Announced last week, 15 teams have received funding through the 2022 Practice-Based Research Challenge. This funding award marks an important stage in the research journey, as the successful teams join over 100 practice-based Research Challenge teams who have been funded at Providence Health Care (PHC) since the program began.
The program is led by CHÉOS Research Associate Aggie Black, Director of Health Services & Clinical Research and Knowledge Translation at PHC.
“The newly funded Research Challenge teams will spend the next few months working on their ethics applications, with support from the PHC Ethics Office,” she said. “After ethics approval, the teams get to launch the fun and rewarding parts of the projects — collecting data to begin to answer their important research questions.”
The Research Challenge is an annual competition open to point-of-care PHC staff. The program offers research teams the opportunity to work with a mentor to develop a research proposal around a research question and learn basic research skills.
CHÉOS Scientists Drs. Ricky Turgeon and Skye Barbic are each mentoring a team, and Dr. Sandra Lauck is mentoring two. Dr. Turgeon will be supporting a team investigating the use of bisphosphonate after hip fracture surgery. Dr. Barbic’s team is looking into the experiences of Indigenous youth accessing mental health services. The teams mentored by Dr. Lauck are evaluating a new model for diabetes care and characterizing the perspectives of older adults with heart valve disease.
“Our partnership with CHÉOS is vital to the success of the Research Challenge”
CHÉOS research services are an integral part of the Challenge
As anyone who has been involved with research before knows, launching and completing a study always comes with unexpected challenges and complications. Since the beginning of the Research Challenge, CHÉOS staff have helped teams get their projects off the ground by providing initial consultations.
In some cases, CHÉOS staff also provide research services during the course of Research Challenge studies.
In a recent article (PHC Connect link or PDF) about her experience in the Research Challenge, Vini Bains, a PHC clinical nurse specialist, described the valuable leadership of CHÉOS Research Methodologist Sameer Desai.
“The consultation and services provided for by CHÉOS were amazing, particularly Sameer who was our consultant for the project,” said Bains. “We simply could not have done the advanced methodology and statistics, and navigated publications, without Sameer!”
Since 2016, CHÉOS staff have supported over 50 projects as part of the PHC Research Challenge.
“Our partnership with CHÉOS is vital to the success of the Research Challenge,” said Black. “We have CHÉOS Scientists on the Advisory Committee, mentoring teams, and co-authoring publications with teams, as well as providing consultations that strengthen teams’ proposals for funding. We couldn’t run the program without these CHÉOS supports!”
The 2022 Research Challenge teams will conduct their research and analyses throughout 2023, with final reports on their findings expected in January 2024. You can read more about the 2022 Research Challenge cohort here (PHC Connect link or PDF).
