Mifepristone, a drug that brings about a medical abortion was approved by Health Canada approved July 2015 and is expected to become available in summer 2016. Only registered doctors who complete a certified, online training program will be allowed to prescribe and dispense the drug.
Continue reading “Mifepristone Implementation Research in Canada (The CART-Mife Study)”
The overall objective of this project is to implement and evaluate Canada’s new Mental Health Recovery Guidelines in British Columbia and four other Canadian provinces. The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) developed the Canadian Guidelines for Recovery-Oriented Practice to move beyond policy to implementation of recovery oriented practices in health care organizations.
The goal of this project is to create new knowledge towards practical improvements in the delivery of healthcare services to people with complex concurrent disorders (CCD. The project will examine system-wide impacts on individuals with CCD following implementation of two innovative programs in the Vancouver area designed to enhance access to appropriate care.
Continue reading “Improving Systems of Services to People with Complex and Concurrent Disorders”
This research project builds on Dr. Pauly’s 2013 CIHR-PHSI award supported by MSFHR to evaluate the outcomes and implementation of Managed Alcohol Programs (MAPS). The objectives of MAPs are to reduce harm by facilitating greater stability in housing, reducing consumption of hazardous non-beverage and reducing social problems associated with heavy drinking episodes.
Continue reading “Managed Alcohol Programs: Evaluating Effectiveness and Policy Implications”
Principal Investigator: Sara Kreindler, University of Manitoba
Co-Investigator: Janet Joy, Vancouver Coastal Health
Issue: Patient flow – ensuring that patients receive the care they need, when and where they need it – is one of the greatest challenges facing healthcare today. While emergency department overcrowding is its most recognizable symptom, stagnant flow is widely recognized to be a system problem. Yet little is known about what flow-improvement strategies, especially system-level strategies, are truly effective.
Research Objective: This research, which was developed in collaboration with the Western Healthcare CEO forum, its associated Patient Flow Collaborative and all of its member regions, provincial stakeholders and Accreditation Canada, will meet healthcare leaders’ need for guidance on this crucial, complex issue.
Goal: To determine how health regions can achieve maximal improvement in patient flow.
Research Questions:
Approach: Mixed-methods comparative case study of Western Canada's 10 urban health regions/zones
Home care clients are at particularly high risk for falls and related injuries by virtue of their degree of frailty, lack of independent mobility and presence of multiple chronic conditions. The objective of this study is to determine the impact, cost effectiveness and sustainability of the Strategies and Actions for Independent Living (SAIL) program, and the sub component of the SAIL program – the Home Activity Program (HAP), as strategies for reducing falls and their consequences among home care clients. The SAIL interventions include staff training, fall and injury surveillance, individualized client prevention plans and a Home Activity Program.
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The primary purpose of this study is to examine the main transitions that older adults experience as clients of home care, assisted living, and long-term residential care. In collaboration with health care decision-makers from the Fraser Health Authority and the province of British Columbia, two research questions will be addressed:
A better understanding of the patterns that emerge and the factors that influence care transitions is critical for enhancing the quality of life of older adults and their families and for developing policy and program recommendations for health system improvements.
Continue reading “Transitions and trajectories in late life care: Patterns and predictors”
Persons living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) who use illicit drugs often experience poorer health outcomes than those who do not. The Dr. Peter Centre (DPC) is a community-based HIV/AIDS health care centre located in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC) that is run by the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation. As a strategy to address this problem, the DPC offers a combination of services to vulnerable PHA, many of whom use drugs. These services include harm reduction services (including supervised injection services), social programs, counselling services, meals, housing referrals, and referrals to mental health resources.
The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate Advance Care Planning (ACP) to determine from the patient and families’ perspectives, the prevalence of ACP, satisfaction with end of life (EOL) communication and decision-making, and to enable local or regional teams to develop and implement specific action plans aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of ACP efforts specifically, and the overall quality of EOL care in general.
Continue reading “Advance Care Planning Evaluation in Hospitalized Elderly Patients”
In 2007, the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) began developing a data-driven process to redesign how care is delivered to patients: Care Delivery Model Redesign (CDMR). The overarching goals of CDMR are to achieve care delivery that is responsive to the care needs and experiences of patients, embodies inter-professional practice, and is based on data and evidence. This evaluation will aim to answer three questions about the model: