An interdisciplinary and collaborative initiative in palliative care research

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Authors: Veena Desa, Cyril Danjoux, Yvette Matyas, Margaret Fitch, Amna Husain, et al

Published Date November 2008 , Volume 2009:2

Veena Desa¹, Cyril Danjoux², Yvette Matyas¹, Margaret Fitch³, Amna Husain⁴, Nina Horvath⁵, Jeff Myers⁵, Mark Clemons⁶, Janet E Hux^5,7,8, Elizabeth A Barnes²

¹Department of Administration; ²Department of Radiation Oncology; ³Psychosocial and Behavioral Research Unit, Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre; ⁴The Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ⁵Department of Family Medicine, Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ⁶Department of Medical Oncology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ⁷Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ⁸Department of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: The scale and complexity of palliative care increasingly demands that researchers move beyond their own discipline and explore interdisciplinary collaboration. At a Palliative Care Research Retreat held in January 2006 at the Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre, researchers from multiple care settings with the center and from other Toronto hospitals came together with the vision of becoming Canadian leaders in palliative care research. As a result of this retreat, five interdisciplinary groups were formed to pursue research in the areas of pain and symptom management, access to services, translational research, education, and communication. An overview of the retreat and direction of research for each group is provided.

Keywords: palliative care, research retreat, pain and symptom management, access to care, translational research, palliative care education, communication