- Date of birth: 070853
- Present position: Professor of Palliative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, NTNU.
- Vice managing director, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital.
- Director of the European Palliative Care Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, NTNU.
| Education: | |
|---|---|
| 1980 | Medical doctor, University of Oslo |
| 1989 | Certified specialist in Oncology |
| 1989 | PhD (dr.med.), University of Oslo |
| Work experience: | |
| 1980-81 | Internship in surgery and internal medicine, Notodden Hospital, Norway, |
| 1981 | Internship community practice, Fjaler, Norway |
| 1981-82 | Family Medicine in private practice Bærum, Norway |
| 1983-86 | Junior doctor in medical oncology and radiotherapy, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo |
| 1986-87 | Research fellow/PhD-student, The Norwegian Cancer Society, Oslo, Norway |
| 1988-89 | Junior doctor internal medicine, Diakonhjemmets Hospital/Lovisenberg Hospital, Oslo, Norway |
| 1990-93 | Consultant medical oncology and radiotherapy, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, Norway |
| 1990-94 | Chair of the Board, Institute for Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway |
| 2002-06 | Chair of the Board, Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway |
| 1993-10 | Director of Palliative Medicine Unit, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway |
| 1993- | Professor of Palliative medicine, Faculty of medicine, NTNU, Norway |
| 2006- 2013 | National Cancer Director, Norwegian Directorate of Health, Oslo, Norway |
| 2009- | Director, European Palliative Care Research Centre, NTNU, Norway |
| 2010- 2013 | Head of the Cancer Clinic, St. Olavs Hospital HF, Trondheim, Norway |
| 2013- | Deputy managing director, St. Olavs Hospital HF, Trondheim, Norway |
| Selected merits/assignments: | |
| 1998-01 | Chair of the Program for Research on Alternative Medicine, The Norwegian Research Council |
| 1999-05 | Member of the Board, Norwegian Association for Palliative Medicine |
| 1999-05 | President of the European Association for Palliative Care, EAPC |
| 2000-05 | Member of the Program Committee for Applied Clinical Research and Alternative Medicine, Norwegian Research Council |
| 1993-07 | Member of the Evaluation Committee for Clinical and Epidemiological Research, The Norwegian Cancer Society |
| 2007-08 | Member of the Program Committee, Patient and Survivor Care, ASCO |
| 2007-08 | Committee Member, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) |
| 2007-08 | Reviewer for the “Palliative & End of Life Care” peer review committee, CIHR IRSC, Canada |
| 2007-08 | Section Editor, The Oncologist |
| 2007-09 | Member of the IAEA Group for Palliative Radiotherapy |
| 2007-10 | Chairman, Møbius Research Award, The Norwegian Research Council |
| 2008-09 | Member of the Expert group for the Minister of Health |
| 1993-this date | Professor of Palliative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, NTNU |
| 1993-this date | Member, European Association for Palliative Care Research Network (EAPC RN) |
| 2005-this date | Editorial board, European Journal of Palliative Care |
| 2006-this date | Co-editor, Palliative Medicine |
| 2007-this date | Co-editor, Oxford Textbook of Palliative Care |
| 2007-this date | Chair, EAPC RN |
| 2007-this date | Member of the Editorial Board of Archives of Medical Science |
| 2007-this date | Member of the Assessment panel for the Australian Government Cancer Clinical Trials. |
| 2008-this date | Reviewer, Wolters Kluwer Health |
| 2008-this date | Board member of International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care, IAHPC |
| 2008-this date | Member, DKNVS Academy (The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters) |
| 2009-this date | Chair for European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC) |
| 2009-this date | Evaluator of proposals for the EU Framework 7 HEALTH-2010 single stage cancer call |
| 2009-this date | Member of the International Advisory Board, Lancet Oncology |
| 2011-this date | Member of the Editorial Board, BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care Journal (SP Care) |
| 2012-this date | Member of the Editorial Board, "The Open Access Journal of Science and Technology" |
| 2012-this date | Editorial Board of Annals of Palliative Medicine (APM |
Establishment and Integration of Palliative Care into Mainstream Oncology
Abstract
The incidence and prevalence of cancer diseases are increasing. Combined with new developments within diagnostics and treatment, this leads to more people living longer with their disease. Due to these developments, WHO has re-defined its definition of palliative care, now emphasising the need for it to be applied early in the course of illness in parallel with mainstream oncological treatment such as chemo- and radiotherapy (1). In this way the patients’ symptom burden can be reduced early, even in a curative phase of the disease.
When looking at patients’ quality of life in a palliative care setting, time spent at home is a key factor. In Norway, only 13 % of patients die at home, despite that most would prefer to (2). An early palliative care intervention might influence time spent at home, as well as improve symptom control and overall quality of life (3). A palliative approach includes the efforts of a multidisciplinary team consisting of physiotherapists, nutritionalists, clergy and social workers in addition to physicians and nurses, and therefore gives the patients access to a wide variety of tools in order to cope with their disease.
More time spent at home presupposes sufficient competence at all levels of the health care system, in addition to seamless communication and collaboration between the primary and specialist health care systems – and between oncologists and palliative care specialists. In order to facilitate a model that enables treatment and follow-up of patients at the lowest effective level, standardised care pathways are of great importance. Such clinical care pathways clearly define tasks and responsibilities throughout the patient’s disease trajectory (4), a system which makes an integrated approach between palliative care and oncology easier to implement. Consequently, this will improve the quality of care provided for the patient in all stages of disease.
Reference
- 1. World Health Organisation (WHO): Palliative Care Definition [cited 2014 13.02.].
Available from: http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/. - 2. Cohen J, Houttekier D, Onwuteaka-Philipsen B, Miccinesi G, Addington-Hall J, Kaasa S, et al. Which Patients With
Cancer Die at Home? A Study of Six European Countries Using Death Certificate Data. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2010;28(13):2267-73. - 3. Solheim TS, Fearon KC, Blum D, Kaasa S. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory treatment in cancer cachexia: a systematic literature review. Acta Oncol. 2013;52(1):6-17.
- 4. Rotter T, Kinsman L, James E, Machotta A, Gothe H, Willis J, et al. Clinical pathways: effects on professional practice, patient outcomes, length of stay and hospital costs. Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online).
2010(3):Cd006632.
