Keela Herr and Marita Titler Receive $2.8 million dollar grant Keela Herr, Professor of Nursing at The University of Iowa College of Nursing and Principal Investigator, and Marita Titler, Director of Research, Quality and Outcomes Management in the Department of Nursing and Patient Care Services at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and Co-Principal Investigator, are recipients of a 2.8 million dollar National Cancer Institute grant to study ways to improve cancer pain management in older adults. “Pain is a significant concern for elders with advanced cancer in all practice settings, including hospices” notes Dr. Herr. “Though pain outcomes are better in hospice than non-hospice settings, there is considerable variation, and many patients still die in unresolved pain.” Barriers to improving quality of pain care exist and impact consistent use of evidence-based practices for assessing and treating pain in these patients. The project, Cancer Pain in Elders: Promoting Evidence-Based Practices in Hospices, builds on a current grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality led by Dr. Titler, Principal Investigator, and Dr. Herr, Co-Principal Investigator that is testing a multifaceted intervention – known as Translating Research into Practice, or TRIP –on adoption of acute pain management practices in hospitalized older adults. The new study will test the effects of the TRIP intervention on health care provider pain practices in hospices and pain outcomes in older adult hospice patients. Dr. Herr is well
known for her research and expertise in the area of geriatric pain assessment
and management and Dr. Titler has an extensive research portfolio in outcomes
effectiveness research and translation science. Other collaborators on
the grant include Dr. Perry Fine, Dr. William Clarke, Dr. Sara Sanders,
Dr. John Swegle and Dr. Toni Tripp-Reimer. |