Co-Designing the Surgical Integrated Pain Services to Prevent the Development of Chronic Pain After Surgery in Youth
Preventing chronic pain is the #1 priority for youth with chronic pain, their families, healthcare professionals, and policymakers in Canada. Of the more than 80,000 children in Canada who undergo surgery each year, about 20% (or 1 in 5) will develop chronic postsurgical pain, and many will continue to use opioids months later. This means that improving how we treat pain from surgery is an ideal and critical time to stop chronic pain before it starts.
Our team used a human-centered design approach to co-design new health services to prevent chronic postsurgical pain in youth. This means that we partnered with youth with lived experience, parents, health professionals, and health system administrators across Canada to address a critical gap in current pain care.
Human-centered design engages health services users, such as youth and families, as co-designers of novel healthcare solutions. Health services designed using a human-centered approach improves service use, treatment adherence, and health outcomes.
The project is underway and follows the Patients IncludedTM Ethics Charter.
Project Lead
Katie Birnie, PhD RPsych
Researchers, Health Professionals, Decisionmakers & Policy Partners
Jennifer Stinson, PhD
The Hospital for Sick Children
Fiona Campbell, MD
The Hospital for Sick Children
Fiona Clement, PhD
University of Calgary
Dawn Richards, PhD
Five02Labs
Lisa Isaac, MD
The Hospital for Sick Children
Jennifer Tyrrell, RN MN
The Hospital for Sick Children
Brittany Rosenbloom, MA
York University
Pam Hubley, RN MSc
The Hospital for Sick Children
Lisa Pendergast, MHA
The Hospital for Sick Children
Patient &
Parent Partners
Isabel Jordan, BSc
Squamish, British Columbia
Justina Marianayagam, BHSc
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Other great science and resources from us about pain from surgery
