Dr Raechel Damarell is Senior Research Fellow with CareSearch (including palliAGED) and currently represents RePaDD’s early and middle career RePaDD members on its management committee.
What is your main research area and why did it pique your interest?
Before moving into my research role, I worked in health librarianship at Flinders University, where I developed a deep interest in how clinicians’ access, interpret, and apply research in patient care. My career began at a pivotal moment in time – the shift from print to digital resources – when information became more widely accessible but also more variable in quality. While this shift has arguably democratised knowledge, it continues to raise questions about how clinicians navigate evidence and whether better pathways and support systems are needed to keep practice closely aligned with research. This is why, I believe, the work of CareSearch is more important than ever. The impact of artificial intelligence on knowledge creation over coming years will also be of great importance.
What are you currently working on and how do you envision it helping improve palliative and end-of-life care?
CareSearch recently completed a major update of its clinical evidence summaries to support palliative care clinician education and knowledge development. We are now undertaking a similar process for the palliAGED website, working closely with a multidisciplinary advisory group across home and residential aged care to ensure the content and its presentation reflects the priorities and needs of this sector. Since we last updated these aged care evidence summaries (around 2021), it is pleasing to see a growth in research on best practice end-of-life care in this setting. The sector needs its own body of knowledge as aged care becomes more complex with growing numbers of people with multimorbidity, frailty and dementia.
What are the next steps in terms of rolling out and further collaboration?
The next phase involves research to understand how clinicians use this evidence and whether it supports workforce capacity-building – an urgent issue given the ongoing aged care reform. With the new Aged Care Act and Standards placing greater accountability on planning, delivering, and evaluating end-of-life care, there’s a timely opportunity to ensure evidence is embedded in practice in a meaningful way.
What have been the highlights of your research journey so far?
During my PhD, I explored how general practitioners use evidence-based guidelines to manage patients with multiple chronic conditions. It was eye-opening to hear firsthand how the complexities of real-world clinical care often contrast with the idealised models of evidence-based practice that have shaped medicine over the past 25 years. I remain fascinated by how clinicians make decisions when evidence is conflicting, inconclusive, or absent. Understanding how GPs integrate their knowledge of the patient and their circumstances to navigate these gaps is of enduring interest to me.
Outside of research, how do you like to spend your spare time?
After years of being a devoted admirer of flamenco, I recently took the leap and started lessons as a beginner. It has been a joyful later-life adventure, culminating in my first flamenco performance in late 2024 – alongside my more experienced daughter. Next stop – Seville!