PhD student Ellen Randall awarded Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral Award

UBC PhD student & C2E2 trainee Ellen Randall was recently chosen for a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral Award. Canada Graduate Scholarships are awarded through national competitions by the Government of Canada's three granting agencies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The Frederick Banting and Charles Best CGS – Doctoral Awards are intended to provide special recognition and support to students who are pursuing a doctoral degree in a health related field in Canada. These candidates are expected to have an exceptionally high potential for future research achievement and productivity. Ellen is being mentored by Drs. Stirling Bryan and Laurie Goldsmith and her current research project is  “Exploring patient experience trajectories for knee arthroplasty: a mixed methods study”. A short description is below.

Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) is the most requested joint replacement surgery in Canada, yet up to 20% of patients express dissatisfaction with their results, and there is insufficient evidence about which elements of patient experience most influence this assessment. This study will explore which factors predict variation in patient satisfaction trajectories in the year following TKA. Drawing on existing data from the CIHR/PHSI-funded PEAK study exploring patient experience and outcomes with a cohort of 515 TKA patients, this mixed methods study will undertake quantitative and qualitative analyses of predictors of change in satisfaction with TKA between 6 and 12 months post-surgery. The two analyses will then be compared to identify areas of agreement and disagreement in the identification of predictors of satisfaction over time. It is anticipated that the complementary findings from this study will suggest areas of TKA service provision that could be refined to improve patient experience and satisfaction.