About Us
Program Lead: Sherry Dahlke, Faculty of Nursing University of Alberta
Dr. Dahlke’s focus of interest, older people, arose from experiences as a clinical nurse and Clinical leader. Nursing practice questions led her to academia where both her masters and Ph.D. research projects focused on nursing practice with hospitalized older people. These studies revealed three themes that remain important in her program of research: (1) that nursing teams and interprofessional teams are important to caring for older people; (2) that nurses do not feel adequately prepared to care for older people; and (3) that clinical context affects nursing actions with older people. Since establishing and developing a program of research aimed at Improving Nursing Practice with Older People, another theme of (4) nurses’ perspectives of safety and harm has been developed as important to how nurses practice with older people.
Most recently, Dr. Dahlke is developing a second program of research AGECANN that seeks to understand older person experiences with ageism and related to accessing information about and cannabis for health conditions. Current research projects reflect this new program with studies “Awakening Canadians to Ageism” and “Seniors’ perceptions of information seeking and access to cannabis for health conditions”
Dr. Dahlke has been principal investigator and co-investigator on national, provincial, and local grants. National grant funders include the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant, and Partnership Development grant; Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Gerontological Research Grant; Provincial grant funders include the Institute for Continuing Care Education and Research (ICCER) , Seniors Health Strategic Clinical Network in Alberta and the Alberta Innovates/College Licensed Practical Nurses, Alberta Health Services Quality Improvement Project;. Local grant funders include the Endowment Fund for the Future (EFF), the Faculty Establishment grant, Vancouver Island University Research Funds, Helen Shore Award from the University of British Columbia, Malaspina University College Capacity building grant, and the Glenrose Rehabilitation Clinical Research Awards.
Dr. Dahlke has won the Gerontological Nurse Educator award and the McCalla Teaching Professorship award. She has been an invited presenter at the International Committee of the Hartford Foundation, an International Philosophy of Nursing conference, the International Day of Older persons HelpAge conference, for the Alberta Gerontological Nurses Conference (AGNA), an ICCER research day, Geriatric Grand Rounds at the Glenrose Hospital, Nursing Quality Improvement Rounds in Edmonton, Vancouver Island chapter of the Gerontological Nurses Association, and research presenter at the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. Dr. Dahlke is also co-chair of the International Committee for the Hartford Foundation.
Dr. Dahlke has been interviewed by national and local news reporters related to her current project that aims to awaken Canadians to ageism. She was recently a national speaker about ageism in the film Duty Free. Dr. Dahlke was also interviewed as an expert based on my Master’s thesis for a DVD (that won an international award) on understanding delirium in older people. The DVD has also been used in undergraduate nursing programs in North America.