After a few years of tirelessly working towards their research program and knowledge translation (KT) activities, our PSI KT Fellows reach the finish line of their fellowship. As they cross the end point towards their award, we asked our fellows for reflections on their journey to share their highlights from the fellowship and advice for other aspiring or current KT Fellows.
What are the key accomplishments and outcomes from your award?
One of the greatest accomplishments from this award was the creation of FIRST60: Prehospital, Trauma, and Resuscitation Sciences ( https://first60.ca/). FIRST60 was inspired by bringing together like-minded investigators with a passion for innovating and improving the care of severely injured and ill patients. As one of the co-founders and now Director of FIRST60, it has been an amazing experience seeing the collaboration and cross-pollination of people in this space. Over the last 2 years, we were successful in launching our website; hosting monthly forums; and are looking forward to hosting the inaugural Toronto Resuscitation Conference—in collaboration with Ornge and Unity Health Toronto—to highlight the work being done in the Canadian prehospital, trauma, and resuscitation sciences realm.
What are some lessons learned during the PSI KT Fellowship?
Over the course of this Fellowship I’ve learned a ton. But here are two that stand out:
1) Research is a dish best served with friends. I have had the privilege of working with the most dedicated team of individuals spanning backgrounds on emergency medicine, trauma surgery, transfusion medicine, knowledge translation, paramedicine, nursing and military medicine. Ontario is lucky to have such network of people working hard to keep them safe, and working hard to ensure timely access to the care they need.
2) Research funding for trauma and prehospital care research is limited. As there is no large funding body to support research like we do, it is critical to have the support of organizations like PSI Foundation. Impact factors and Citation Scores tell a part of research success, but so does having your research change local or provincial policies. Funding bodies like PSI have made it possible to perform research at the local and provincial level, allowing us to evaluate the systems we have in place and to provide guidance on how the trauma system can and should adapt to improve the lives of patients in Ontario.
What was the most memorable moment of this KT Fellowship?
As part of the launch of FIRST60, we made some swag and branded slide decks and attended our national trauma conference all wearing various types of FIRST60 branded clothing. It got noticed pretty quickly, and at one point someone burst out “WHAT IS THE FIRST60?”. I definitely had a proud dad moment there.
What are some general tips and advice you would give to those who are currently completing their KT Fellowship?
There are few other salary support awards out there that give you this flexibility to explore what is best for your career. While I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do during my KT Fellowship (and was still able to do those things), some of the best moments over the last 3 years were unexpected detours I took to explore other opportunities. In my case, one of these detours led to me becoming the PI on the Study of Whole blood In Frontline Trauma (SWiFT) Canada study. This is the first prehospital transfusion clinical trial in Canada, and was the first use of whole blood in the Canadian civilian environment. So while yes, you should always take time for yourself, friends, and family, allowing some flexibility to travel off the path or take an extra meeting or two could open up a whole other world of possibilities.
