Dementia Palliative Care Clinical Trials Program
Connie Cole, PhD, DNP, APRN, ACHPN
Scholar, 2023
Dr. Connie Cole is a nurse scientist at the University of Colorado with research interest and clinical expertise in palliative care, pain, and aging in the nursing home setting. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Medicine, General Internal Medicine. Her research is informed by clinical experience as a nursing assistant, director of nursing, Minimum Data Set (MDS) coordinator, and nurse practitioner. In these roles, she has seen the challenges associated with end-of-life care, pain and symptom management, and complex care requirements of nursing home residents. Dr. Cole’s program of research is aimed at reducing symptom burden and improving quality of life for nursing home residents, particularly persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD). In her previous work she identified that despite evidence-based pain treatment guidelines, nursing home residents continue to experience pain and distressing symptoms amenable to treatment. To address this conundrum, Dr. Cole is focusing on the integration of palliative care in nursing homes through improved methods for identifying nursing home residents with unmet palliative care needs. Currently, Dr. Cole is conducting a qualitative study to identify and understand clinician perspectives about the use of palliative care referral criteria with nursing home and ADRD residents. Within the next year she plans to submit a competitive K23 application. The focus of this grant application will be on improving staff ability to identify residents who would benefit from palliative care and improving clinician skill and confidence in providing primary palliative care within the nursing home setting.