Administering continuous subcutaneous drugs to provide chronic pain relief for palliative care patients ($25,000)
The Clifford Craig Trust provided a research grant to the Deputy Director of Pharmacy at the LGH, Mr Patrick Keefe, to assess the costs and benefits of administering continuous subcutaneous drugs to provide chronic pain relief for cancer patients.
The project aimed to document the outcome of treatment for every patient having subcutaneous infusions of morphine and other drugs for palliative care. This included assessing indications for morphine and any other drugs: the extent to which the treatment succeeded; problems encountered; the financial cost of treatment, in terms of admissions prevented and additional home visits not required; and the opinion of the family or carer regarding overall benefit or difficulties of the treatment.
The Launceston General Hospital patient catchment area provided a rare “laboratory” in which to perform this research. With its relatively small, static population and isolated geography, the number of palliative care patients could be accurately assessed, along with cancer type and incidence.
No other prospective study of this type had been undertaken in this area of palliative care, and the study could serve as a model enabling projections to be made in the planning of services both in Australia and overseas. The research findings were presented at the World Congress on Pain held in Vienna in 1999 and received critical acclaim.
Tasmania's Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust was established in 1991.