Stein Kaasa
An MD with specialisation in medical oncology, radiotherapy and palliative medicine. In 1993 he was appointed as the first Professor in palliative medicine in Scandinavia. He has been the National Cancer Director in Norway, president of EAPC, the leader of the EAPC Research Network and the coordinator for earlier EU-funded projects. Currently he is the leader of the European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC) at Oslo University Hospital, one of the larger cancer centres in Europe and an OECI designated centre, and Professor Emeritus of Oncology and Palliative Medicine at the University of Oslo. He is the coordinator of the MyPath project; an innovation and implementation research project funded by the EU. He is also the work package leader in several other EU-funded projects, such as the Joint Action JANE2 and the EU initiative against cancer; EuonQoL. He is involved in several research collaborative and international partnerships on research and policy development. He has been an important advocate for evidence-based practice and has worked extensively to get palliative care and patient centred care research on the agenda, both nationally and internationally. He has published 604 articles and book chapters with an H index of 106. He has authored the Nordic Textbook of Palliative Care and is co-author and editor of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine.
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Palliative care – can we be evidence based? (10 min)
Palliative care from fragmented practise – to a system based upon the best evidence. How can palliative care move from Evidence-Based Medicine to Evidence-Based Practise? From a series of health quality clinical trials, it is shown that systematic evidence based symptom- and function assessment will improve patients’ outcomes – given that this key information is embedded into the clinical decision making processes. We also know, in most countries, this is not happening in routine clinical practise. Barriers at several levels will be addressed: organizational, staff competence, change management, human resistance to change, economic incentives, among others.
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1on1 interview