Indigenous Primary Care Collaboration & Patient Safety Research
This page shares current Indigenous health research projects led by Dr. Amrita Roy in partnership with the Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Ontario Health Team (FLA OHT), the Indigenous Wellness Council, and regional health system partners.
Her work examines how primary care structures can better reflect Indigenous priorities, governance, and definitions of patient safety. Through community-embedded qualitative research, these studies explore collaboration processes, promising practices in culturally safe care, and opportunities to strengthen Indigenous leadership in system transformation.
Centering Indigenous Perspectives and Priorities in the Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Ontario Health Team (FLA OHT)
Guided by the principles of Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP) in ethical community-based Indigenous health research, the project examined collaboration processes between FLA OHT and Indigenous partners.
The project involved an analysis of interviews with current and former Indigenous members of FLA OHT working groups and tables, focus groups with members of FLA OHT’s Transitional Leadership Collaborative (TLC), and FLA OHT organizational documents. The results point to five major themes on how to move forward in improving collaboration: growing Indigenous knowledge and relationships, creating Indigenous spaces, increasing Indigenous representation, catalyzing action, and obtaining additional funding and resources.
The research highlights the importance of action-oriented engagement, adequate funding and resources, and responding actively to Indigenous voices, as key steps to ensure that collaboration feels meaningful to Indigenous partners. It also situates collaboration within broader organizational and policy contexts, pointing to the need for actions and investments at multiple levels. In addition to offering recommendations for FLA OHT, the insight generated through this research may be useful for partnerships between other mainstream health institutions and Indigenous peoples.
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Results in Brief
Final Report
Indigenous Patient Safety and Culturally Safe Care: Stakeholder Reflections
Through a scoping review and focus groups with health system partners, this project gathers reflections on how promising practices for Indigenous patient safety are implemented in clinical settings. The work examines barriers and supports that influence culturally safe care, and how clinicians and administrators interpret their responsibilities in advancing Indigenous health equity.
The study is supervised by Dr. Roy and carried out by student researcher Natalie DiMaio, in collaboration with Kingston Health Sciences Centre and the FLA OHT. A report is expected in summer 2025.
Report coming soon!
Partnerships & Community Engagement
Dr. Roy’s Indigenous health research is grounded in sustained collaboration with regional partners. Her work with the Indigenous Wellness Council, the FLA OHT, and Kingston Health Sciences Centre reflects an ongoing commitment to community-led guidance, ethical research practice, and the shared goal of improving primary care for Indigenous peoples in southeastern Ontario.
For more information on these projects, please contact Principal Investigator Dr. Amrita Roy at amrita.roy@queensu.ca.