Resident Research Spotlight

Dr. Victor Do is a paediatric core resident (PGY-4) in Paediatrics, who is also completing a M.Sc. at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME).  He was recently awarded a Physician Services Incorporated (PSI) Foundation Resident Research grant, “Improving Hospital Care for Children and Families with Limited English Proficiency: A Qualitative Study."  The PSI Resident Research award is a competitive grant, with 10 awarded yearly. Victor’s study will examine the lived experience around hospitalization of families and children with limited English proficiency across 5 Pediatric Inpatient Research Network (PIRN) hospitals: SickKids, Trillium (Mississagua), William Osler (Brampton), North York General, and McMaster Children’s Hospital. This builds on funding he received from the Leong Centre. The work will help to identify care gaps/successes and inform future interventions to improve care delivery. Victor is passionate about health equity and is building a portfolio of scholarship in this area.

"I have a passion for child health equity and addressing the significant health gaps experienced by structurally disadvantaged and marginalized populations. My main research project focuses on understanding the lived experience of patient and families who primarily use a Language(s) other than English (LOE) for healthcare communication. Patients and families who speak LOE experience significant health disparities when hospitalized in pediatric settings such as increased risk of adverse events and longer hospital stays. We use a community based participatory research approach and conduct qualitative semi-structured interviews with families and children who are admitted to the pediatric inpatient unit. Through seeking to understand their experience, we strive to focus on factors that have contributed to these health disparities and begin the process of co-developing strategies to address them.  My work also involves examining the practices, policies and procedures at pediatric inpatient units with respect to how we support patients and families who use LOE and undertaking consensus methodologies around terminology to use when referring to this patient population.

Our study is involves collaboration with many sites and utilizes the skillset of the Pediatric Inpatient research network (PIRN).

I am very grateful to have received a PSI Foundation Trainee Grant and Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children Studentship to support this work."

- Victor Do