Canadian Pediatric Palliative Care Research Activities

Over 50 requests for proposals (RFAs) were submitted to the first ever Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) call for Palliative and End-of-Life research grants in September 2003. As you may recall, 5 Pilot Project Grants and 1 New Emerging Team Grant (NET) with a pediatric emphasis were submitted (you can review the list of these grant applications on the CIHR Website.).

Below is a list of the successful applicants:

Although there were 5 strong pediatric Pilot Project Grant applications submitted, only 1 grant was eventually accepted. Congratulations to Kim Widger, PI and her co-investigators: Beaune L, Davies D, Drouin D, Farran P, Humbert N, Nalewajek F, and Rattray M on the successful application for their study called: "Pediatric Palliative Care Surveillance Pilot Project". Their study will survey pediatric hospitals/hospices in Halifax, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Quebec, Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa to gather a national picture of pediatric palliative care patients and to develop a national database for future population based information and program development initiatives.

22 teams submitted Letters of Intent (LOIs) for a NET grant of which 18 were invited to submit a full application. Congratulations to: Hal Siden, Betty Davies, Filomena Nalewajek et al for being selected as one of the NET grants to go forward to the next stage. Their application called "Transitions in Pediatric Palliative Care" is a collaborative proposal with Canuck Place Children's Hospice, Children's and Women's Health Centre of British Columbia, the University of British Columbia, the University of California at San Francisco and York University. This team received a $5,000.00 development grant to prepare for the full application competition in February 2004.

At the same time that the call for Palliative/End-of-Life RFAs went out from CIHR, a call for SARS related proposals was also put out. Congratulations to: Nicholas D, Antle B, Beaune L, Coates A, Gearing R, Koller D, Librach L, Salter Goldie R, West L. for their successful application called: "Exploring The Psychosocial and Health Service Consequences of SARS on Children and their Families: Lessons Learned for Pediatric Health Care Practice and Policy. This study will gain knowledge about the child, parent and health care experiences for children with chronic, acute and life threatening illnesses during the SARS outbreak in Toronto in 2003 and will provide recommendations for dealing with paediatric patients and their families in light of future public health endemics. This is a one year project with a grant of close to $147,000.00