The DH SCN’s Scientific Office partners with provincial stakeholders to advance health research and quality improvement focused on:

• evaluating clinical outcomes, quality and system performance
• improving access to specialty care for people with digestive health conditions
• optimizing care and treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) conditions and digestive diseases

Patient-Oriented Research

In 2019, ten Alberta Patient and Community Engagement Researchers (PaCERs) participated in research to better understand how IBD/IBS impacts patients and families, their day-to-day health and experiences.

This work was sponsored by the IMAGINE Network, a national organization that studies interactions between inflammation, microbiome, diet and mental health in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

The IMAGINE Network is one of five chronic disease research networks that are part of CIHR’s SPOR (Strategy for Patient Oriented Research).

PACERs are trained in qualitative health research and are helping to transform the role of patients in health and health care delivery.

Featured Publications

• Association between endoscopic annual procedure volume and colonoscopy quality (2020)
• Longitudinal trends in the direct costs and health care utilization ascribable to inflammatory bowel disease in the biologic era: Results from a Canadian population-based analysis (2020)
• Impact of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Canada (2018, Crohn’s and Colitis Canada)
  • Overview
  • Full Report