Overview:

Families’ refusal to authorize solid organ donation contributes to the organ deficit in the United States. The importance of communication to reducing refusal to requests for solid organ donation at the bedside and thus increasing the supply of transplantable organs cannot be overstated. This Webinar will review the research that supports the importance of effective communication and the specific evidence-based communication approaches that are associated with success.

Biography:

Dr. Laura A. Siminoff is a Laura H. Conwell Professor of Public Health and Dean of the College of Public Health at Temple University. Previously, Dr. Siminoff was a professor and the founding Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Health at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine and Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control at Massey Cancer Center in Richmond, VA. Originally trained as an anthropologist, Dr. Siminoff holds a doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins University. She is an internationally recognized expert in cancer patient–provider and patient-family communication, decision-making and an expert in consent to organ and tissue donation. She has developed a theoretical model of communication and shared decision-making, in addition to decision aids and several instruments that measure quality of life and aspects of communication. She is a recognized expert in qualitative and multi-method research methods and has designed several measurement tools, including the Cancer Communication Assessment Tool for Patients and Families (CCAT-PF) and a computerized application (SCCAP) to facilitate the coding and analysis of communication data. In 2005 she was recognized for ranking above the 95th percentile of all faculty with NIH awards for the past 25 years. In addition to her outstanding funding record, Siminoff is the author of more than 150 articles and the co-author of a textbook on empirical methods in bioethics. Her current research includes a recently completed NCI-funded study of appraisal and diagnostic delay in colon cancer, an on-going study of cancer patient and caregiver communication and coping and its effect on labor market participation, and she directs the ELSI component of the GTEx demonstration project that is collecting tissues to support a national bio-bank.