Have you found it difficult to get the health care you need? Canadians with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have asked for better access to and coordination of care.

Person-centered integrated care puts people, not diseases, at the center of health systems. The goal is to empower patients to take charge of their health by providing collaborative, coordinated, accessible and individualized care. Unfortunately, there has been little research on this type of care for patients with early stages of CKD and other health conditions.

The University of Calgary is planning on doing a 2-year study to understand how to provide person-centered integrated care for patients in Alberta living with early stages of CKD and other health conditions. Our research team will include patient partners, and together we will:

1. Survey patients and health care providers to understand how they currently view person-centered integrated care in Alberta
2. Interview patients and health care providers to learn more about their experience and expectations on person-centered integrated care
3. Identify the top challenges (barriers) and enablers (facilitators) to person-centered integrated care by having patients and health care providers rank the most important barriers and facilitators to address.

This work will help us create a new way of providing care that supports patients with early stages of CKD and other health conditions to experience seamless, personalized care that meets their needs, values and preferences. We hope that creating a person-centered integrated care delivery model will improve access to services, shared decision making and quality of life.

We are inviting patients from Alberta with lived experience of CKD and other health conditions (like diabetes) to join the research team as active and equal members.

Patient partners can expect to provide their perspective and expertise in the co-development of all phases of this project, from reviewing the project proposal, to supporting research activities, to supporting knowledge translation of the results. For example, data collection materials will be developed with patient partners and tested with two patients for clarity and relevance. We will share workshop opportunities to support skill-building for patient partners on topics that they are interested in (e.g., research methods, story telling).

This 2-year project is anticipated to start July 2022 and end July 2024. As a member of the research team, patient partners will be invited to share feedback over email or phone, and will be invited to meetings about 4 times per year. The meetings will be about one hour long and hosted by University of Calgary, which you can join online.

Patient partners will be offered compensation for their time and contributions.

Direct costs for participating in in-person activities (such as travel or parking), will also be reimbursed.