Ms. Maura Purdon, Co-Chair, SWAHN Palliative Care Project Team; Director, Palliative Care; Erie St. Clair Hospice Palliative Care Network
Maura Purdon is the Erie St. Clair Hospice Palliative Care Network Director responsible for system planning in palliative care as well as leadership of the Erie St. Clair Regional Palliative Care Education Collaborative. She assumed responsibilities as the Network Director in June 2015 following 7 years in palliative care education developing the Education Collaborative. Annually the Collaborative through a network of partnering organizations supports the education of 700-1500 health care providers – physicians, NPs, nurses, Allied Health Professionals, Pastoral Care and volunteers working in community care, hospitals, LTCHs and hospices. Maura is employed through the ESC CCAC under a host agency model.
Prior to assuming full time employment through the ESC CCAC, Maura was a Partner in the consulting firm, Bright Harbour Partners where she worked with over 30 For-Profit and Not-For-Profit organizations across Southwestern Ontario facilitating planning sessions with Boards and Management teams, leading merger, restructuring and strategic planning initiatives and supporting the development of palliative care education.
For 18 years Maura was employed in the Financial Services sector where her work included operational and corporate management roles as well as company-wide leadership of major change initiatives associated with mergers and acquisitions.
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Research Project - Study of curriculum related to the entry-to-practice level across the SouthWestern Academic Health Network (SWAHN) region’s educational institutions
In 2015, a research study was initiated to address the lack of standardized education and training among health care professionals engaged in providing palliative care. This project was developed to address the challenge highlighted in Advancing High Quality, High Value Palliative Care in Ontario: Declaration of Partnership Commitment to Action, a document produced by Ontario's Local Health Integration Networks and the Quality Hospice Palliative Care Coalition in 2011.
Early discussions concluded that participants from across the SWAHN region would focus their collective effort to study the gaps in education and training across programs for health providers that are typically engaged in palliative care core teams. These disciplines include physicians, registered nurses, practical nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, personal and developmental support workers, pharmacists, and spiritual care providers.
The group established its project scope at the entry-to-practice level and determined that its initial focus for the research study would be nursing and practical nursing programs. The research team included representation from five educational institutions across the SWAHN region:
- Principal Investigator & Co-Presenter: Dr. Marie Savundranayagam, Associate Professor, School of Health Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University
- Co-Investigator & Co-Presenter: Dr. Kathryn Pfaff, Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing, University of Windsor
- Co-Investigator: Ms. Kelly Butler, Professor, Nursing, Lambton College
- Co-Investigator: Dr. Sandra DeLuca, Chair, School of Nursing, Fanshawe College
- Co-Investigator: Ms. Thelma Riddell, Associate Director, Undergraduate Programs, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University
- Co-Investigator: Ms. Linda Watson, Chair, School of Nursing, St. Clair College
- Project Team Co-Chair: Ms. Lisa Malbrecht, Director, Complex Care, Parkwood Institute, St. Joseph’s Health Care London
- Project Team Co-Chair: Ms. Maura Purdon, Director, Palliative Care, ESC LHIN
- SWAHN Manager: Ms. Catherine Joyes
A project overview and final results of the research study can be found here:
Palliative Care Curriculum Project Overview
Palliative Care Curriculum Research Project Results
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Palliative Care Project Team - Terms of Reference
The Palliative Care Project Team falls under the direction of the SWAHN Co-Lead who is overseeing the Interprofessional Collaboration Stream. The Project Team’s primary focus will be to explore the current state of education and training related to palliative care with respect to all health and human service providers across the continuum of education in Southwestern Ontario. This analysis will allow the Project Team to inform the future state of educational programs, encouraging the incorporation of palliative care education into the curriculum.
The Palliative Care Project Team will:
2. Liaise with and report to the SWAHN Co-Lead who is overseeing the Interprofessional Collaboration Stream concerning matters related to the focus and advancement of the following Project Team activities as guided by the Declaration of Partnership & Commitment to Action released in 2011:
professionals across the continuum of education in Southwestern Ontario;
b. A gap analysis of the curriculum based on the inventory (e.g., the current state);
c. A strategy to improve consistency within the core curriculum through the development of a model for streamlined education (e.g., the ideal future state)
d. The development of a survey of palliative care research.
4. Identify appropriate performance measures to monitor progress and performance.
