News Release
Canada's Top Health Researchers Recognized - ABJHI Wins CIHR Partnership Award
Canada's top health researchers were recognized at the 6th annual Canadian Health Research Awards - A Celebration of Excellence on Nov. 20 in Ottawa. These awards are among the Canadian research community's highest honours.
The event was attended by Canada's leading health researchers, health administrators and policymakers. "Canadian health researchers are generating the knowledge that makes a difference to Canadians in so many different areas," said the Honourable Tony Clement, Canada’s Minister of Health. "They are helping to ensure a strong health care system in which needed treatments are provided on a timely basis and in which patient safety is key. They are developing better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer and heart disease. And they are finding new ways to promote and maintain mental health."
Dr. Ron Zernicke accepted the CIHR Partnership Award on behalf of Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute for the Alberta Hip and Knee Replacement Pilot Project. The CIHR Partnership Award award recognizes partnerships that bring health research communities together to create innovative approaches to important research challenges. Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute worked with the province’s physicians, the Alberta Orthopaedic Society, Regional Health Authorities, and Alberta Health and Wellness on a one-year randomized controlled study of the new approach. Dr. Zernicke was Executive Director of Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute during the pilot.
The Canadian Health Research Awards are hosted by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in collaboration with the government of Canada, the Health Charities Coalition of Canada, Research Canada – an Alliance for Health Discovery, the Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations, the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, Canada’s provincial health research organizations, and the event’s national media sponsor, The Globe and Mail. CIHR is the government of Canada’s agency for health research. CIHR’s mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to catalyze its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health system. Composed of 13 institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to over 11,000 health researchers and trainees across Canada.
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CIHR Partnership Award
(from the Canadian Institutes of Health Information Website)
Rates of hip and knee replacements have been increasing dramatically in Canada - and so have the waits for these operations. Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute took action on the issue, heading a partnership that reduced wait times while improving service quality and efficiency. Working with the Alberta Orthopaedic Society (AOS), three Regional Health Authorities (Calgary, Capital and David Thompson) and Alberta Health and Wellness, the group designed a continuum of care that centralized assessment, diagnosis and treatment in convenient one-stop clinics where patients have access to a multidisciplinary team of health care providers.
The one-year randomized controlled study of the new continuum in the three health regions was one of the most extensive research efforts in health services delivery ever in North America. The results were striking - wait times to see a specialist declined to an average of 21 working days from 145 days and the wait for surgery dropped to an average of 37 working days from 290 days. Hospital stays fell to 4.7 days from six. The pilot health regions were so impressed with this "shared care" approach that they adopted the new continuum based on the early results. It is now being expanded to all health regions in Alberta.
The partners are committed to sharing their knowledge and continue to synthesize best-evidence reviews related to hip and knee care, which are disseminated to health care providers and administrators across Canada.
The partnership is an excellent example of cross-disciplinary partnership, bringing together as it did researchers, practitioners, service leaders, policy-makers and administrators, who together challenged the status quo, unleashed innovative new ideas and charted a fresh course. The benefits of their work have been seen at the patient, provider and organization levels.
The CIHR Partnership Award recognizes partnerships with one or more external partners from the private, voluntary or public sectors which exemplify excellence by bringing health research communities together to create innovative approaches to research questions; to develop research agendas that are responsive to the health needs, concerns and priorities of Canadians; and to accelerate the translation of knowledge for the benefit of Canadians.
