The Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network (TVN) is a research-focused organization that works to improve health care for an aging population and to position Canada as a global leader in providing the highest quality of care for those in frail health.

Supported through the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), TVN is a driving force for the advancement of evidence-based health care practices and policies that improve the treatment and care of frail elderly Canadians. In fact, TVN is also supported as a host institution by Queen's and Kingston General Hospital.

“One of the most significant challenges facing Canada’s health care system is the misalignment of health care resources, clinical practices and care options for older Canadians deemed to be frail – a distinct health state characterized by debility, the presence of multiple, chronic health conditions, and higher risk of poor health care outcomes including death,” explains Dr. John Muscedere, Scientific Director of TVN, who also serves as Research Director in the Critical Care Program in the Department of Medicine at Queen’s.

“The number of frail elderly Canadians is expected to double to well over 2 million within the next 20 years,” he says.  “Earlier recognition and assessment of frailty will allow for the widespread integration of holistic models of care that will lead to measurable, significant improvements in health outcomes for Canada’s most vulnerable citizens.”

TVN partners with health care providers, universities, the private sector and community agencies to support research, study medical technologies, share knowledge and train care professionals to improve frail elderly care practices and outcomes across all settings of care.

Recognizing that frail elderly Canadians may be nearing the end of life, TVN is dedicated to their advance care planning and end-of-life care.

In early June, TVN held a national forum to consider what new health tools, practices and policies need to be developed to identify signs of frailty, and how care settings need to evolve to treat and to provide care and comfort to the more than 1 million Canadians now considered in frail health.

Dr. Duncan Sinclair, Professor Emeritus of Physiology and Fellow of the School of Policy Studies at Queen's University, and Former Vice-Principal (Health Sciences) and Past Dean, Faculty of Medicine, recently joined TVN’s board of directors and served with Dr. Richard Reznick, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s, on the steering committee for the national forum.

“’Moving towards a strategy for the care of Canada’s frail elderly’ is the first in a pair of forums focused on developing a national strategy that seek to initiate transformational change in health care for frail elderly Canadians,” Dr. Sinclair says.

“TVN’s essential purpose is to galvanize support for a national strategy within Canada’s multi-jurisdictional system; a complex, health policy challenge requiring a multi-faceted approach and the will to act,” he adds.

For more information on the work of TVN, visit their website.