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Paul Stolee

Paul first became interested in the field of geriatrics through an early research experience working with geriatrician Dr. Duncan Robertson. Working with Ken Rockwood—today one of our leading geriatric researchers— they conducted the first population-based survey on the prevalence of dementia in Canada. “This was at a time when there was little recognition of dementia, and symptoms of Alzheimer Disease were often dismissed as behaviours associated with being admitted to a nursing home. I was attracted to working in a field where so much needed to be done.”

Paul has continued to focus his efforts in areas of geriatric research that he believes are often overlooked, yet rich with potential to yield the kind of information that can inform and improve service delivery to seniors.

It is commonly noted that the elderly are major consumers of health care services, however, “… that the health care system devotes considerable resources to the care of older persons does not necessarily mean they are served well,” stresses Paul. He believes there are several areas that deserve particular attention in order to ensure effective health care for seniors.

One area rich with potential for improved service delivery is the way that the health care sector manages ‘transitions’ – when a client is moving from one health care setting to another (e.g., from the community to a hospital, or from the hospital to a long-term care home). There is often inadequate communication both within and between health care settings, which can result in poor communication of consumer care needs. Plans of care, rehabilitation goals, consumer preferences and needs often need to be restated upon entering each new heath care setting. Improving communication across health care sectors is an area that has great potential to improve care and outcomes for older persons.

Paul believes that home care, in particular, is understudied and unsupported as a tool to ensure that people remain functioning as well as possible. Home care provides an option that can enable older persons to remain in their homes and communities as long as possible, and that can avoid potentially unnecessary admissions to acute care hospitals or to long-term care homes. These goals could be furthered by increased attention to home-based rehabilitation services. In his own research, Paul is interested in understanding the challenges experienced by home care case managers and service providers in using and sharing information collected for standardized health information systems. And, significantly, he is doing research to determine the best ways to present this information to case managers and service providers in order to support the application of this information to the care of home care clients with rehabilitation needs.

Although Paul has focused his efforts to date on identifying challenges to use of health information in the field of rehabilitation services provided through home care, many of his research findings can be generalized to a larger audience. Many of the difficulties encountered by case managers working with home care consumers who receive rehabilitation services will be the same barriers experienced by case managers for home care clients in general. He is also working with Waterloo colleagues in Health Studies and Gerontology and in Statistics and Actuarial Science to explore the use advanced statistical methods, including data mining techniques, to use health information system data to answer important questions, for example: Which home care clients have rehabilitation potential? What are the predictors of functional decline or improvement? Who is at risk for hip fracture?

Paul Stolee is focusing his research efforts in areas that are rich with potential for improving the delivery of home care services, hence, rich with potential for enhancing the lives of the many home care consumers in Ontario.

We very much look forward to following Paul Stolee’s future research endeavors.