Member, Person- and Family-Centred Care (PFCC) Collaborative

Northern Health needs patient partners to help identify person- and family-centred care (PFCC) tools that could be trialed in northwest facility-based care settings to improve experience of care for physicians, care teams, patients and families.

Open to: Patient partners from Terrace, Smithers, Prince Rupert, Nisga’a Valley, Kitimat, Hazelton

Lead Organization or Department

Northern Health, Quality and Innovation

Aim

A lot of people are interested in Person and Family Centred Care (PFCC), but there is a knowledge gap in how to implement this approach. Our goal is to identify practical ways physicians, care teams, patients and families can translate principles of PFCC into best practice. As a member of the PFCC Collaborative, Patient Partner(s) would help to identify the needs and priorities of patients and families, identify relevant PFCC strategies, and help to test these in a facility (hospital) setting.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of collaborate on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will work together with you to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

Eligibility

• Experience as a patient or family member with facility/hospital based care
• Interested in working collaboratively within a group of physicians and Northern Health staff
• Able to participate in meetings via teleconference, Zoom, and WebEx
• Some familiarity with data analysis
• Ability to recognize diversity of interests within the broad patient population
• Please note:
  • This opportunity is not open to patient partners who are currently employed by Northern Health
  • The placement process for this opportunity may include an informal interview between the volunteer and the health care partner.
  • Applicants must have previously attended a PVN orientation session and completed the Volunteer Agreement. If you have not attended an orientation session but you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Cathy Almost directly to see if accommodations may be possible.

Logistics

• Number of vacancies: 2
• Date/Time: The first PFCC Collaborative meeting is expected to take place in early June 2020
  • Specific date/time will be scheduled based on members’ availability
• Location: Teleconference or webinar based on patient partner preference
• Commitment: The group will meet 5 times over the course of the next 6 months:

1. Orientation to Person and Family Centred Care and Quality Improvement
2. Develop team improvement project charter
3. Start testing change ideas
4. Determine next steps based on learning
5. Actualize next steps and share with Northwest Northern Health Leadership, Pacific Northwest Divisions of Family Practice for possible further spread

• Additional correspondence via email will be ongoing over the same time period

Reimbursement

There are no anticipated expenses associated with this engagement.

Background

Person- and family-centred care (PFCC) is one of eight priorities articulated in the BC Ministry of Health’s Setting Priorities for the BC Health System Document (2014) and detailed further in the British Columbia Patient-Centred Care Framework (2015). In response, Northern Health has developed a PFCC strategy intended to promote a culture of PFCC within Northern Health, improve experience of care, enhance all forms of person/provider relationships and optimize access to health system and health information. The identification of the prioritized objectives of a PFCC strategy does not easily translate into practice. More work is needed on how to identify what existing care practices already contribute to the PFCC strategy, and where there are opportunities to introduce further PFCC practices. The NH Physician Quality Improvement Program is developing a foundation of person & family centered care into its policies, processes, physician education and overall approach. The PFCC Collaborative is intended to contribute to this effort. The PFCC Collaborative will identify physician needs related to PFCC practice, align these with the needs of patients and families, identify relevant and evidenced PFCC practices, and test identified practices appropriate in facility/hospital based care setting(s) in the Northwest.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Cathy Almost
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Northern Region
250.615.9932
calmost@bcpsqc.ca