Presenter: Linda Hunter

Register here: https://bit.ly/43BkQvd

Topic: Regaining Power and Control Living with Chronic Pain: My Journey as a Patient Research Partner

Learning objectives:

At the end of this presentation the participants will:
1. Understand how a patient diagnosis can lead to a journey that ends in patient partnership in research
2. Describe what patient engagement in research really means
3. Explain some common challenges and barriers that frustrate patient partners
4. Examine how you might be more open to patient co-partnership in research.

Biography: Linda Hunter is a semi-retired executive health care leader and former Chief Nurse Executive and ICU nurse who has worked locally, nationally, and internationally in healthcare over the last 35 years. Linda has worked clinically, in education, and administration, throughout the continuum of care in healthcare. Linda is an expert in quality improvement and performance measurement and has worked extensively in the quality and patient safety fields in healthcare. Linda is also a patient and lives with spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and severe degenerative disc disease and has lived with chronic pain for over 15 years. Linda is a CIHR Patient Engagement Research Ambassador for the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis and is a member of the Institute’s Advisory Board. She has co-developed online educational modules for patients and researchers about Patient Engagement in Research. Linda is an Essential Caregiver to her Mum, who lives with dementia, and is a volunteer who provides palliative and end-of-life care to residents in LTC.
Linda states: “It is vital that the patient voice is respected, listened to, and incorporated into change in the delivery of health care services, including research. Patients are experts about their disease and the lived experience. They are becoming more informed and knowledgeable, and it is imperative that they are included in the development of plans of what is researched and help bring that to the clinical world.”