Palliative and End of Life Care Lab

Lead Investigator Dr. Barb Pesut

The work at the Palliative and End of Life Care Lab is multi-faceted with the ultimate goal to improve health and healthcare for diverse populations. The team works with the community, provincial, national and international partners in order to best inform the care for individuals, particularly those with life-limiting chronic illness who are at risk for health disparities because of geographic, cultural or social differences.

The lab’s primary program of research is NCARE, an innovative program that uses volunteer/healthcare provider navigation partnerships to support rural older adults living at home with advanced chronic illness. This program is being developed, trialled and evaluated using community-based, participatory action research. Other programs of research at the lab focus on: assisting rural citizen-based health advocacy groups (e.g., the SOHC – Princeton Support Our Healthcare Coalition) with research and consultation support; enhancing the educational capacity of nurses and nursing care providers around a palliative approach to care (e.g., the BCNRI project, iPANEL); and exploring how to provide spiritual and religious care for diverse populations in healthcare.

 Collaborators:

  • Wendy Duggleby (University of Alberta)
  • Grace Warner (Dalhousie University)
  • Brenda Hooper, RN (Greater Trail Hospice Society),
  • Doris Barwich (BC Centre for Palliative Care)
  • Lorraine Gerard (BC Hospice Palliative Care Association)

Current students:

  • Glendon Wiebe, IGS PhD student
  • Miranda Dalhuisen, MSN student
  • Madeleine Greig, MSN student
  • Lynnelle Erbacker, MSN student
  • Adam Fulton, MSN student

Lab website: pesut-lab.sites.olt.ubc.ca