We are excited about the potential of our project to generate meaningful evidence about the best ways to engage patients, care partners, clinicians and the public in research.
Catherine H. Saunders, PhD, MPHA research team led by Dartmouth Health and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth has been approved for $2,108,902 in funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), to study patient and public involvement (PPI) in research. The study aims to compare two methods of PPI in studies of pediatric mental health, cancer screening, and serious illness and the end-of-life.
The study is led by Catherine H. Saunders, PhD, MPH, a palliative medicine scientist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, and an assistant professor of medicine and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel; along with JoAnna K. Leyenaar, MD, PhD, MPH, MSc, a pediatric hospital medicine specialist at Dartmouth Health Children’s, and professor of pediatrics and of The Dartmouth Institute at Geisel.
“We are excited about the potential of our project to generate meaningful evidence about the best ways to engage patients, care partners, clinicians and the public in research,” Saunders said. “We believe that PPI is not only the right thing to do, but enhances the validity and rigor of health services research. We look forward to building the evidence base so research teams can confidently select the right PPI approaches for their projects, topics and contexts.”
Leyenaar and Saunders’ team anticipate the study will show the effectiveness of PPI approaches, for the first time in a randomized control trial. Much has been learned in recent years about participatory research with patients, caregivers, clinicians, and others as partners in the research process. However, there has been little systematic study about which methods are most effective.
“I am so honored to be a caregiver partner in this important research to study different approaches to participatory qualitative research,” said Cathy Stevens, care partner co-investigator. “It’s vital to incorporate myriad, diverse partners in research in order to produce the most comprehensive and meaningful data. Through this project we will be learning more about the best ways to engage various partners in order to build engagement and trust. This information will be so valuable for future researchers.”
“This study was selected for PCORI funding for its potential to strengthen patient-centered and stakeholder-driven comparative clinical effectiveness research by providing evidence about specific engagement methods and measures that promote representative engagement of patients and other stakeholders in research,” said PCORI executive director Nakela L. Cook, MD, MPH. “We look forward to following the study’s progress and working with Dartmouth Health to share the results.”
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.
About the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, founded in 1797, strives to improve the lives of the communities we serve through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The nation's fourth-oldest medical school, the Geisel School of Medicine has been home to many firsts in medical education, research and practice, including the discovery of the mechanism for how light resets biological clocks, creating the first multispecialty intensive care unit, the first comprehensive examination of U.S. health care cost variations (The Dartmouth Atlas), and the first Center for Health Care Delivery Science, which launched in 2010. As one of America's top medical schools, Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of physician leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in health care.