Grant: Project Grant

Patient engagement in research is a movement which has been gaining endorsement from funding organizations, patient advocacy groups and researchers. Our patient partner (KH) who is working with a team of researchers studying sepsis (organ dysfunction from severe infection) brought to our attention the need to study best practices for involving patients in preclinical (laboratory) research to ensure it is meaningful. While previous studies have assessed engagement initiatives in clinical research (e.g. clinical trials), it is less clear how researchers have involved patients and the public in preclinical research. To address this knowledge gap, our team plans to conduct a scoping review (a systematic search of the literature). This review will assess the research question "How are patients and the public currently involved in preclinical laboratory research?". More specifically, our team is interested in looking at how patients or the public are involved in research, what type of research and experiments they are involved in, the stage of the research when engagement begins, stated reasons for engagement, impact of the engagement initiative, and the reported benefits, disadvantages or lessons learned (from the perspective of patients, the public or researchers). To complete this project, we have gathered a team that consists of patient partners and researchers who are specialists in preclinical science, sepsis and patient engagement. Our patient partners will be involved throughout the entire project (protocol, analysis, sharing of results) to ensure patient perspectives are considered and incorporated into the project. By identifying relevant research studies and summarizing our findings we hope to raise awareness of the importance of involving patients and the public in preclinical research. Furthermore, we hope our review will provide a helpful summary to patients, members of the public, and preclinical researchers who may be interested in working with each other.