MyGlasgow News

A newly launched blog is focusing on academic work on end of life care taking place at the University of Glasgow. It is the work of Professor David Clark, Director of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies on the Dumfries Campus. 

http://endoflifestudies.academicblogs.co.uk/

Professor Clark says: "I will be providing information about research projects, publications, doctoral studies, teaching and public events concerned with end of life issues. The scope will be local, national and international.

"Over time, readers will be able to follow progress on a major study of interventions at the end of life, funded by the Wellcome Trust, that is starting in early 2015. As we get nearer to launch, the blog will reveal more about the project and how it is shaping up."

Providing care for people at the end of life is now a pressing humanitarian issue for the 21st century. Yet it is also becoming the focus of divided opinion, conflicting professional standpoints, disagreements about the quality of  clinical evidence,  and competing models of care delivery. Meanwhile population ageing, changing patterns of mortality and morbidity and the growing prevalence of chronic disease present growing challenges for the development of end of life care. There are problems of scale, suitability and sustainability. Against all these challenges, how do we develop innovations in end of life care that are desirable, achievable and measureable? These are some of the issues to be explored by the Wellcome Trust study being led by Professor Clark.

The most recent additions to the blog feature 'Open and honest conversations about death and dying' – by Richard Meade and a piece on American hospice and Medicare. 

Already the blog has sparked responses via Twitter and Professor Clark is keen to get feedback from all quarters: David.Clark.2@glasgow.ac.uk

---

First published: 13 March 2014