This project aims to bring together multiple partners including patients, researchers, government, and health care decision-makers to co-develop a research agenda for digital innovation in perinatal health.
With funding from a Michael Smith Health Research BC convening and collaborating grant, we:
(1) conducted a review of the literature to identify barriers and facilitators to use of technology in perinatal health care
(2) organized and implemented engagement activities with patients, care providers and decision makers in the health care system, to collaborate on research priorities and identify digital health needs related to perinatal care; and
(3) created a downloadable toolkit for patient engagement in co-design of research questions; and
(4) developed a research agenda organized into 3 evidence-based priority themes and twelve specific research questions.
This agenda provides a framework of priority topics and questions co-developed by project partners, including patients. The agenda will allow us to focus our research efforts to better meet the needs of perinatal healthcare patients in BC. The agenda will be shared with key partners through presentations and social media.
Digital health innovations provide an opportunity to improve access to care, information, and care quality during the perinatal period for patients and their infants. However, research to develop perinatal digital health solutions needs to be informed by actual patient and health system needs to optimize implementation, adoption, and sustainability. Through human-centered design methods, we emphasize the importance of patient voices as partners in the Research Agenda for Perinatal Innovation and Digital health (RAPID) project.
For more info and resources related to digital health please visit BCCHR’s Digital Health Research resource page.
Through this work, we hope to set the foundation for future research collaboration and innovation in perinatal care to enhance patient, infant, and family health.
The project brings together a consortium of partner organizations with leadership from the Women’s Health Research Institute and BC Children’s Health Research Institute, including Perinatal Services BC, the Office of Virtual Health and Provincial Digital Health and Information Services.
Beth Payne, Chair | Research Project Manager, Digital Health, WHRI/BCCHR
Gina Ogilvie, Vice-Chair/PI | Senior Advisor, Research, BC Women’s /Assistant Director, WHRI
Tibor van Rooij, Member, Co-PI | Director, Research Informatics, BCCHR
Nicole Prestley, Member | Knowledge Translation Lead, WHRI
Quynh Doan, Member | Interim Senior Executive Director, BCCHR
Marianne Vidler, Member | Assistant Professor, Dept. OB/Gyn
Punit Virk, Member/Trainee| PhD candidate, Faculty of Medicine
May Tuason, Member | Director, Clinical Architecture and Innovation, Provincial Digital Health and Information Services
Kathryn Berry-Einarson, Member | Director, Quality & Research, Perinatal Services BC, PHSA
Tina Costa, Member | Senior Leader, Virtual Health, Office of Virtual Health, Provincial Digital Health and Information Services
For more info and resources related to digital health please visit BCCHR’s Digital Health Research resource page.
We are actively looking for partners to action the research agenda. Are you interested in connecting? Do you have questions?
Email Beth Payne, Digital Health Research Program Manager, WHRI/BCCHR BPayne@cw.bc.ca
The Women’s Health Research Institute would like to acknowledge that we are uninvited guests on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lo, and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-waututh) Nations.
As a provincial research institute committed to improving the health outcomes of women, including those across the 2SLGBTQIA+ spectrum, we recognize our responsibility in the collective effort towards establishing culturally safe health care systems and services that address health inequities among Indigenous peoples, especially Indigenous women, girls, and Two-spirit peoples.
We encourage all people involved in research to read both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action and the In Plain Sight Report, and reflect on ways we can incorporate the recommendations into our work. As we gather in spaces together, we encourage you to reflect on your positionality on these lands and your personal commitments to reconciliation.