Once our PSI Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellows take off from the starting line, they make strides as they move their knowledge translation activities and research program forward. As the finish line becomes clearer in their sight, we asked our 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson KT Fellow, Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw, some questions to share her progress thus far, and what she looks forward to in the remainder of her KT Fellowship.
What are some of your accomplishments from the KT Fellowship thus far?
We engaged over 300 patients and caregivers across Canada in a group concept mapping study to identify which experiences on general medical inpatient wards most impacted them, and which should be prioritized for quality improvement efforts. The study manuscript is currently undergoing peer review at a journal, and the findings will be presented as an oral abstract at the Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research annual meeting in May 2026.
Please describe any challenges/barriers that you have encountered thus far and what actions were/will be taken to resolve them?
Engaging hospital inpatients and their caregivers in data collection certainly presented many challenges – many patients are quite sick, often going for tests or otherwise occupied, and caregivers are often not at the bedside. In addition, group concept mapping is a multiphase approach, so we had several waves of recruitment and data collection at each site. It was a huge lift, and I credit the many dedicated site principal investigators, their staff and students with making it all happen through their tireless efforts.
What are some items/deliverables that you look forward to coming to fruition in the remainder of your KT Fellowship?
We are preparing work that compares physicians’ ratings of the same experience items for perceived importance to experience, and as priorities for quality improvement. A scoping review to identify quality metrics related to a top priority item is also underway. We will continue to share this growing body of work with the clinical, quality improvement and health administrative communities, where it will be useful to shape improvement efforts and performance measurement.
What are some things that surprised you during your fellowship thus far?
Prospective research involving the recruitment of hospital inpatients is so much harder than it seemed at first glance. Due to the time and number of people involved, it requires a large budget of both time and money. This took me out of my comfort zone, and I learned a lot.
