An Innovative Way of Supporting Community-Based Care for Patients with Complex Needs
John Duncan and Deb Cross Award – 2nd prize winner
A PhD student in Management (Health Systems specialization), Andrea is interested in healthcare delivery, family caregiving, care transitions, information systems, design thinking, and innovation. Andrea’s love of healthcare research is equally matched by her passion for the culinary arts.
She has received the John Duncan and Debb Cross award for a study published in BMC Health Services Research. Making an important contribution to health systems management, Andrea’s article helps us understand how to transition stroke patients from acute to home-based community care delivery more effectively.
Andrea started developing her study when she was an MSc student in the Health Systems program. Andrea was then supervised by Telfer School Professor Craig Kuziemsky and Faculty of Health Sciences Professor Tracey O’Sullivan.
Andrea’s article is the first to combine an existing model of continuity of care with the field of complex adaptive systems. As such, her study provides an innovative way of supporting the management of community-based care for patients with complex needs.
Moving forward, Andrea hopes to apply the skills and experiences gained in her doctoral studies to a career that will enable her to improve the healthcare system through research.
Publication
Ghazzawi, Andrea, C. Kuziemsky, T. O’Sullivan, (2016). Using a complex adaptive system lens to understand family caregiving experiences navigating the stroke rehabilitation system. BMC Health Services Research.
John Duncan and Deb Cross Award
The John Duncan and Deb Cross Award recognizes two PhD students for the quality and impact of a peer-reviewed publication. Alexander Chung received the first prize.