Palliative care model wins award

When UVic health information science PhD student Craig Kuziemsky went searching for a research project involving the treatment of palliative care patients, he was shocked at what he found.

“The unrelieved symptom rate for patients in some parts of this country is 70 per cent but there’s a lack of understanding about why the rate is so high. I’m investigating better ways to manage symptoms and one approach is to have a multi-dimensional perspective that could combine different therapies such as medication and other alternative interventions.”

Kuziemsky has discovered that the data was collected and stored in many different formats, making accurate comparisons almost impossible. His project, to develop a model to be used right across the country to analyse the outcomes of symptom intervention, recently won an Advanced Systems Institute of B.C. 2002 Communication Award.

Kuziemsky, under the supervision of school of health information science director Dr. Francis Lau, is working locally with the Victoria Hospice Society and nationally with other institutions from as far away as Newfoundland to complete his project.

“The point is to determine the optimum intervention to achieve the outcome you desire for the patient, be it relief from pain, nausea or other symptoms.”

Kuziemsky expects to spend a significant amount of time talking to patients and doctors in a hospice setting to determine how and why which treatments work best. His research is being conducted with assistance from Health Canada.