2024/25
Characterizing the cerebrovascular physiology of circulatory death during medical assistance in dying to optimize organ donation opportunities
Most organ donors are on life support in the ICU, and can undergo donation by two pathways. The first is called neurological death donation (NDD), where patients have completely lost brain function and donation can begin immediately. The second is called donation after cardiac death (DCD), where patients with remnant brain function are taken off life support until blood pressure is too low to support brain function. Donation then begins. In recent years, patients undergoing Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) have elected to become organ donors. MAID patients become donors through the DCD pathway, as they have intact brain function. We suspect that the blood pressure threshold where brain function ceases is different in MAID patients than ICU patients. We will study this by measuring brain blood flow, brain oxygenation, and blood pressure during the MAID process. We will engage all patients and their families before and during this process, to increase research uptake.
Primary Investigator: Dr. Daljeet Chahal
Co-investigators: Dr. Cheryl Wellington, Dr. George Isac, Laurel Plewes, Liz Mbithi,Dr. Mypinder Sekhon, Parveen Sangha, Rebecca Gray, Dr. Veronica Hirsch-Reinshagen
Patient Partner: David Boloten and Laura Peeler
For an up-to-date list of publications by Dr. Daljeet Chahal, please see ResearchGate
Improving the journey of care of people with advanced heart failure and transplant: Implementation of a peer mentorship program in practice (PMP-IP)
Heart transplant (HT) and Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) implantation is a life-changing event for patients with acute heart failure (AHF). Patients within the Heart Transplant Program (HTP) at St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH) have expressed through various modes of feedback that they would value peer support to help manage these life changing circumstances. The team (with 4 patient partners involved), already performed a pilot research project through multiple patient interviews and created a blueprint of what patients think a formal mentorship program at SPH should look like. This current study is to implement this mentorship program into SPH, turning it from blueprint to reality in practice. We plan to evaluate the success of the program implementation, and to see if patients feel that the mentorship program is actually beneficial to them. Changes and updates to the program will be made from the results of this study.
Principal investigator: Wynne Chiu
Co-investigators: Josie Mackey, Josie Mackey, Kim Brownjohn, Rachel Millgan, Katrien Moore, Dr. Brian Clarke and Sandra Lauck
Patient Partner: Naomi Lee, Kristi Coldwell, Marc Bains
For an up-to-date list of publications by Wynne Chiu, please see ResearchGate