Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) has been labelled as the operation of the 20th century and is the third most common surgical procedure performed in Canada. Despite its documented success, several patients (up to 30%) may report some degree of dissatisfaction with their outcome for several reasons including not meeting personal expectations, post-operative-pain, and complications. THA has been a key area of research in the orthopaedic field, however, most research is focused on surgeon-, scientist- and industry- driven questions with very little patient engagement in identifying important aspects of THA surgery. For example, there continues to be a lack of high-quality evidence, such as well-designed trials, regarding the assessment, management, and rehabilitation of THA patients that is founded upon the issues that matter most to the individuals who will live with a THA in their everyday lives. The lack of answers to patient-centered questions, can lead to uncertainty in the clinical care delivered and consequently variation in treatment outcomes. To address this gap, we will undertake a patient-centered and multi-stakeholder engagement process that will bring together a network of individuals to identify specific areas that should be the focus of future research on THA. All patients that have undergone THA, or suffer from arthritis and their relatives, across two hospitals in different provinces will be invited to participate in this initiative. This initiative will include 3 steps: i. identification of relevant patient-centered questions (via an online platform), ii. discussion of proposed questions (via in person and/or virtual meetings) and a iii. ranking exercise (online platform). In doing so we aim to identify the 10 most important patient-centered, research topics on THA to focus on.