Dr. Katharine Jensen wins awards for her presentation: "Understanding the urgency: Caregiver health literacy and non-urgent pediatric ED visits". 

• Women and Children's Health Research Institute, Children's health and well-being: Critical care, Top Oral Presentation on October 18, 2025 (Edmonton, AB)

• Pediatric Inpatient Research Network, Top Trainee Oral Presentation on November 14, 2025 (Calgary, AB)

This study explored how health literacy influences decisions to seek emergency care for non-urgent concerns. Dr. Jensen presented on the themes that emerged from this qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews at two sites: the Stollery Children's Hospital (Edmonton, AB) and the Alberta Children's Hospital (Calgary, AB). 

In January 2025, the Stollery Children’s Hospital became the first multi-site institution in the world to achieve ChildKind International certification—the gold standard in pediatric pain care. With generous support from the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, all three Stollery sites earned this prestigious recognition, placing the hospital among only 22 worldwide with this distinction.

What makes this achievement especially meaningful is that patients and families led the way. From the earliest planning meetings to final certification, parents and former patients sat at the table as full partners. Their lived experience shaped priorities, guided decisions, and ensured that the certification wasn’t just for families, but truly with them.

Thanks to this collaboration, pain prevention, assessment, and treatment are now deeply embedded in the hospital’s culture. With a dedicated pain committee and new innovations on the horizon, the future of pain care at the Stollery is brighter than ever.

To watch and read more about this initiative, see here.

CKI Core Team Members: Dr. Samina Ali, Dr. Hayley Turnbull, Alison Naylor, Jesusa Pulongbarit, Angela Bokenfohr (Stollery & U of A) Dana Nagel, Erica Thomas, Maretta Walker & Calveen Basi (PFCC Members). Note: not all are pictured above.

Ameena Taher, former HYRS student with our team and now research assistant, receives the Michael A. Strembitsky Award of excellence, bronze medallion. This award recognizes students who exemplify personal, social and academic excellence, have leadership skills, want to seek meaningful change, and demonstrate confidence and initiative. 

Ameena is a part of several great initiatives including directing the Student Engagement Team at Old Scona School; is an executive member of the Old Scona Brain Care Awareness Club; created a graphic novel on waiting room experiences and family needs based on a Canadian national study; and secured over $9,000 in micro-grants for projects like planting trees and making an anti-racism zine. To read more about her amazing work, see here.

Dr. Henry Li, PGY-4 PEM Fellow, is working to improve our understanding of how emergency department opioid prescriptions contribute to opioid use disorder in adolescents. His research found that over the past decade, emergency department opioid prescribing has decreased substantially, yet opioid use disorder has continued to increase. Furthermore, the majority of cases of opioid use disorder are not linked to emergency department prescribing, highlighting the importance of not withholding opioids when needed for children in pain. For this work, he was recently awarded the Top Clinical Trainee Poster award at the Women and Children's Health Research Institute Research Day and a Resident Research Abstract award at the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians.

Photo: Cooper & O'Hara; Dr. Katharine Jensen

Our PEAK Research Trainee, Katharine Jensen, was honoured with being named one of EDify’s Top 40 Under 40 2024.  They honour Edmonton-and-area residents for the great work they do in bettering our community — and putting Edmonton on the global map. Katharine’s neuroscience research, and current caregiver health literacy and pediatric emergency utilization study were highlighted.

Read the full article here.

Our national survey of children’s experiences and needs when attending Canadian pediatric emergency departments was featured on the Skeptics' Guide to EM (SGEM) Podcast by Dennis Ren. Guest skeptic, Dr. Andrew (Andy) Tagg, reviews our study through a skeptical lens. The SGEM Bottom Line: "There are many opportunities to improve the ED experience for children and help them understand their diagnosis and treatment." 

Listen to the full podcast here to hear their full discussion.

When someone has a cardiac arrest — whether it’s fatal or not — award-winning U of A-led research shows their family members will need care from hospital staff to cope. 

Read the full Folio article here.

Dr. Bruce Wright and team explore the communication needs of parents of children with mental health concerns admitted to the emergency department.

See full WCHRI story here.

Photo: WCHRI; Dr. Bruce Wright

Providing more updates, paying better attention to parents’ emotional needs could help ease pressures of ER crowding, say study leads. 

Read full Folio story here.

Radio Active with Jessica Ng, Min Dhariwal: In our conversation with Dr. Samina Ali, a pediatric emergency physician and researcher, we delve into research that provides parents with reassurance when bringing their child home from the emergency room. 

For the full interview, listen here.

Video: NACTRC; Neelam Mabood

PEAK stands for Pediatric Emergency Advancing Knowledge and provides health research support to figure out how to treat children who come into the emergency room and other medical support facilities.

The emphasis of PEAK is on advancing knowledge within pediatric medicine to create better outcomes for children and their families. This research is entirely voluntary, but the children understand that, by participating, they’re helping other children so they’re really excited to be a part of the studies.

PEAK is an excellent example of how research is making a difference in the lives and health of people across Alberta.

See full NACTRC article and video feature here.