Day one: May 3

Join us for research presentations, followed by a panel discussion, to learn more about research in senior's health to enhance their quality of life. Hear from our experienced speakers about their research in aging, including a patient partner on their contributions to their research.

Speakers:

• David Granville, PhD (moderator), executive director, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, and associate dean, Research (VCHRI), Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
  
• Lillian Hung, RN, PhD, assistant professor, School of Nursing, UBC; founder and head of IDEA lab, UBC; Canada Research Chair in Senior Care
  
• Jim Mann, advocate living with Alzheimer's, IDEA Lab, UBC
  
• Teresa Liu-Ambrose, PT, PhD, professor, Department of Physical Therapy; Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity, Mobility, and Cognitive Health; research director, Vancouver General Hospital Falls Prevention Clinic; director of the Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Health Laboratory, UBC
  
• Roger Y.M. Wong, CM, BMSc, MD, FRCPC, FACP, FCAHS, clinical professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine, UBC Department of Medicine; consultant physician, Geriatric Consultation Program, Vancouver General Hospital; vice dean (education), UBC Faculty of Medicine
  

Recordings:

• Opening remarks
• Strategies to enhance quality of life amongst seniors

Given that there is no cure for dementia, improving quality of life is important for older adults living with dementia in nursing homes. However, measuring quality of life is challenging, especially if the person in need of care has advanced cognitive impairment, which can make it difficult to self-report their quality of life. This presentation will discuss these challenges and present a validated, feasible tool to assess quality of life of older individuals living with dementia in nursing homes. We will also discuss how this tool can be routinely used to assess quality of life in nursing homes, and to detect and improve quality of life issues.

Learning objectives:

After attending this presentation, participants will be able to

1. Explain the relevance of quality of life as a priority goal of care for people living with dementia
2. Discuss the challenges and ways to mitigate them in measuring quality of life of older adults with advanced cognitive impairment
3. Describe how the DEMQOL-CH, a validated, feasible tool to assess quality of life of older adults living with dementia in nursing homes, can be used to detect and improve quality of life issues

Speakers:

• Matthias Hoben, Dr. rer. medic., MSc, RN, assistant professor and professorship in continuing care policy research, Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta; Alzheimer Society of Canada New Investigator
  
• Melissa Ristau, RN, MN, PhD student, University of Alberta
  
• Miranda Cary, PhD, regional practice lead, Research and Knowledge Translation, Long Term Care, Island Health
  

View the session recording.

Since 2016, B.C. has been experiencing an ongoing state of emergency related to toxic drug policies that are killing almost seven people per day. Harms of toxic drug policies are having population impacts including lower life expectancy with disproportionate harms propelled by systemic inequities. In this session, the focus will be research related to the implementation of public health interventions to mitigate the harms of stigma, overdoses and systemic inequities.

Speaker:

• Bernie Pauly RN PhD, professor, School of Nursing; scientist, Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research; community engaged scholar, University of Victoria

View the session recording.

Accelerating research: from Go-Kart to Grand Prix

What does research look like in a regional Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) program? In an effort to share our experiences in a meaningful way to help improve patient safety, IPC has spent the past year promoting research leadership throughout our program. From the why, to the how, on to challenges, structure, processes and finally, reflecting on lessons learned; we will walk through what creating a research program within a structured organization looked like, from our early ideas to implementation.

Speaker:

• Harveer Sihota, RN, MSN, clinical nurse specialist, Fraser Health
  

COVID-19 care at home

COVID-19 care at home is a rapidly developed, innovative program to facilitate the discharge of patients requiring oxygen while actively recovering from COVID-19 in the hospital. Many patients recovering from COVID-19 can take weeks to wean off oxygen, resulting in a lengthy hospitalization. The COVID-19 care at home allows patients to recover at home using remote monitoring and daily follow up by registered respiratory therapists. This safe, effective and physician led program was the result of inter-professional collaboration among various acute and community health care providers and leaders.

Speakers:

• Jessica Kromhoff
• Edrene Jiang, MPH, project coordinator, Nurse Practitioners, Fraser Health
  

Examining nurse practitioner experiences delivering virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic

This presentation will discuss the preliminary findings from our study and the team’s learnings from the research process. This study consists of a survey, focus groups and key informant interviews. We will be focusing on the results from our survey, where we explored nurse practitioners’ (NP) understandings of virtual care. We also compared NPs’ perceptions and attitudes towards virtual care before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how virtual care has impacted the care that they provide to their patients. We are exploring the ways in which we – as a larger system – can enhance the supports that NPs need to provide safe and high-quality care virtually. These learnings can inform curriculum development and be applied in other professions.

Speaker:

• Nicole Shum, MPH, coordinator, Special Initiatives and Projects, Fraser Health
  

View the session recording.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young people in Canada and the world. Supporting resilience, the dynamic process of adapting and feeling hopeful in the face of challenges, is a promising method of suicide prevention. Rather than framing resilience as something built through individual hardship, The CLARITY (Community-Led Actions for Resiliency Important Throughout Youth) project views resilience as something that is built collectively. Throughout this presentation, the CLARITY team will share recent steps they have taken to uplift youth voices, mobilize research findings, and cultivate resilience in the Central Okanagan to prevent youth suicide risk before it occurs.

Speakers:

• Dr. Katrina Plamondon, PhD, MSc, RN, assistant professor, UBC Okanagan; Michael Smith Health Research BC scholar
• Dr. Sana Shahram, PhD, MPH, assistant professor, UBC Okanagan; Michael Smith Health Research BC scholar
  

Hear from leading vaccine researchers about the latest developments in major COVID-19 vaccine studies. This is a follow up to a 2021 Five Days in May presentation.

Speakers:

• Julie Bettinger, MPH, PhD, infectious disease epidemiologist; professor, Vaccine Evaluation Center, Department of Pediatrics, UBC
  
• Manish Sadarangani MRCPCH, DPHIL, BM.BCh, MA, director, Vaccine Evaluation Center, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute; associate professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UBC Department of Pediatrics
  

View the session recording.

Learn about ICORD's Summer Research Program for Indigenous Youth. This program invites Indigenous students in high school to participate on a research project led by a principal investigator at ICORD. Hear from the program directors, faculty members, previous students and more about this program.

Speakers:

• Cornelia (Corree) Laule, PhD, associate professor, UBC
  
• Cheryl Niamath, communications and administrative manager, ICORD
  
• Eliana Bond, undergraduate student, Langara College
  
• Dean Harris, undergraduate student, Capilano University
  
• Shana George, undergraduate student, UBC
  
• Jessica Archibald, PhD candidate, UBC
  
• Kwitelut i Kwelaw’ikw (Carla George), external advisory panel member, ICORD Summer Research Program for Indigenous Youth
  
• Peter Cripton, PhD, professor, UBC
  

View the session recording.