EP 121 :: Dementia and Palliative Care :: Dr. Robert Arnold

Dr. Robert Arnold joins Bobbi & Mike to guide us into the specialty of Palliative care and how we can help promote the quality of life for our loved ones living with dementia. We learn that Palliative care involves caring for the whole person—their pain, symptoms, depression, anxiety, confusion, living environment, social concerns, as well as existential and spiritual issues—and helping them find joy and meaning while living with a serious illness. 

Robert Arnold, MD is the Medical Director of UPMC Palliative and Supportive Institute and is a  Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He received his medical degree from University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Medicine and completed his residency in internal medicine at Rhode Island Hospital, Providence and was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Dr. Arnold specializes in palliative care and is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Arnold’s clinical interests focus on providing palliative care consults in a tertiary care hospital and working in a supportive oncology ambulatory practice. His research interests focus on how clinicians operationalize ethical precepts in the care of seriously ill patients. He works at the interface of communication skills, training, medical ethics, and palliative care, all in the effort to improve clinicians’ skills. 

Current research focuses on teaching palliative care communication skills to clinicians using both face-to-face courses and new technologies and on understanding the impact of these educational interventions. He also works with junior investigators to better understand the impact of primary palliative care interventions in oncology and cardiology.

Finally, Dr. Arnold is interested in studying health system interventions to improve seriously ill patients’ and families’ experiences. In 2000, Dr. Arnold was named the first Leo H. Creip Chair of Patient Care and he is the past-president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM).  He has been named to numerous “top doctor” lists both locally and nationally and was awarded the AAPMH Lifetime Achievement award in 2013 and AAHPM Visionary in Palliative Care Award in 2014.

To find a Palliative Care provider in your area check out Get Palliative Care.

To learn more about Person Centered care go to Respecting Choices.

Follow Dr. Arnold on Facebook and Twitter.

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Thank you to Artis Senior Living for sponsoring this episode.