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A RRISIQ fellow gives us an update on the advancement of her research project:

Research team: Bich-Lien Nguyen, RN. M.Sc (c), Dominique Tremblay, RN. Ph.D and Luc Mathieu, RN. DBA

Bich-Lien Nguyen is a candidate for the Master of Science in Clinical Research (specialization in nursing) at the University of Sherbrooke. She also practices part-time as a clinical nurse in the emergency and intensive care at the Charles - LeMoyne Hospital.

This research project focuses on the experience of elderly care cancer patients when visiting the emergency department for health damage related to their cancer. Due to the heterogeneous health conditions and the complexity of caring for this clientele, difficulty in supporting care was observed, which may result in increased use of emergency services (McCusker et al., 2009). However, it is known that these care settings are not optimal and few studies have addressed this issue. Thus it becomes urgent to understand the context surrounding an emergency visit for these patients.

This descriptive study of sequential mixed type (Creswell, 2009) tries to profile the patients who attended the emergency services at the Charles Le Moyne Hospital and highlight the reasons for consultation, coping strategies used before coming to the emergency and the overall care experience for oncogeriatric customers at the emergency. Data collection provides exploration of administrative databases and conducting semi-structured interviews (n = 12-15) with cancer patients older than 70 years and over who visited the emergency services of the Charles Le Moyne Hospital during the last year.

This research project was presented to the team of health professionals at the Integrated Cancer Centre Montérégie (ICMC) in January and approved by the Ethics Research Committee of the CSSS- Champlain Charles Le Moyne in February 2014. Thus, the beginning of the data collection is planned for late February 2014.

The anticipated benefits of this study are to fill a knowledge gap on the delivery and organization of care at the interface of cancer and aging, the reasons for consultation, coping strategies used before visiting the emergency and overall eldercare experience for cancer patients in the ED.

Ms. Nguyen is a recipient of a RRISIQ Fellowship (2013-2014). She also holds a Masters' training award for applicants with a professional degree by the FRQ -S, scholarships from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences from Université de Sherbrooke, and scholarships from the CSSS Champlain Charles Le Moyne Research Centre and from the Ordre régional des infirmières et infirmiers de la Montérégie (ORIIM).