Elaine Hyshka

Biography

Elaine Hyshka is an Assistant Professor in the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health and Scientific Director of the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s Inner City Health and Wellness Program. Dr. Hyshka is an applied health services and policy researcher, focused on generating knowledge to support implementation of a public health approach to substance misuse. Her research is conducted in partnership with a variety of health service providers, advocacy organizations, and decision-makers at the local, provincial, and national level. A major focus of Dr. Hyshka’s research program is conducting research that contributes to new standards of care for people who misuse drugs and alcohol, which are patient-centered, effective and ethical.

https://www.ualberta.ca/public-health/about/faculty-staff/academic-listing/elaine-hyshka

Node Funded Project (April 2016)

Title: Implementing harm reduction services in acute care: patient and health care provider experiences

Principal Investigator: Elaine Hyshka, University of Alberta

Co-Investigators:

Dr. Ginetta Salvaggio, Dr. Katherine Dong (University of Alberta), Dr. Lara Nixon, (University of Calgary)

Description

Dr. Hyshka is recipient of a CRISM seed grant entitled ‘Implementing harm reduction services in acute care: patient and health care provider experiences’. The purpose of the project is to describe one of Canada’s first beside needle and syringe programs for acute care inpatients who inject drugs, and generate evidence to enhance this program’s delivery.

Publications:

• O’Brien, D. C., Dabbs, D., Dong, K., Veugelers, P. J., & Hyshka, E. (2019). Patient characteristics associated with being offered take home naloxone in a busy, urban emergency department: A retrospective chart review. BMC Health Services Research. 19(1), 1-12.
• Hyshka, E., Morris, H., Anderson-Baron, J., Nixon, L., Dong, K., & Salvalaggio, G. (2019). Patient perspectives on a harm reduction-oriented addiction medicine consultation team implemented in a large acute care hospital. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 204, 107523.
• Brooks HL, Salvalaggio G, Pauly B, Dong K, Bubela T, Taylor M, Hyshka E. (2022). “I have such a hard time hitting myself, I thought it’d be easier”: perspectives of hospitalized patients on injecting drugs into vascular access devices. Harm Reduct J. 19(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s12954-022-00637-1.