“Failure to maintain”: do hospitals cause suffering in older people?

Today Palliverse talks to Assistant Professor Kasia Bail (@Kasia_Bail) from the University of Canberra. Kasia is a nurse, a researcher, a kung fu instructor and a drummer in a metal band. She came to our attention via social media when we noticed her crowdfunding campaign for the next stage of her research into nursing care of complex, hospitalised older people. Here at Palliverse we are fans of crowdfunding, although we’re yet to use it for research purposes!

Kasia’s research aims to improve sustainable acute care health delivery for an ageing population, while her clinical experience includes general medical and acute palliative care. In her PhD, Kasia developed an approach to measure nurse-sensitive outcomes, which is currently being used to evaluate a Government-funded implementation of a cognitive identifier. Kasia has a passion for identifying and researching the structures and processes which impede or enable quality patient care, and sharing her learning and inquiry with nursing students, industry and professional groups. Here, Palliverse asks her about her latest research project and dipping her toe into the world of social media.

kasiabail

Dr Kasia Bail (image via Dr Bail)

Your research has led to a new concept in the care of older people with complex medical problems, “Failure to Maintain”. What does this mean? Continue reading

Elsewhere in the Palliverse – social media edition

Social media is a broad term that includes all sorts of online platforms and interactions, from the blogs* I follow (and share) via my RSS reader, to Youtube videos, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, slideshare and beyond.  This week’s “Elsewhere in the Palliverse” visits the intersection of social media, palliative care and research.

*including palliverse.com, of course!