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At this point, you have been referred by your doctor to see a surgeon. Your surgeon will decide if you need surgery and then you will decide together what the next steps will be.
How to prepare for the meeting
Share your health information
Complete the preoperative patient health history questionnaire and bring it to your appointment. This helps your surgeon understand your health and the medications you are taking, even if surgery is not yet planned.
Prepare your questions
Write down your questions or concerns before your visit. Having a list can help you remember what you want to ask and support a clear, focused discussion with your surgeon.
Bring a support person if needed
You may bring one person with you for support or assistance. Space is limited, so please plan to bring only one companion to the appointment.
Plan for possible delays
Appointments may sometimes run later than expected. Bringing something to read can help pass the time if there is a delay.
Take notes during the visit
Bring paper and a pen to write down important information from your surgeon and care team. Notes can help you remember instructions, next steps and key details about your care.
Follow clinic instructions
Follow all instructions from the surgeon’s office or clinic team. This helps your appointment go smoothly and supports your care.
If you need surgery
Once you and your surgeon decide to go ahead with surgery, you will fill out some important forms. If you have not already completed the preoperative patient health history questionnaire, the clinic team will ask you to fill it out at the surgeon’s office or clinic.
Your surgeon will explain the consent form, and they will ask you to sign it during the visit. You may also need to fill out and sign other forms at this appointment.
Participating in research
If you are a patient preparing for surgery, you may be asked by your surgeon if you agree to have a small piece of your tissue collected after the surgery and used for research purposes.
This is part of The Ottawa Hospital’s Global Tissue Consenting and Collecting Program (GTC) and is designed to ensure that all patients are given the opportunity to participate in research, while helping our scientists access human tissue samples that are critical to making new discoveries.
Tissues collected through GTC are used for a wide variety of approved projects to study cancer, accelerate our ability to make new discoveries and find better treatments for various diseases.
Working under an umbrella Research Ethics Board (REB) protocol, a GTC Working Group manages the collection and distribution of this tissue and ensures that patients’ personal health information is protected.
What patients need to know
When a patient provides consent to GTC, only surplus tissue not needed for diagnosis or to help with treatment decisions will be used for research purposes.
Any personal health information collected will be protected, as per the regulations of the Research Ethics Board. The patient’s treating surgeon may or may not be involved in the research conducted with the surplus tissue.
Patients will be asked to consent to GTC at the same time they are asked to consent to their surgery. This may be done as part of a virtual visit with their surgeon, via telemedicine, Zoom call or phone call or may be done in person. Consent for GTC is completely voluntary and patients are not required to participate.
What health-care workers need to know
The operative consent is now a legal-sized document that includes checkboxes for the patient to initial, indicating if they are willing to participate in tissue collection for research. The consent is also available electronically via Epic.
An information sheet is also provided to the patient, which includes contact information for the “Tissue Navigator” if they have additional questions. No changes will be made to how tissue will be transported from the OR to the pathology lab.
GTC is managed by “Tissue Navigator” Edita Delic, a clinical research associate with a track record in tissue collection protocols and procedures for research.
What researchers need to know
Any researcher can make use of the GTC process, including current protocols that collect tissue. The collection program is not a biobank but will provide fresh tissue to researchers. The GTC is registered with the Canadian Tissue Repository Network (CTRN).
If you are interested in obtaining tissue for research or have a currently enrolling tissue collection protocol, please contact Edita Delic, the TOH “Tissue Navigator” at GTC@toh.ca to find out how you can make use of this complimentary service.
Research Ethics Board
The following are approved research studies that collect tissue as part of the GTC (with principal investigators).