CIHR Recognizes Rising Star

By Laura Pratt

The Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (IHSPR) of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has recognized Katie Dainty, program manager for the Centre for Health Services Sciences (CHSS), with a new prize: the Health Services and Policy Research and KT [Knowledge Transfer] Rising Star Award.

The award, granted annually to up to five Canadian masters, doctoral or postdoctoral students, celebrates the research excellence and knowledge translation initiatives of upcoming health services and policy researchers at an early stage of their career. Each beneficiary receives $1,000 and is profiled on the IHSPR Web site and in an IHSPR newsletter.

Dainty, who is completing her PhD in the Institute of Medical Science at University of Toronto in the area of knowledge translation and performance improvement, is being honoured to recognize her involvement in various innovative projects aimed at transferring knowledge to the bedside to improve the way health care is delivered in Ontario. Among them is the development of a network for Ontario intensive care units that supports practice improvement and interorganizational communication around six clinical best practices.

“By evaluating this approach using proper research methodology, we will be one of the first groups to actually be able to tell if it worked, rather than just making assumptions based on certain outcomes,” Dainty says. “Things like randomization and unique statistical analyses are usually seen as too hard to do in complex quality improvement projects, but we’ve proven [it’s possible] without impacting the pragmatic nature of the interventions or the workload of the participants. I guess this makes our work truly innovative.”