Category: Working Together for Better Health Care

After two full years of co-existing with COVID-19, it may no longer seem like a ‘novel’ virus. With each new wave, new challenges wash ashore, and the societal and health system impacts of COVID-19 continue to evolve. Like health care staff, PVN patient partners rose to the challenge and contributed…

Falls are a leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations and often the reason why older adults lose their independence. Without prevention efforts, it is estimated that one third of people over the age of 65 will fall once or more each year.1 Fortunately, falls are not inevitable. Coordinated prevention efforts and…

It is no secret that people with mental illness experience stigma in society. While not a secret, what is less broadly understood are the ways in which structural and interpersonal stigma around mental illness have contributed to a system of care that leaves much to be desired. Unfortunately, for many…

Psychological Safety. It’s a notion that most would agree is important, but a bit elusive. The formal definition is “the degree to which people view the environment as conducive to interpersonally risky behaviours like speaking up or asking for help.”1 In health care environments, when it is lacking, staff and…

The BC Health Quality Matrix is an excellent resource that presents a definition and common language for understanding quality through seven dimensions: respect, safety, accessibility, appropriateness, effectiveness, equity and efficiency. But what does quality care mean for a specific health condition or journey? Certainly “best practice recommendations” and “clinical guidelines” highlight…

Interior Health is making improvements to medical imaging across the region to improve the quality of care, including access to services, and to explore innovative opportunities into the future.

Skunk-what? Skunkworks is an approach to problem-solving that assembles multidisciplinary teams and empowers them with mentorship and tools to tackle big challenges and prototype solutions.

When Patient Voices Network patient partner Aline Silva saw the chance to combine her passion for health care with her experiences as a patient, she jumped at the chance. Aline’s dedication to patient engagement has gone global through her connections to Brazil and Canada. One of our Engagement Leaders, Jami Brown, chatted with Aline about her experiences.

In the fall of 2020, a Palliative Care - Partners, Services and Transitions Shared Care project was created in the North Okanagan. The goal of this work was to develop a new model of palliative care and define future processes that better support persons, families and caregivers in their journeys.

In late 2020, Interior Health began the task of re-building its public website – which receives over six million page views per year – from the ground up. To do this work, the project team reached out to the Patient Voices Network to create meaningful opportunities for patient partners to be involved in the work.