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Patient Partner, Fraser Health Infection Prevention & Control Program

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Open to Fraser – Vancouver Coastal, Patient partners in Fraser Health communities who are able to travel to Central City, Surrey, for meetings.

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According to the World Health Organization, hundreds of millions of patients are affected by health care-associated infections worldwide each year, leading to significant mortality and financial losses for health systems. To address this critical public health issue, Fraser Health has a dedicated team that designs a variety of quality improvement projects and programs to reduce health care-associated infections. They are now seeking four patient partners to work with this team across a variety of projects over the next year.

Open to: Patient partners in Fraser Health communities who are able to travel to Central City, Surrey, for meetings.

Lead Organization or Department

Fraser Health Infection Prevention & Control Program

Aim

The goals are to:
  • Include patient partner input that will help us understand the patient experience as it relates to hand hygiene and hygiene;
  • Provide input into product purchases, information pamphlets as well as new policies for infection prevention and control that will reflect the unique needs of patients;
  • Integrate patient partners as co-designers of program strategies;
  • Develop a partnership-focused approach between the Infection Prevention & Control team and patient partners.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of collaborate on the spectrum of engagement (www.iap2.org). The promise to you is that the research partner will work together with you to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

Eligibility

Volunteers from Fraser Health communities who are able to travel to Central City, Surrey, for meetings. Preferred patient partners:
  • Have experience with the health care system, as a patient or caregiver;
  • Represent a range of backgrounds that reflects the diversity of patients that utilize Fraser Health services;
  • Who are willing to engage with patients during their hospitalization to ensure the patient perspective is integrated into FH IPC protocols and guidelines.
If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and volunteer agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact the engagement leader directly.

Logistics

  • Vacancies: 4
  • Date/Time: Flexible, based on patient partner schedules
  • Commitment: 1 year, with the option of a second year, at approximately 6 hours per month. (one team meeting a month, potentially one-two site meetings some months and engagement through email to gain feedback on project work).  Any alterations to the time commitment will be discussed with the Patient Partner prior to decision.
  • Location: Central City, Surrey

Reimbursement

Preapproved expenses related to travel to in person meetings will be reimbursed according to the Fraser Health Travel policy (including mileage, parking, tolls and/or public transit).

Background

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) is a regional program that provides education, and support across Fraser Health. Included in this work is the development of patient education as well as patient centered care. The IPC program is made up of consultants, site practitioners, epidemiologists, medical microbiologists, senior clinical leader and clinical nurse specialist. Patient partners are invited to become part of this team The program will provide an orientation to the Infection Prevention and Control program to provide context for the patient partners. Some of the projects that are underway that will include patient partner involvement are:
  • Reviewing patient information pamphlets;
  • Developing and implementing a patient satisfaction survey;
  • Participating in site meetings to present information related to patient experience;
  • Partnering in education for staff, and;
  • Participating and evaluating in the selection of products for patient hygiene

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Jami Brown
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Fraser Valley
604.510.0449
jbrown@bcpsqc.ca

 

From Our Community

Agnes Black

Director, Health Services & Clinical Research and Knowledge Translation – Providence Health Care

Agnes Black

It’s really hard to make changes in health care. When a PVN patient partner says, ‘This is important to us’ it keeps us grounded on why a change is needed and keeps us motivated to keep going on projects.