Palliative Care

Improving Patient Experiences and Outcomes

Research Themes > Improving Patient Experiences and Outcomes > Palliative Care

Palliative care research focuses on improving the quality of life for patients facing serious illnesses, such as cancer, through the prevention and relief of suffering. It aims to enhance patient and caregiver outcomes by addressing physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs, optimizing symptom management, and promoting effective communication and shared decision-making. Palliative care research encompasses studies on various aspects of care delivery, interventions, patient preferences, and health system policies to advance the understanding and provision of high-quality palliative care across different settings and populations.

Palliative care research relies on the development of reliable and valid measures to assess patient and caregiver outcomes, such as symptom burden, quality of life, and satisfaction with care. It aims to understand how to better integrate this type of care into health systems where patients can access it.

PaCES Project

Program Lead: Dr. Jessica Simon

Palliative Care Early and Systematic (PaCES) is a province-wide team of researchers and knowledge end-users working together to implement evidence-based practices for delivering early and systematic palliative care for Albertans living with serious illness. The team aims to improve patient outcomes and health system inefficiencies.

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Advance Care Planning

Leads: Dr. Jessica Simon and Dr. Neil Hagen

The Advance Care Planning team studied the AHS-led implementation of a provincial policy on Advance Care Planning (ACP) and Goals of Care Designations (GCD). Their overarching research question focused on how to optimally implement a formalized ACP framework across a large population and throughout a complex, multi-sector healthcare system and identify the most effective methods to catalyse use of ACP.

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Division of Palliative Medicine

Section Chief: Dr. Jessica Simon

The Division of Palliative Medicine works hand-in-hand with Palliative and End of Life Care, Alberta Health Services, to support comprehensive, integrated, community-focused palliative care via research and educational excellence. Research conducted by members of the division focuses on health services research, with an emphasis on optimizing patient-family and system outcomes.

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