Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Patient engagement in research is an effective strategy for achieving research discoveries that are important to patients. While scientists and physicians have traditionally decided on research priorities and designing research trials, it is now realized that patients have an important expertise to add. Patients are the only ones that experience a disease and have first-hand knowledge about issues related to accessing medical care, undergoing diagnostic tests, submitting to treatments, and treatment results. Including the expertise that patients gain through experience in all aspects of research will lead to higher quality research that is relevant to patients. Research into venous thromboembolic (VTE) disease (blood clots in the veins) in particular stands to benefit substantially from patient engagement, as treatment decisions for VTE patients often requires closely balancing the risk of thrombotic events (blood clots) with the risk of bleeding and burden of treatments. In these situations, the best treatment for patients can be unclear and requires consideration of the patient's preferences and values. The aim of incorporating patients in the design of future VTE research is to achieve studies that answer questions that are important to patients with methods acceptable to patients. This will ultimately lead to VTE research that is better able to guide patients and doctors in making decisions. The Venous Thromboembolism Clinical Trials and Outcomes Research (VECTOR) Network is an established, successful Canadian research group that is known internationally for its many important and unique research discoveries in the field of VTE. To fully align with the recognized importance of patient engagement in research, VECTOR researchers are applying for funding to incorporate patient engagement within the VECTOR network. This engagement will result in having experienced patients as equal partners in the planning, execution and dissemination of VECTOR-led research.