Research Day brings together diverse health care professionals
Covenant Health 2012 event encourages seniors care
Nearly 120 engaged students, health care practitioners, researchers and Covenant Health physicians and staff participated in Research Day 2012.
The event, titled Caring for a New Generation of Seniors – What Does the Research Say?, focused on research in all areas of seniors care, featuring lectures, poster presentations and a discussion panel.
"It helps healthcare providers to keep up to date with current research in their field of practice, which is ultimately of great benefit to patients because they’re the recipients of evidence-based quality care," says Mary-Ann Clarkes, Administrator, Covenant Health Research Centre. "I was very impressed with the wide-range of perspectives shared at the event, the quality of speakers as well as the audience."
Topics presented at the event ranged from restorative care for long-term care patients to Spirituality & Seniors Care: Offerings from the “Wisdom Traditions” Regarding Definitions, a Framework and Spiritual Practices, which focused on both the place of spirituality in seniors care and ways to integrate it into practice. Another topic, Culturally Responsive End-Of-Life/Dementia Care in the Community, discussed how ethnicity and culture influence the recognition, caring for, and treating dementia and to develop collaborative responses for culturally-responsive care in the community.
“It is very empowering to be surrounded by people from different disciplines. They bring a wealth of knowledge from spiritual, psychological, social and medical perspectives. And it refreshes me in what I’m doing too. It makes me feel good that we’re all working towards a common goal in seniors care,” says Jean Caprio Triscott, Director, Care of the Elderly Division, and professor, Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta.
“End-of-Life Care and Dementia relate to the population we serve in Lethbridge,” says Nancy Campbell, Director of Clinical Services, Covenant Health St. Michael’s Centre in Lethbridge. “Sometimes the challenges are overwhelming but when you come to something like Research Day, you see that the challenges are common. Collectively, everyone in the room is trying to make a difference - and that is very beneficial and empowering.”
The event was held on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital.
Each year, participants at Research Day submit topic ideas to Covenant Health Research Centre (CHRC). CHRC selects a theme for the following year based on those feedback and ideas. A Research Day package, which includes a call for abstracts, is later sent to health care organizations and education institutes including the Alberta Health Services and the University of Alberta. In 2011, nearly 130 participants attended Research Day.
Covenant Health Research Day is designed to provide Covenant Health researchers and partners the opportunity to showcase their research, and an opportunity for Covenant Health staff and physicians to learn about the latest research in their field, particularly research that may potentially impact practice. Through the annual event, Covenant Health is also able to engage partners from our community.