New Patient Partners in Peer Review Training Course

[Sandra Holdsworth]

Proud to have been part of the team that developed this course as a Patient Partner with Canadian Donation Transplant Research Program

The Canadian Nephrology Trials Network (CNTN) was created to accelerate and improve coordination of kidney research across Canada – and a number of recent advancements and partnerships are helping to realize this goal.

The network is part of the Accelerating Clinical Trials (ACT) consortium, recently funded by CIHR, which comprises 28 clinical trial research networks across the country. Through this consortium, CNTN will receive funding to hire a research coordinator to conduct additional outreach and capacity building in support of network nephrologists who would like to conduct research. The ACT consortium will be providing CNTN with additional funds to develop mentorship and training opportunities within the network.

The CNTN is well experienced in supporting the involvement of patient in peer review of clinical trials. Recently, the network partnered with the Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program to produce a new training module for patient partners who are considering participating in peer review. “We’re one of the few networks that already has a process for doing peer review laid out and engages patient partners through it,” explains Alicia Murdoch, CNTN Project Manager. “So we are well positioned to help further improve capacity in peer review for kidney research.”

The module, “Patient Partners in Peer Review,” launched this September.

“It provides patient partners with a very foundational understanding of what peer review is, why it’s important, and how patient partners can be a part of it,” explains Murdoch, noting that the module will hopefully encourage more patient partners to become involved in research. “We’re hoping to share it across the country with all of those people who already do patient engagement, in helping them incorporate more patient partners.”

Murdoch says the CNTN is also undertaking an initiative to understand the barriers that community sites and allied health professionals face in taking on research. In March 2023, CNTN member and nephrologist Dr. Melissa Schorr conducted a survey of Canadian nephrologists as part of her Master’s thesis work, and a series of forums with small groups will take place in the near future to further discuss specific barriers identified in the survey.

“Academic people generally have a lot of support in their hospitals or research institutes, but community sites generally don’t have that [same level],” says Murdoch. “So this forum with community-based researchers will be taking those survey results and digging down a little further to see what these barriers are and how CNTN could maybe help remove some of them, especially now that we have the support of ACT.”

After the forum, a report will be released providing details on barriers and potential solutions.

“The aim is to really just reaching out beyond academic nephrologists, both in terms of location and profession,” emphasizes Murdoch. “We want to build capacity across the board, across the whole spectrum of care, and engage those people and understand what their issues are – and find solutions and ways to build capacity in Canadian kidney research. ”

You can start the course here
https://patientpartnersinpeerreview.ca/#/