Dmitry Kozhevnikov, DO, is a Yale Medicine hospice and palliative medicine doctor and the director of outpatient palliative care, Smilow Hospital Care Centers. He is passionate about empowering patients with tools to maximize their quality of life, allowing them to make the best of every day.
“I enjoy providing help in managing difficult symptoms and spending time with patients and their families as they seek guidance in dealing with the many challenges that serious illness may bring,” he says. “In my work, I am constantly inspired by the immense strength, both emotional and spiritual, that patients living with serious illness display throughout their cancer journey.”
It is his goal to provide medical care that closely matches patients’ values, hopes, and goals for the future. “I encourage patients to be in-tune with the things that are most important to them and to share that information with their medical providers,” Dr. Kozhevnikov says.
In addition to caring for patients, he is a clinician educator who teaches medical students, residents, and fellows the importance of communication skills when working with patients who have advanced illnesses. To that end, he arranges simulated patient experiences using actors. “It’s a welcoming and safe space for physicians to learn and practice the communication skills required to care for patients with serious illness in an empathic and patient-centered way,” he says.
