Ep. 249 Palliative Care in Urology with Dr. Pauline Filippou and Dr. Ashwin Kotwal

Often misunderstood as end-of-life care, palliative care is actually about improving quality of life at any stage of serious illness. In this episode of BackTable Urology, Dr. Ashwin Kotwal, a geriatrician and palliative care physician at UCSF, and Dr. Pauline Filippou, a urologic oncologist at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California join hosts Dr. Gina Badalato and Dr. Lindsay Hampson to discuss the importance of palliative care in the field of urology. --- SYNPOSIS The episode covers how palliative care can improve quality of life for patients with serious illnesses, the challenges and opportunities of integrating palliative care into urology practice, and specific training resources and frameworks for effective communication and symptom management. From addressing common misconceptions to providing practical advice on implementing palliative care, this episode is an essential guide for trainees and urology professionals looking to deepen their understanding of palliative care and enhance their practice. --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction03:04 - Understanding Palliative Care04:43 - Misconceptions and Communication Strategies07:45 - Integrating Palliative Care in Urology10:26 - Collaborative Approaches and Multidisciplinary Teams15:48 - Training and Education for Trainees20:25 - Effective Communication Techniques28:18 - Impact of Palliative Care34:33 - Final Thoughts and Takeaways --- RESOURCES Center to Advance Palliative Care website:https://www.capc.org/ AUA White Paper: https://www.auanet.org/documents/guidelines/white%20papers/postoperative.pdf VitalTalk:https://www.vitaltalk.org/ Eliciting the Patient’s Agenda- Secondary Analysis of Recorded Clinical Encounters: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-018-4540-5 Family Meetings on Behalf of Patients with Serious Illness: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMvcm1913056