The University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry is pleased to announce its involvement in Promoting Access and Care through Centres of Excellence (PACE), a new nationwide initiative to connect major research centers and facilities that provide care to patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
This project, introduced by Crohn's & Colitis Canada, is spearheaded by Geoffrey Nguyen, clinical scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, ON. Nguyen and Mount Sinai have been joined by experts from four other leading hospitals: the University of Alberta, University of Calgary (AB), McMaster University (ON) and McGill University (QC) to create this network. Leading U of A's efforts within PACE is the dean of the FoMD, Richard Fedorak.
"It is very exciting for the University of Alberta to be a part of a national project that will significantly improve the quality of patients' lives and our possibilities to treat them," says Fedorak.
The idea behind PACE is to immediately improve patient care at each of these sites, increase reach to remote communities, standardize best practices across Canada and reduce chronic steroid use.
Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). According to Crohn's & Colitis, one in every 150 Canadians is living with one of these two diseases and even families new to Canada are developing them for the first time. There is no known cure for them, a factor that compels health care professionals to work on better ways to reach and treat these patients.
The PACE model is unique for Crohn's and colitis care in Canada. PACE will facilitate a combination of independent research and collaborative learning over a four-year period. During the first year each centre of excellence will drive its own research. Following, the centres will work collaboratively in order to develop their own competencies in all areas to determine the best course of action for IBD patients, and eventually establish a consistent model that will help physicians throughout the country make better and more informed decisions.
U of A, in conjunction with the University of Calgary, will focus on steroid use-current chronic steroid use is too high and both facilities aim to standardize clinical practices to reduce it. "Three quarters of patients referred to a specialist are on steroid treatment and our work addresses this issue," explains Remo Panaccione, from U of C.
"We are introducing technology to integrate best practices into the healthcare system that will ensure all patients are getting the best care," adds Fedorak.
Mount Sinai hospital's goal as part of this project is to develop an IBD telemedicine network that will deliver specialized care in remote areas.
McMaster will work on an electronic platform to monitor patient's health in between clinic visits, empowering patients by monitoring their own health and making medical appointments more efficient with this background.
The collaboration from McGill University will measure the improvements in patient outcomes delivered through the PACE network.
"By joining forces across the country, we can streamline our efforts into a better guided plan to reach positive outcomes for patients. It is a promising project-we get to expand care delivery, make sure that the entire population has access to the same quality of treatments, and maximize our research and technology development by helping each other for this common objective," concludes Fedorak.
Crohn's and Colitis Canada's will initially invest $2.5 million in PACE over the next four years, along with its partners AbbVIE Corporation, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Canada. The organization plans to add more centres to the network and share all breakthroughs that will benefit IBD patients.