Co-Creating Better Care: Developing the CARING Framework at the CPN Hackathon

Participating as a Patient Mentor on the Chronic Pain Network’s Hackathon – Adult Team was a great experience. It was a very collaborative process where I had the opportunity to share my lived experiences. We were able to incorporate the patient voice to help improve the care for those living with chronic pain. We reviewed the key literature and designed the implementation materials which included diverse in-person, virtual, and phone consultations.

We were a multidisciplinary team that developed the CARING framework – Connect, Ask, Respect, Inform, Nurture, and Generate Trust – to guide clinician-patient interactions with evidence-based strategies. Our model emphasizes empathetic communication, validating patient fears, respecting individual needs, providing clear information, nurturing ongoing support, and building trust. The aim was to embed a patient-centered approach into clinical practice and improve care for people living with chronic pain.  Next, we would like to integrate the CARING framework into the medical education and define evaluation metrics to assess its impact on patient satisfaction and care quality. This experience reinforced my commitment to embed lived experience at every stage of healthcare innovation.