Congratulations to Dr. Annette Schultz, Principal Investigator, Psychosocial Oncology and Cancer Nursing Research, St. Boniface Hospital Research, and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, as well as Dr. Michelle Lobchuk, Principal Investigator, Psychosocial Oncology and Cancer Nursing Research, St. Boniface Hospital Research, and Associate Professor and Manitoba Research Chair in Caregiver Communication, Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, whose publications were recently featured in the
Cancer Advocacy Coalition of Canada’s Report Card on Cancer in Canada.
Dr. Schultz explores the role of hospitals and health professionals in treating tobacco dependence during hospitalization, an option not consistently offered. Inpatients are forced to leave the hospital grounds to alleviate their withdrawal symptoms while clinical relief is at hand. There is an organizational responsibility to adopt a system-wide approach for treating tobacco dependence among hospital patients, which could include a role for Accreditation Canada.
Lung cancer incidence and mortality rates overshadow all other cancers, yet the success of anti-tobacco messages installed an identical stigma for the cancer and its victims. The intensity of stigma crushes research funding and charitable donations, impedes family/caregiver empathy and extends to health professionals offering subtle messages of blame. Nobody deserves to die from lung cancer. Dr. Lobchuk’s research finds that lay caregivers – the family and friends of a lung cancer patient – can harbour negative attitudes that impact their support for the patient.
The CACC is a full-time, registered, non-profit cancer group dedicated to advocacy, public education, policy analysis and evaluation of health system performance. The CACC operates on unrestricted grants from sponsors based on guidelines that ensure the organization’s autonomy, and publishes Canada’s only independent evaluation of cancer system performance, the annual Report Card on Cancer in Canada. The Board of Directors is comprised of unpaid volunteer health professionals, business executives and patient advocates from across the country.