Background: Having a primary care provider is associated with better care experiences and lower care costs. In 2021, INSPIRE-PHC released Primary Care Data Reports (PCDR) - publicly available summaries of administrative billing data about how populations in each of Ontario’s 60 health teams engage with primary care. Given the characterization of Canadian primary care systems as ‘in crisis’, publicly available data about primary care at the regional level presented a significant opportunity for knowledge mobilization. An understandable resource could ground the public conversation about primary care access in data. Recognizing the role that lived experience plays in ensuring the public understands research findings, a partnership between patient advisors, Ontario Health Team (OHT) representatives, researchers, and trainees was established to co-produce public-facing infographics of PCDR data.
Methods: Evidence-based guidelines for public health infographic creation and elements of transformative action research guided a six-meeting process to engage up to 14 patient advisors, three OHT staff and two primary care trainees. Patient advisors were affiliated with a provincial patient-oriented primary health care research group or a Hamilton-based OHT. Ninety-minute meetings were conducted virtually, and notes were shared with attendees to ensure they accurately reflected the conversation. Two consultations with OHT-affiliated primary care providers provided direction and ensured project outputs aligned with local priorities.
Results: Project partners shared feedback on draft infographics, audience identification, priority elements from PCDR to include in the infographics, and aesthetic features (e.g., headings, colour scheme, charts). Project partners felt the most important metrics to convey to the public were those that simultaneously reinforced the benefits of primary care on individual health outcomes and health system costs.
Conclusions: Patient engagement in research is becoming widespread, but co-developing knowledge products with patient and health system partners is less common. Our approach to engaging patients prevented both oversimplification and unnecessary complexity in a public-facing visual about attachment to primary care.