Supportive and Palliative Care Director: Associate Professor Kate Jackson
The Supportive and Palliative Care Unit aims to improve symptom control, end of life care and provide support to patients/families and other health care professionals for patients with incurable disease. The Unit’s current major research focus is refractory cancer pain and auditing of the Pathway for Improving the Care of the Dying rollout across Southern Health.
Research achievements for 2011 Palliative Prognostic Index Melbourne Modification (PPIMM) – audit of over 300 patients – data collection completed analysis ongoing. Development of and successful application for external funding for collaborative project “Monash Prognostic Indicator (MPI)” between Southern Health Supportive and Palliative Care Unit, Gabrielle Jennings Werribee Mercy Hospital, and Clinical Research Program, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University. Human Research Ethics Committee approval, aim to start recruiting in March 2012. Principal investigator in the Victorian Cancer Agency (VCA) project by the multidisciplinary Palliative Care Research Network Victoria, “Why not at home, why in hospital: In depth case studies of hospital care in the last 3 months of life of patients with terminal cancer”, a subset of the overall VCA research “Exploring factors influencing the site of care and death trajectories in the last 12 months of life”.
Principal investigator in the collaborative research project “Multidisciplinary management of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) patients and carer burden: A prospective, pilot study across the disease trajectory”, Southern Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service (SMICs) funded. 10 patients recruited to date. 6-monthly audit of Pathway for Improving the Care of the Dying (PICD) in Southern Health.
Research activities Principal investigators in three multidisciplinary externally funded projects: VCA - “Why not at home, why in hospital: In depth case studies of hospital care in the last 3 months of life of patients with terminal cancer”
Publications and presentations summary Book chapters
1
Conference presentations
6
Funding: Competitive Victorian Cancer Agency, Research project. 2011: $630,000 (shared across PCRNV) Bethlehem Griffiths Research Foundation, Research project. 2011: $37,000 SMICS, Research project. 2011: $29,960
Bethlehem Griffiths Research Foundation – “Toward better end stage cancer prognosticating: the Monash Prognostic Indicator (MPI)”. SMICS - “Multidisciplinary management of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) patients and carer burden: A prospective, pilot study across the disease trajectory”
Southern Health Research Report 2011
97