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How will POPLAR put patient-oriented research into practice?

Oct 29
3 min read
On a white background, to the right are plain wooden puzzle pieces with four blue sticky notes mixed into them. The sticky notes have the words collaboration, respect, trust, and support written on them. To the left of the puzzle pieces and sticky notes, there is centred text that says patient-oriented research.

In April, we discussed why the Patient Advisory Committee is vital to POPLAR's success. But what does patient-oriented research look like in everyday practice?


Recently, POPLAR's Patient Advisory Committee discussed what role patient partners should play in the program. Two key questions emerged:


  • How do we make sure patient partners are meaningfully involved in research?

  • How do we connect researchers with the right patient partners?


Involving Patients Early and Often

On the left is line drawing of an alarm clock on the right are three raised hands with speech bubbles above them the three dots.

The goal is for people with lived experience to be true partners in research.  Lived experience includes perspectives as a patient, care partner, or both.


This means involving patient partners from the very beginning of a project. They can help shape research questions, identify the outcomes that matter most, and contribute to analyzing and sharing results. Their experiences can help ensure that research focuses on issues that are important to patients and communities.


Connecting Researchers and Patient Partners

In the centre is a circle surrounding a line drawing of four people. The four people represent patient partners. From the circle are lines extending with dots on the end to symbolize connections. To the left is a magnifying glass and three people to represent researchers. On the right is another line drawing of people with stethoscopes to represent clinicians.

A key part of patient-oriented research is matching researchers with people who have relevant lived experience.


One idea is to create a registry of individuals interested in becoming patient partners. People in the registry could identify their areas of experience, making it easier to find partners whose experiences align with a specific research project.


Having a list of interested patient partners ready would make recruitment more efficient and help researchers connect with the right people when new projects begin.


Training and Building Capacity

On the left is a line drawing of a person pointing to a screen with an graph and arrow with people in the forefront to represent a training session. To the right is an filled in line drawing a the profile of a persons head with a lightbulb sitting on top and cog wheel to the right of the head to suggest capacity building.

Successful patient-oriented research depends on more than making connections. Everyone involved needs the knowledge and skills to work together effectively. POPLAR is learning from different patient partner groups and patient-oriented research organizations so that training materials can be made available to researchers and any patient partners who want to get more involved in the research process.


Patient Partners

Patient partners bring valuable knowledge from their lived experiences. Their perspectives can help identify important research questions and outcomes that researchers may not have considered.


To support their participation, patient partners, particularly those who are newer to research, may benefit from learning about the research lifecycle, how research studies are conducted, and what their role on the research team might be. This can help them share their experiences in ways that strengthen research projects.


Patient partners can also provide feedback on how healthcare providers communicate with patients, helping improve care and support treatment plans.


Researchers

Researchers bring expertise in specific topics, study design, research methods, analyses, and knowledge mobilization. To ensure that researchers are integrating patient partners throughout the research process, additional training in patient-oriented research practices may be required. This might include learning how to communicate in a way that avoids technical language and can make meaningful involvement in the research process easier for patient partners.


Clinicians

Clinicians bring practical knowledge from working directly with patients. They understand what approaches work well in practice and whether research recommendations are realistic to implement. They can also identify trends and challenges they see among their patients that may inspire important research questions.


Training for clinicians may include research procedures, data collection requirements, and strategies for working effectively with patient partners throughout the research process.


What Does This Mean for POPLAR?

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) created the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) to make research more relevant and useful for Canadians. A key part of this approach is involving people with lived experience throughout the research process.


For POPLAR, this means identifying opportunities to better support the patient partner–researcher connection and providing the necessary resources to support meaningful engagement between these two groups.


An outline of a profile view of a person's head facing to the right. The mouth is open with three curved lines on the right of the mouth to indicate the person speaking.

The next steps include developing procedures for connecting patient partners with researchers, and identifying training needs for everyone involved. These activities will help build the foundation for POPLAR's patient-oriented research approach and ensure that patient voices remain a key part of future research.


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