A Celebration of Research

Our staff development day started with a presentation from Harlam Uiti-Collins with discussion around Matariki and creating space for reflection and hope. Harlam then provided the team with Koteo Mau Waikamo for the Dunedin, North Otago and Central Otago Hubs. (A special thanks to the Fundraising team with the creation of these alters).

Gail Prilezsky (Programme Lead for the Te Waipounamu Hospice Collaborative) updated the team on the Strategic Planning Workshop outcomes and the work she will be doing to pull all of the discussion together – watch this space!

Then we moved onto the research. We had a line-up of stellar speakers who shared their learnings with our team:

Richard Egan (Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive & Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago).

Richard shared the early findings of the National Study of Spirituality in Healthcare. One of the aspects of Richard’s talk that stood out for me was the quote from Sir Richard Faull "The human body is incredible and marvelous in every respect. It has great mana in both life and death. It is multidimensional – having both a physical side and, most importantly a spiritual side, which in part reflects our culture. Our spiritual side is who we are! It is so vital to our very existence and must never ever be forgotten when you are looking after people”.

Lis Heath (Senior Lecturer & Module Convener, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago).

Lis shared her research on ‘Medical and nursing graduates' preparation, self-efficacy and attitudes towards caring for people with palliative and end of life care needs’. Lis’ research highlighted the importance of positive role models with the care of the dying, which those who support undergraduate students on placement with us do so well – thank you team!

Rosie Hoyt (RCT)

Rosie shared with us her research on ‘The experiences of the frail elderly during a transition to aged residential care - initial insights from an interpretive phenomenological study’. One of the learnings I took from Rosie’s research was the concept of place attachment (multi-dimensional concept that embodies a sense of belonging and self-identity for people). I also found the stories shared from her participants very powerful.

Shireen Tresslor (OCH Counselor)

Shireen shared her research ‘A Thematic Analysis of Health Professionals' Talking About Abuse’. This research has already had a great impact on our work with support of patients and whānau with assessment and intervention for family violence. I have huge compassion for the research journey Shireen has had with all the challenges she has faced thus far, but so happy for her to be close to the submission of her thesis.

Amy Henry (Lecturer & Research Fellow in the School of Nursing at Auckland University of Technology)

Amy kindly zoomed in from Auckland to share her research ‘Pacific Palliative Care’. One of the take home messages from Amy’s research was that communication was the most commonly reported barrier to receiving equitable and effective palliative care. Pacific families with restricted English fluency or low health literacy face heightened difficulties in navigating the challenges of our health system.

Helen Harrex (RCT)

Helen shared information on the Palliative Care Aotearoa Research Network (PCARN). I enjoyed hearing about what makes PCARN special for Helen such as the provision of resources like the New Zealand palliative care publications. I hope people take the time have a look themselves.https://www.pcarnnz.org/recent-publications