NHMRC Chronic Kidney Disease Centre of Research Excellence

Dr Carol Douglas

Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Palliative Care
+61 7 3636 8111

View profile on ResearchGate

Positions

  • Director of Palliative and Supportive Care Service, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
  • Adjunct Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland

Qualifications

NZ Cert Science, M.B.ChB., FRACGP, FAChPM, Graduate Diploma Family Medicine (Monash University), Graduate Diploma Palliative Medicine (Universty of Wales) 

Professional memberships and associations

  • Chair Metro North End of Life Care Committee
  • Chair of the Queensland Palliative Medicine Training Pathway
  •  President of Australian New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine.
  • Member of the Council for International Collaborative Best Care of the Dying

Current projects/grants

  • National Safety and Quality Commission Study into End of Life in Acute HospitHospitals, a multisite study of death audits and staff surveys, to develop indicators end of life care.
  • Revision of the Queensland Health endorsed ‘Clinical Guidance for the Dying’ Document 

Researcher biography

Dr Douglas worked at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the area of Breast Cancer research before returning to NZ to study medicine. Here she was a General Practitioner before gaining Specialist qualifications in Palliative Medicine. After seven years at The Prince Charles Hospital Palliative Care unit as Staff Specialist and latterly Acting Director, she was appointed as Director, RBWH Palliative and Supportive Care Service in 2005.

Carol lived in Asia from 1993-99 for a number of years where her medical experience included managing the medical service, including evacuation services in China for expatriates, and supporting the development of Palliative Care services at the Queen Elizabeth Government Hospital Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. She has returned annually over the last 10 years to continue service support and clinical learning development and continues to support Asia Pacific and Indian Palliative Care development as a speaker.

Publications

Journal Articles (8)
Conference Paper (1)

Journal Articles

Kearney, Alison, Tiwari, Neha, Cullen, Olivia, Legg, Amy, Arbi, Ismail, Douglas, Carol, Leggett, Barbara, Fenech, Mary, Mina, Joanne, Hoey, Paris and Skoien, Richard (2023). Improving palliative and supportive care in advanced cirrhosis: the HepatoCare model of integrated collaborative care. Internal Medicine Journal, 53 (11), 1963-1971. doi: 10.1111/imj.16248
Lukin, Bill, Greenslade, Jaimi, Kearney, Alison Mary, Douglas, Carol, Howell, Tegwen, Barras, Michael and Good, Phillip (2019). Conversion of other opioids to methadone: a retrospective comparison of two methods. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, 10 (2), bmjspcare-2018. doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2018-001645
Chambers, Shirley, Healy, Helen, Hoy, Wendy E, Kark, Adrian, Ratanjee, Sharad, Mitchell, Geoffrey, Douglas, Carol, Yates, Patsy and Bonner, Ann (2018). Health service utilisation during the last year of life: a prospective, longitudinal study of the pathways of patients with chronic kidney disease stages 3-5. BMC Palliative Care, 17 (1) 57, 57. doi: 10.1186/s12904-018-0310-8
Mudge, Alison M., Douglas, Carol, Sansome, Xanthe, Tresillian, Michael, Murray, Stephen, Finnigan, Simon and Blaber, Cheryl Ruth (2018). Risk of 12-month mortality among hospital inpatients using the surprise question and SPICT criteria: a prospective study. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 8 (2), 213-220. doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2017-001441
Douglas, C., Clarke, M., Alexander, S. and Khatun, M. (2016). A tertiary hospital audit of opioids and sedatives administered in the last 24h of life. Internal Medicine Journal, 46 (3), 325-331. doi: 10.1111/imj.12985
Henderson, Robert D., Hutchinson, Nicole, Douglas, James A. and Douglas, Carol (2014). Telehealth for motor neurone disease. Medical Journal of Australia, 201 (1), 31-31. doi: 10.5694/mja14.00170
Lukin, William, Douglas,Carol and O'Connor, Alan (2012). Palliative care in the emergency department: An oxymoron or just good medicine. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 24 (1), 102-104. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-6723.2011.01505.x
Hardy, Janet R., O'Shea, Angela, White, Clare, Gilshenan, Kristen, Welch, Louise and Douglas, Carol (2010). The efficacy of haloperidol in the management of nausea and vomiting in patients with cancer. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 40 (1), 111-116. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2009.11.321

Conference Paper

Mitchell, Geoff, Nikles, Jane, Carmont, Sue-Ann, Hardy, Janet, Good, Phillip, Agar, Meera, Clark, Katherine, Douglas, Carol, Vora, Rohan, Currow, David and Senior, H. (2013). Overview of N-of-1 study suite – lessons learned from three aggregated N-of-1 trials. PaCCSC 4th Annual Scientific Meeting and Research Forum 2013, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 20-21 Mar, 2013.

Areas of research

Practice improvement