Edward Fitzgibbon

• The Ottawa Hospital

Background Returning home from the hospital for palliative‐focused care is a common transition, but the process can be emotionally distressing and logistically challenging for patients and caregivers. While interventions exist to aid in the transition, none have been developed in partnership with patients and caregivers. Objective To undergo the i...

Background We aim to describe the occurrence of red blood cell transfusion and associated predictive factors and outcomes among patients referred for palliative care. Study Design and Methods This retrospective cohort study used linked health administrative data of adults referred for palliative care at an academic hospital from 2014 to 2018. Mult...

Background: Discharging patients from inpatient palliative care units to the community is aligned with patients' desires to be cared for and die at home. However, there is little research examining patient outcomes after discharge. Objective: To describe the outcomes of patients discharged from an inpatient palliative care unit. Design: A single-...

Background Patients who engage in Advance Care Planning (ACP) are more likely to get care consistent with their values. We sought to determine the barriers and facilitators to ACP engagement after discharge from hospital. Methods Prior to discharge from hospital eligible patients received a standardized conversation about prognosis and ACP. Each p...

pain is one of the most prevalent symptoms in patients with advanced cancer and, according to anecdotal reports, perhaps the most feared. Surprisingly, fear of pain has been the subject of little research within cancer care. The literature on chronic noncancer pain, however, suggests that fear of pain contributes to limitations in function in popul...

Radiotherapy is an effective but underutilized treatment modality for cancer patients. We decided to investigate the factors influencing radiotherapy referral among family physicians in our region. A 30-item survey was developed to determine palliative radiotherapy knowledge and factors influencing referral. It was sent to 400 physicians in eastern...

To assess family physicians' views on common indications for palliative radiotherapy and to determine whether this influences patient referral. A 30-item questionnaire evaluating radiotherapy knowledge and training developed at the Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre (ORCC) was mailed to a random sample of 400 family physicians in eastern Ontario, Canada...

A 1-day workshop was conducted to gather interested Canadian radiation oncologists to identify priority research questions that could be answered through clinical trials under the auspices of the National Cancer Institute of Canada--Clinical Trials Group (NCIC-CTG) Symptom Control committee. In preparation for the workshop, a survey of Canadian rad...

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Ottawa, 2004. Includes bibliographical references.