivering difficult news to patients and how not receiving this information can create patient anxiety and distance them… Continue reading New viewpoint highlights strategies for communicating prognosis with patients
BOSTON, MA – Across the United States, millions of individuals face serious, life-limiting illness like cancer, heart disease and stroke, respiratory disease and diabetes. The final year of life with serious illness can be filled with emotional distress and uncertainty about treatment options. When people with serious illness have conversations with their doctors and nurses… Continue reading New study on Serious Illness Care Program underscores significant benefit of more, better, and earlier conversations between clinicians and patients
Through support from the Cambia Health Foundation’s Sojourns Scholar Leadership Program, three Ariadne Labs faculty lead the way to advancing the field of palliative care in the U.S. Compared to other medical specialties, palliative care is young. In fact, American medical accreditors did not recognize Hospice and Palliative Medicine as a subspecialty until 2006. With… Continue reading Three Ariadne Labs faculty are recognized for their work to advance the field of palliative care
The most vexing issue with setting up a serious illness conversation program is not convincing hospital administrations and physicians of the value of these conversations. Rather, stumbling blocks more often involve the logistics of implementing a system that would regularly identify and schedule meetings with those who would most benefit from an in-depth discussion about… Continue reading Paper explores ways to identify patients who would benefit from a serious illness conversation
Ariadne Labs’ Serious Illness Care Program and its key component, the Serious Illness Conversation Guide, have been shown to decrease emotional distress, depression, and uncertainty about treatment options in patients facing a life-threatening illness. Studies have also shown that implementation of the program leads to more, better, and earlier conversations, and more easily locatable documentation… Continue reading Study Shows Additional Benefit of Serious Illness Care Program: Decreased Health Care Costs