Partners in knowledge
A valued partner in OSSU’s patient-oriented research activities, the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Evidence Alliance is a pan-Canadian research initiative led by Dr. Andrea Tricco and 10 other principal investigators across the country. It promotes evidence-informed health system decisions and changes through knowledge synthesis, guidelines, and implementation of evidence. Its expertise in knowledge synthesis and translation with an emphasis on patient-oriented research (POR) is aligned with OSSU’s ongoing work. On behalf of the SPOR Evidence Alliance, the Team for Implementation, Evaluation and Sustainability (TIES) of the Knowledge Translation Program, Unity Health Toronto, led a series of roundtable discussions to facilitate knowledge exchange of 17 OSSU-funded health research demonstration projects of POR in action.
This active knowledge exchange effort was created as a follow up to the CMAJ patient-oriented research supplement. The TIES, led by Dr. Christine Fahim, organized and hosted six half–day knowledge exchange roundtable events with principal investigators and patients from OSSU’s 17 Ontario-based health research projects actively showing patient partner engagement in action. The TIES created a series of reports showcasing the case studies to make the findings more accessible – and actionable – to funders, provincial decision makers and the public. Read the full report here.
“The goal was to help researchers disseminate the findings of their research, directly to policymakers, decision-makers, researchers and patient partners. The roundtables provided an opportunity for decision makers to directly engage with the researchers, ask questions, and provide feedback on how study findings could be disseminated or implemented,” said Dr. Fahim.
Capacity building and training are also a key focus for the TIES, Knowledge Translation Program which has supported OSSU’s initiatives in this area. For instance, they designed the Partners in Research Course along with patient/public partners and researchers. Read more about this work here.
Together, TIES, OSSU and the SPOR Evidence Alliance have partnered on key knowledge exchange and capacity building initiatives to encourage collaborative learning, coordinated efforts to avoid duplication and building a network to advance the science and conduct of patient-oriented research.
Learn more about the SPOR Evidence Alliance’s patient-oriented research in a series of papers in the FACETS journal.