Summer Faculty Research Highlight: Dr. Karen Bullock Co-Authors for North Carolina Medical Journal

Beginning in Spring 2019, the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM) created a yearlong task force to address serious illness. Little did they know how relevant their work would become over the next year.

As part of this task force, NCIOM dedicated a special edition of the North Carolina Medical Journal (NCMJ) to this topic. This included an issue brief titled, “Leaning In to Serious Illness Care Through Stories and Science,” and co-authored by Drs. Karen Bullock of NC State, Jonathan Fischer of Duke University, and Catherine Sevier of AARP NC. In this brief, the authors provide professional and anecdotal insight into serious illness care in our communities from the standpoint of patients, families, and healthcare providers. This unique perspective into serious illness care brings light to many systematic inequalities that exist in our healthcare systems and highlights the significance of cultural differences in death and dying.

To read more about the work and recommendations of the NCIOM Serious Illness Task Force, please visit their website here.