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Categories: Improving Health Care, Patient Voice Mail, Working Together for Better Health Care
The BC Patient Safety and Quality Council has been working closely with the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), health authorities and other health care partners across the province to disseminate critical information related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Information related to the COVID-19 pandemic is often shared as written and visual materials, and it’s important that these materials are understandable and appropriate for communities and the general public.
In February 2021, Patient Voices Network patient partners formed a review group to provide valuable feedback on draft materials as public consumers of information (e.g., whether materials make sense, what are the points of contention and clarity, etc.). This ensures the perspective of those receiving the information is included.
The review group currently consists of 37 patient partners who have reviewed eight requests, with more coming in throughout the fall.
The first task, “Spring Mosaic,” requested feedback from the group on a mosaic of images featuring some key holidays and celebrations held in March and April that accompanied public health messaging on the BCCDC website and social media. The changes made between the original and final versions were based directly on the feedback that the developers hadn’t previously considered.
“Thanks so much for the feedback! It’s really interesting to see and things I wouldn’t have thought about.” -Melanie Kurrein, BCCDC Health Care Partner
The second request was to review the BCCDC School Microsite, which is a section on the BCCDC website which includes information and resources about health and safety measures in kindergarten to grade 12 schools and what happens if there are COVID-19 cases. The group’s contributions helped support BC, as it was one of the only provinces able to keep schools open for in-person learning last year. This microsite was also seen as a gold standard to build information for post-secondary institutions.
Requests related to vaccination continued to come to the review group. This included obtaining feedback from Indigenous patient partners and identifying questions regarding safety, registration and regulation of vaccines. The most recent request was to obtain feedback on COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 5-11.
“The [group] has been invaluable in providing real-time, thoughtful and realistic feedback on the knowledge translation products created across the province for COVID-19. The rapid response group ensures that we are sharing messaging that makes sense to the audiences we are trying to reach, and that we are ensuring an equitable approach to our work.” -Katie Fenn, Director, Quality, Safety & Accreditation, BCCDC
As we move forward, we expect the requests to the group will include reviewing materials that address transitioning out of the COVID-19 pandemic and into recovery. For more information on COVID-19, please visit the BCCDC website.
Author: Carol Stathers, Engagement Leader
