Engaging Students Early in Learning Project

Sometimes the best ideas come to you, as if in a dream. That’s how it happened for Dr. Tracey Carr, Assistant Professor in Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), when she awoke with a vision in mind. It stemmed from time spent pondering how she was contributing to a patient-centred measurement (PCM) working group. How was her organization adding value to the team? When Dr. Carr couldn’t immediately answer these questions, she knew she had work to do. When she opened her eyes the next morning, suddenly the answer was clear: engage students to do healthcare research! Every September, as a new school year begins, there is a call out for note-takers; students willing to provide notes for those who require academic support. It appeared that students were consistently seeking volunteer opportunities. Dr. Carr wondered – why couldn’t students be trained to collect PCM data? It seemed like a win-win solution to form a learning health system between the PCM working group and students at USask.

That morning, she took her idea and drafted a letter to fellow PCM working group members, who included Patient Partners, health system leaders, and Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) staff. They were intrigued with the prospect of collecting qualitative data on patients’ experiences of the healthcare system. Thus, the Engaged Learning Project (ELP) concept was born.

Dr. Carr initially became involved with the PCM working group through a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Catalyst Grant. As the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR) had provided her with a letter of support for that grant, she turned to Dr. Christine Stobart, SCPOR’s Director of Training & Capacity Development, for assistance in providing training for the ELP. Dr. Stobart’s background in education facilitated the delivery of more complex topics, such as Indigenous research engagement, patient-oriented research, and knowledge translation training. Dr. Carr had strong connections with St. Thomas More College (STM), a USask federated college, which has an Engaged Learning Office. After a few meetings with Dr. Gerald Farthing, STM Associate Dean, he agreed to pilot the ELP at STM, and along with STM’s Engaged Learning Manager, offered to provide resources, guidance, and classroom/lab space. Upon recommendation from STM’s Student Services, Dr. Carr met with a recent STM graduate, Taylor Spock. Her strong connections with the STM community through her volunteer work and her viewpoint as a recent student made her an optimal candidate for the ELP Coordinator.

Dr. Carr knew the ELP would need healthcare projects to work on, so she turned to Cathy Cole, Director of Patient Client Experience Program Support & Development in the SHA. Director Cole was enthusiastic about the ELP and offered her team’s support, along with some SHA connections for possible research projects. Dr. Carr speculated the ELP would include a group of 20 students, however due to the overwhelming number of applications, the group capacity was extended to 30 students. These students were keen to be a part of a pilot program in healthcare research and 28 completed the program; two students who had to drop-out due to personal reasons asked to return the following year.

In preparation for research with patients, the students were trained in ethics, privacy and confidentiality, patient-oriented research, sex and gender, health equity, and knowledge translation and dissemination. Students also completed a Building Research Relationships with Indigenous Communities training module. Patient Partners Brenda Andreas, Candace Skrapek and Maggie King were brought in to consult with students, co-draft the interview guide, and lead patient-oriented interview skills training. Says Maggie King, “We wanted to hear the patient voice in the process. The students wanted to learn these skills. When you’re sitting across from someone, asking very private information about them, there has to be open dialogue and trust built; understanding that patients’ circumstances and dynamics are all different. Coming together to work with the students was an important process.”

Originally, the ELP was designed to have students interview respondents of a patient experience survey. Says Dr. Carr, “We found there weren’t enough survey respondents for all the students to conduct interviews, and so we turned to primary care directors within the SHA and learned they were looking for post-natal surveys to be evaluated; they had done the surveys, but felt they were missing diversity in the voices of respondents. And they were really excited about engaging students in something they normally wouldn’t get to do.” And so, in addition to conducting 35 telephone interviews with participants of a general healthcare experience survey, the ELP students also conducted telephone interviews and four focus groups with mothers regarding SHA’s services for new babies.

As to whether the program was a success, Jenil Patel, ELP student says, “Gaining relevant patient interaction is hard to come across as an undergrad student – I feel lucky to have gotten this opportunity. It has been one of the highlights of my undergrad studies. This project allowed me to understand patient expectations from doctors.”

As for the health system, the ELP created a mechanism to collect qualitative data that didn’t previously exist. After an evaluation of the ELP, interviewed SHA Directors reported that data from the student reports were helpful in confirming suspected issues and gaps in care. Directors also noted that the students were well trained.

Dr. Carr and her team were nominated for an Innovation Award with the SHA, as well as an Internationally Engaged Learning Award for Catholic Colleges, for which they have been short-listed. Dr. Carr, alongside Dr. Stobart, Patient Partner Brenda Andreas, and ELP student Angi Patel, were able to share their story at the 2024 Northwest SPOR Collaborative Forum. Dr. Carr has submitted an abstract for the North American Conference for Integrated Care taking place in Calgary during October 2024 and is now drafting an experience report on the ELP for the Learning Health System Journal.

Dr. Carr’s team has received funding through a peer review grant to evaluate the ELP, furthering the value of the project. The ELP is once again being offered in the 2024-2025 academic year, with a goal of making the ELP a regular, ongoing program that continues to benefit the health system and the students working towards a career in healthcare. “The students learned some lessons from those experiences. This is what a job in health care is going to look like for you. Here’s a time to reflect on how you will deliver care to people,” says Dr. Carr. “If we’re able to sustain this program and provide a mechanism where we can collect and store data, then make it available to the right people at the right time, it’s a good thing from the system perspective.”