Using human-centered design to mitigate the impact of neoliberalism on burdensome end of life care

By Dr Liz Dzeng, Univeristy of California, San Francisco

Non-beneficial high-intensity life sustaining treatments (LST) near the end of life have the potential to create ethical challenges where treatments induce harm and suffering with little chance of benefit.

There has been little research understanding and improving systems-level factors that contribute to non-beneficial high-intensity LST. This talk will describe ongoing analysis of a qualitative project at one high and one low intensity California hospital for intensity of end of life care.

Dr Dzeng will discuss potential effects of a culture of neoliberalism in the United States on non-beneficial high-intensity end of life care. Interviews reveal different patterns of practices and behavior in response to ethical challenges around high-intensity LST. Understanding how macro-sociological phenomena such as neoliberalism influence clinical practice patterns and behaviors can facilitate the development of systems-level interventions using human-centered design.

About the speaker

Dr Dzeng is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the Division of Palliative Medicine and Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sociology program.

She is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health based at the Global Brain Health Institute at UCSF's Memory and Aging Center. She completed her PhD in Medical Sociology and an MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge at King’s College as a Gates Cambridge Scholar and was a General Internal Medicine post-doctoral clinical research fellow and palliative care research fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

About the seminar series

The Cicely Saunders Institute Open Seminar Series events are free to attend and there is no need to register.

This seminar is worth CPD (1 credit) pending from the Royal College of Physicians. 

The series aim is to optimise opportunities for local, national and international networking within palliative care and rehabilitation. We facilitate seminars to assist in improving practice, education and policy, and the integration of research and clinical endeavours.

Part of Cicely Saunders Institute turns 10, celebrating 10 years since the opening of the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's College London in 2010.