The proportion of stroke patients is increasing in people under the age of 55 years, over the last two decades. Further, these groups of people have a future risk of recurrent stroke, heart attack and death. They have similar associated factors leading to stroke in people >55 years like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, high blood sugar and mental health concerns. We have effective therapies to control these factors. However preliminary studies have shown that less than 1/3 of patients in this age category are taking appropriate medication. We need a new way to help this group of people by involving them and nurses in the management.

We aim to conduct a clinical trial from Multidisciplinary Young Stroke Clinic at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic. We hope to enroll 140 stroke patients < 55 years of age and who have increased blood cholesterol levels in the study. Half the patients will receive the current standard of care which includes a stroke physician visit of 30-40 minutes and 2 primary care physician visits annually. The other half, in addition, will attend a nurse-led virtual visit at least on three occasions over 6 months, partake in monthly group learning sessions, support to answer questions and get medicine prescriptions and dietary support.

After the completing of the study, we would be able to show if the proposed approach for treatment is helpful in reducing cholesterol  and developing a pathway for sustainable application in stroke clinics throughout Alberta.

We are looking for stroke survivors who developed a stroke ideally before 55 years of age to be part of the investigator group as a patient research partner. You will be joining an enthusiastic research team from the University of Alberta. Currently we are developing the research proposal and so inputs into the proposal will be requested.The responsibilities include taking part in regularly scheduled research meetings.

We expect the first meeting (1 hour) to take place late 2022 or very early in the new year 2023. This will be an initial discussion group to gain patient partner insights on the study priorities, protocol and processes. If the study advances to the next level where a full grant proposal will be requested from the group additional meetings will be scheduled.
Some communication can be provided via email as well depending on the time constraints. The patient partner will be requested to go over the project proposal for patient perspective and understanding of the medical terminology and language. (This may take 1 hour).

Once the study is funded in July 2023 prior to the beginning of the study an research investigator meeting will be planned. Subsequent, there will be a meeting every six months we will meet to discuss the progress of the study and there will be additional opportunities for collaboration.

The initial discussion group meeting will be held December 2022-January 2023.

There may be additional invitations to meetings to gain patient partner insights and perspective on the grant funding application.
If funded, this project anticipates starting July 2023. Meetings will be held online. Additional time might be required to review the project protocol and offer feedback via email and online conversations.

Year 1: The total time commitment in the first year is 4 hours. There may be additional materials to review outside of meeting time about project background and protocol.

Year 2: The total time commitment for the second year is 3 hours.

As this is an unfunded project, compensation is not able to be offered at this time.

All meetings will be held online, via Zoom. There are no travel or other direct costs anticipated with collaborating on this opportunity.
Should the project become funded, patient partner compensation will be offered for patient partner collaboration on the funded activities.