Vacancy EURO IMPACT: 4 senior research associates
(04.01.2012) Through the Marie Curie Initial Training Networks project EURO IMPACT (European Intersectorial and Multi-disciplinary Palliative Care Research Training) 4 full-time senior researcher positions are available.
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
EURO IMPACT is a pan-European network project that aims to develop a multi-disciplinary, multi-professional and intersectorial educational and research training framework in Europe, aimed at monitoring and improving the quality of palliative care in Europe.
Researcher 1 and 2: Developing a handbook on palliative care for older people
· R1: 2 year position based in Brussels (Belgium), expected to reside in Switzerland for 3 months. Deadline for application is 15 March, 2012.
· R2: 1,5 year position based in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), expected to reside in Belgium for 3 months. Deadline for application is 1 June, 2012.
Researcher 3: Developing a guideline on symptom assessment and clinical applicability of computer symptom assessment
· R3: 1,5 year position based in London (UK), expected to reside in Trondheim for 3 months. Deadline for application is 15 March, 2012.
Researcher 4: Developing a guideline on palliative sedation
· R4: 1,5 year position based in Lancaster (UK), expected to reside in Amsterdam for 3 months. Deadline for application is 31 January, 2012.
These positions will be based in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK (London and Lancaster), and during the appointment period the researcher will have a period of residency at other collaborating sites.
Please read more at the EURO IMPACT website (http://www.endoflifecare.be/euroimpact/vacancy), and if you have general questions please e-mail Koen Meeussen (Koen.Meeussen@vub.ac.be)
Extended deadline for Early Researcher Award
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(30.11.2011) It is still possible to apply for the EAPC Early Researcher Award.
The deadline has been extended to 15 December, application form and criteria can be found at the congress website: www.eapcnet.eu/research2012. The winner will be invited to speak in plenary at the 7th World Research Congress in Trondheim in June 2012.
Please note that candidates can apply themselves, or be nominated by someone else.
Last call for abstracts
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(27.10.2011) The abstract submission deadline for the 7th World Research Congress of the EAPC in Trondheim 7-9 June, 2012 is Monday 31 October.
An interesting scientific programme is about to be finalised. Two of the themed sessions are as follows:
Cancer cachexia
- Definition and classification of cancer cachexia: heading for an international consensus? Ken Fearon (UK)
- The evidence for nutritional support in multimodal therapy for cancer cachexia. Ingvar Bosaeus (Sweden)
- Pathophysiology of cachexia. Common features in cancer and COPD? Annemie Schols (Netherlands)
Studying palliative care in dementia patients
- How to assess pain in end-of-life patients suffering from advanced dementia? Ladislav Vollicer (USA)
- End-of-life care and quality of dying of people with dementia: a nationwide study. Lieve Van den Block (Belgium)
- Retrospective versus prospective assessment and process versus outcome measures in studying palliative care needs in patients with dementia. Jenny van der Steen (The Netherlands)
Among eight meet-the-experts sessions you will find:
- Does opioid addiction play a role in advanced cancer? (Sebastiano Mercadante/Eduardo Bruera)
- How to write and read a paper (Geoffrey Hanks/Luc Deliens)
Further details of the scientific programme are available at the congress website.
We encourage everyone with an interest in palliative care research to participate in this landmark congress.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Trondheim!
Abstracts can be submitted here: www.eapcnet.eu/research2012
EPCRC publications update
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(12.10.2011) The European Palliative Care Research Collaborative (EPCRC) publication list has been updated.
The list now counts a total of 112 publications, and several articles are still in press. You can download the complete list at the EPCRC website.
Pre-congress seminar in 2012
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(15.07.2011) The European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC) and the European Association for Palliative Care Research Network (EAPC RN), in collaboration with the organising committee of the 7th World Research Congress of the EAPC, are delighted to invite our colleagues and fellow researchers to the heart of the Norwegian countryside for a pre-congress seminar on pain, cachexia and dyspnea in palliative care research on 4-5 June 2012.
The seminar will take place at Jægtvolden Fjordhotell in the county Nord-Trøndelag. It will be CME accredited and participants are invited to attend parallel group activities and lectures by invited guest speakers presenting and discussing cutting edge knowledge and sharing insights on the latest research developments. This will also be discussed in relation to the future research agenda of the PRC and EAPC RN, making this the place to be if you want to influence and take part in some large and high quality research projects on these symptoms in the coming years.
For more information on the specific programme, price, registration and other practicalities, please visit the congress website.
Register for Copenhagen
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(20.06.11) The registration deadline for the EAPC RN/PRC seminar in Copenhagen is 30 June. The day before the seminar there will be arranged a research nurse meeting.
 The first international seminar on palliative care research of the European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC) and the European Association for Palliative Care Research Network (EAPC RN) will take place in Copenhagen on October 6 and 7, 2011. The seminar website is: www.pallres.org. View scientific program here.
Among the invited lecturers we find leading researchers from around the world; David Currow (AU), Augusto Caraceni (IT), Marie Fallon (UK), Per Sjøgren (DK), Mike Bennett (UK) and Stein Kaasa (NO) to mention a few.
The idea behind the seminar is to provide and share information about and discuss international and regional initiatives and research projects, and this first seminar will have a Scandinavian focus. The next seminar in 2013 will be held in Eastern Europe. These seminars will be a complement to the biannually held Research Congress of the EAPC.
A blend of national, regional and international researchers and clinicians from different fields of study with interest in palliative care research, is the target audience. The seminar will also be an important meeting place for young researchers and PhD candidates. The number of participants is limited to 300.
The seminar takes place at Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, and the participant fee will be DKr 1600.
Research nurse meeting
On Wednesday, 5 October there will be a research nurse meeting from 15.00-19.00. The aim of the meeting is to identify challenges and opportunities of care in palliative medicine trial patients in accordance with clinical trial regulations.
Chairs are Susanne deWolf-Linder (CH), Gunnhild Jakobsen (NO) and Anne Todd (UK). Points on the agenda are as follows:
- Providing patient care within a RCT – the "dual" role
- The multidisciplinary research team approach within a clinical trial
- Safety and efficacy in randomized controlled trials –
Responsibilities from a palliative-care perspective
- The endpoints are achievable
Speakers will be Florian Strasser (CH), Barry Laird (UK), Cinzia Marini (NO) among others.
Welcome to the meeting, and please register for the meeting by going to:http://tinyurl.com/researchnursemeeting and fill out the form.
PRC offers PhD course in palliative care research
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(20.06.11) The European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC) offers the PhD course "Palliative care research - theoretical, practical, ethical and methodological aspects" this autumn.
This is an open PhD-course, and is part of the international PhD programme in palliative care which is hosted by the PRC.
- Module I: Trondheim, week 38 (19 - 23 September)
- Module II: Edinburgh, week 44 (31 October - 4 November)
The program consists of lectures, group work and plenary discussions during the two separate weeks at NTNU and the University of Edinburgh, respectively. The students will be given a home assignment in the period between the two weeks. A final home exam after the two-week course must be passed. The course language is English.
You can read more about the course and its programme here.
Preliminary programme for Research Congress
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(08.06.11) The Scientific Committee of the 7th EAPC World Research Congress in Trondheim 7-9 June, 2012, is inthe process of finalising the programme.
The complete programme will be announed on the congress' website in due time. In the meantime, the preliminary programme can be found here.
EAPC RN in Lisbon
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(02.06.2011) 18-21 May we joined the EAPC Congress in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Research Network shared a stand with the European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC), the Junior Forum and the EAPC Research Congress 2012. During the congress we got to meet a lot of fantastic people from all over the world, both experienced researchers and up-and-coming ones.
We would like to thank everyone who come to visit our stand. We sincerely hope that we were able to answer all of your questions, and that you got to know the future plans for the Research Network a little bit better.
If you still have questions or comments regarding our acitivity, the research congress or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us.
New Research Network projects
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(12.05.2011) Three new research projects have been added to the RN portfolia.
- The Access to Opioid Medication in Europe (ATOME) project aims to improve access to opioids in Europe. The project was launched in December 2009 in Aachen (Germany), and is co-led by the University of Aachen, Lancaster University (UK) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
- Needs Assessment on Information Transfer in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (NEED_IT) takes on the need for palliative care information in 28 target countries in CEE and CIS. The results will allow for a targeted planning of information provision and dissemination strategies to support further palliative care development.
- The International Place of Death study (IPoD) examines cross-national patterns in place of death using death certificate data. The aim is to examine and explain differences and similarities in place of death in several countries in Europe in addition to Canada, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Argentina and Mexico.
You can read more about all the projects here.
The EAPC Basic Dataset Delphi Process
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(08.03.2011) This is a multi-centre study involving 67 experts from 29 countries. The Delphi process will consist of six rounds and be completed by June 30, 2011.
One of the barriers identified in palliative care research is the lack of common criteria to describe a palliative care population. This in turn limits the possibility to generalise findings from clinical studies. To overcome this limitation, the European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC) in Trondheim, in collaboration with the EAPC Research Network and the PRISMA project, have started the work towards a consensus-based, standardised description of a palliative care population.
If you have any questions about the study or want additional information, please contact the researcher coordinating the study.
Call for Leadership Development Initiative applications
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(16.02.2011) The second Cohort of The International Pallitive Care Leadership Development Initiative (LDI) will run from January 2012 to December 2013. The LDI is for palliative care physicians who wish to develop critical leadership knowledge, skills and behaviors that will help them to advance palliative care capasity locally, nationally and internationally. The ultimate goal of the LDI is to increase world-wide access to excellent palliative care.
The LDI consists of three residential courses: 2 weeks in February 2012, 1 week in November 2012 and 1 week in November 2013. Criteria for applications, submission and more information can be found here.
The deadline for application is April 30.
EPCRC guidelines are ready
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(25.01.11) The European Palliative Care Research Collaborative (EPCRC) are in the process of publishing clinical guidelines for treatment of pain, and management of cachexia and depression.
The guidelines for depression have already been published online by the European Journal of Cancer, while those for cachexia only will be published on the EPCRC website. The pain guidelines will be published later.
The depression guidelines have been developed by a Work Package team at King's College in London. The process has involved expert and public consultations in addition to literature reviews. The latter include a Cochrane review on the use of antidepressants for depression in physically ill people.
Patient friendly leaflets has been prepared in five languages, and these will be published along with the guidelines.
Abstract submission opens in September
By Ragnhild Green Helgås
(21.01.11)The Scientific Committe of the EAPC World Research Congress 2012 has decided to open for abstract submission in September.
The committe has set the dates for opening and deadline with regard to submission of abstracts, respectively September 1, 2011 and October 15, 2011. The congress is mainly abstract-driven, which makes it important to have predictable deadlines.
Some of the sessions that will be held at the congress, are already being planned. However, it is possible to make suggestions for both themed and oral sessions. You can always keep up to date on the congress website. Here you will also find info about registration.
Palliative Care Gains Ground in Developing Countries
A news article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) by Kristine Crane (Vol. 102, Issue 21) outlines the efforts of several organizations to improve palliative care development and opioid availability around the world.
The developing countries have about half of the world’s cancer diagnoses each year. Most of these cases are diagnosed at late stages due to poor access to diagnostic services and health care in general. This situation has created an imminent need for palliative care, and palliative care is often used as a first step in building up a cancer care programme. The article presents examples from many parts of the world, with a special focus on Vietnam. Fighting opiophobia is an inherent and crucial part of promoting palliative care in developing countries, but access to other drugs such as antidepressants is also important. The article concludes that how palliative care is accepted in a society depends very much on how it is introduced ─ not just as end-of-life care, but as a way to have a better life and in many cases even a help to live longer.
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