Palliative Care in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine is becoming integrated in the Comprehensive Pain Management Program. This is a hospital wide integration of perioperative pain management initiative with the Acute Pain and Chronic Pain Programs. Palliative Care is provided throughout acute care including the Critical Care Units and chronic care as well.
The Palliative Care service is often involved in the Chronically Critically Ill and complex patient population in Critical Care. In order to strengthen continuity of care and communication amongst multiple interdisciplinary team members, this work lead to a research project for the Critical Care Board Rounds. This is a case conferencing process of care.
From an education standpoint, Palliative Care providers are involved in undergraduate medical education for both Palliative Care and Population Health. The medical student’s Palliative Care education has been strengthened by a Palliative Care Club and students being trained as Hospice Volunteers. As well, an application for a Palliative Care Residency Program is also being completed this year.
This has been a very productive academic and clinical year for the Palliative Medicine Program. Clinically the service supported Palliative consultations in the Critical Care at LHSC, and dialysis unit at University Hospital. The quality of care in LHSC Critical Care was advanced through integration of the ‘Assessment and Management of Delirium in the Intensive Care Unit: A Quality Improvement Initiative’. This was accomplished by partnering with intensivists Drs. Karen J. Bosma and Mithu Sen, and committed Critical Care staff and supported by the Academic Medical Organization of Southwestern Ontario (AMOSO) Opportunities Fund.
National palliative academic highlights involved participating with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s recent decision to support the subspecialty certification for academic qualification and clinical leadership in Palliative Medicine. This was accomplished through Dr. Valerie Schulz’ participation as a Board member for the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians and as a member on the National Advisory Committee in Palliative Medicine.
Drs. Valerie Schulz and Dr. Richard Novick (Division of Cardiac Surgery, Western University) published an original article in Seminars in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia titled, The Distinct Role of Palliative Care in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2013 Dec;17(4):240-8).
Dr. Schulz and Dr. Lorelei Lingard at the Centre for Education Research and Innovation (CERI), are providing leadership for a multi-site, multi-province Palliative Care project exploring: Palliative care on the heart failure care team: Mapping patient and provider experiences and expectations. CIHR and AMOSO AFP Innovation Funding support this on-going project.
And in July of 2013, Dr. Schulz became a Professor at Western University, acknowledged for her extensive contributions to the field of Palliative Medicine.
In closing, this work could only have been accomplished through the support of Western’s Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Medicine, under the leadership of Chair and Chief, Dr. Davy Cheng.
