Mission

The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life. A catalyst for growth and transformation, a global resource to improve care for those at life’s end.

Our Mission:

The mission of the Institute is to create and promote the growth of knowledge and to encourage the application of that knowledge in caring for the whole person at life’s end.

Our Guiding Principles:

1. Insights about what it means to live fully as a spiritual being in community flow from enriched conceptions of caring, especially caring for the living at the end of their lives.
2. Interdisciplinary study and the synthesis of diverse intellectual perspectives are conducive to the growth of knowledge and its practical application for patients, families, clinicians and policy makers.
3. Dynamic collaborations and partnerships are imperative to transform local, regional, national and global landscapes in end-of-life care.
4. Sustainable change in care at the end of life requires the development of just and ethical health and public policy that respects cultural and spiritual diversity and emphasizes access to care for the poor and vulnerable.
5. At the heart of our passion and work is a commitment to improving the well-being of the person at the end of life achieved through new paradigms of understanding and care created by research and scholarship, education, advocacy and practical application.