Research

Caring for others is a part of being a nurse that appeals to those who choose this career. That is exactly what Daenera Morton, 1st year Nursing student at the Faculty of Health Sciences, is doing. She is currently employed as a custodian at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, her hometown, and has been trained in multiple areas in the hospital including the COVID-19 unit and assessment clinic.

In our previous article we introduced Dr. Stacey’s newly developed patient decision aid tools:

During the COVID-19 Pandemic,

• Should I go to live elsewhere or stay in my retirement/assisted living home?
• Should I or my family member go to live with family or stay in the long-term care or nursing home?

Dr. Lara Pilutti, an Associate Professor in the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, is trying to break down obstacles for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS), by adapting exercise interventions and lifestyle changes to meet the needs of this population.

Decision aids are effective interventions to support patients and families making decisions. Dr. Stacey and her team developed decision aids about whether or not to temporarily moving out of retirement homes, assisted living homes, long term care homes or nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. These tools were developed using the well-tested Ottawa template (based on the Ottawa Decision Support Framework, tested in >25 RCTs) in response to an identified need indicating this is a difficult decision. Our team included 4 different professions, researchers, and senior administrators at the Champlain LHIN.

Dr. Stacey is part of the Canadian COVID-19 response as a member of the CanCOVID Expert Network, organized by Canada’s Chief Science Officer.