Empowering patients in family medicine research: a case-study of patient partner involvement in educational and knowledge translation activities

Family doctors are encouraged to involve patients as equal partners in research and teaching, but examples of how to do this well are still quite rare. Our project, called the Canadian Primary Care Information Network - Learner and Patient partnership (CPIN-LEAP), set out to show what genuine partnership can look like when developing learning tools for family medicine residents. What we did. Two patient partners sat on the core research team from day one and helped write the successful grant application. Guided by two national engagement frameworks, we invited nine additional patients to co-design the project’s key products. Together, this team created an online learning module that walks residents through six essential communication skills, and they also drafted eye-catching posters and brochures that invite patients to send feedback after a clinic visit. What worked well. Patient partners said they felt respected, influential, and relevant. Their ideas made the resident module more practical, especially the real-life scenarios and plain-language tips, and ensured that the community posters spoke directly to patients’ concerns. The finished module has already been added to the University of Ottawa’s Department of Family Medicine’s Innovation Portal and clinic participants will be encouraged to display the posters and brochures. Challenges we faced. Recruiting enough French-speaking partners proved difficult in our predominantly English-speaking city, even after we specifically targeted Francophone community groups and social-media pages. Coordinating meeting times was another hurdle, because many partners juggled work, caregiving, or appointments; we solved this by mixing in-person workshops, short evening videoconferences with flexible email feedback. Why it matters. Working side by side with patients led to teaching and knowledge translation materials that reflect real-life worries and priorities. The process shows that deep partnership is doable, but only if projects budget for patient time and stay flexible with timelines. This case study illustrates practical processes and lessons learned from patient partner involvement. Family doctors are being encouraged to include patients as equal partners in research and teaching, but practical examples of how to do this are still rare. Our project called the Canadian Primary Care Information Network – Learner and Patient Partnership (CPIN-LEAP) set out to show what genuine partnership can look like in family medicine. From the very beginning, two patient partners helped shape our ideas and write the successful grant. Later, nine more patients joined to co-create the project’s main materials: an online learning module for residents about patient-centred communication, and bilingual community posters and brochures encouraging patients to share feedback about their care and learn how to get involved in research. The educational module helps residents reflect on what matters most to patients in patient-centred communication during clinical encounters, while the community materials invite patients to make their voices heard. Patient partners said they felt respected and valued, and their suggestions made the educational tools more practical and easier to understand. Working in both English and French, we faced challenges finding enough Francophone partners and coordinating schedules, but flexible meeting formats helped overcome these barriers. This experience shows that meaningful patient-researcher partnerships are possible when time, flexibility, and funding are built into the project from the start.