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Commitment: Long-term
Connection methods: Virtual, In-person
Open to Provincial Region
Last updated
Volunteer Opportunity
BCGuidelines.ca are clinical practice guidelines and protocols developed and published by the Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee (GPAC) – a collaboration between the Doctors of BC and the Ministry of Health. We are seeking a patient partner for the GPAC General Committee, if you have a passion for primary care and experience participating in committees, this opportunity could be for you!
Lead Organization/Department
Ministry of Health, Primary Care Division, Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee
Aim
Goal of this initiative:
Clinical practice guidelines represent the best medical guidance for clinical decision-making and encourage the provision of medically necessary services that have proven benefits to patients in specific situations. We base practice recommendations on critical appraisal of evidence, focusing on improved outcomes and recommendations, and when certain services should/should not be offered.
Purpose of engaging patient partners:
To improve patient health outcomes and experiences with the primary health care system by incorporating patient’s lived experience. Guideline recommendations should include individualized care plans that are responsive to patient preferences.
Patient partners will participate in all activities of the GPAC General Committee. Recommendations will be made by consensus, with final decisions on all recommendations resting with the Ministry of Health. Consensus is achieved when everyone accepts and supports a decision and understands how the decision was reached.
Patient partner responsibilities include:
• provide feedback on the guidelines presented at GPAC for approval
• contribute to the committee process and share in the work
• uphold BC Guidelines’ reputation of being evidence-based and free from any conflict of interest
• provide any lived experiences and a patient perspective
• contribute to discussions at meetings
• attend all committee meetings to the best of their ability
Level of Engagement:
This opportunity is at the level of consult on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will listen to and acknowledge your ideas and concerns, and provide feedback on how your input affected the decision.
Eligibility
• Open to patient partners from across British Columbia (BC)
• The patient partner should have a passion for healthcare and a desire to collaborate at the system level
• Able to provide constructive feedback and a constructive attitude during interactions
• Confident providing feedback with executive level health care professionals
• Previous working group or decision-making experience
• Experience with multiple health care settings and a strong understanding of the health care system in BC (able to identify gaps and opportunities and familiarity with medical terminology)
• An ability to generalize their own experience to other care contexts and situations, ideally having personal experience with health challenges and support for a loved one through health care experiences, such as chronic disease(s)
• Communicates effectively and demonstrates ability to work in partnership with others
• The posting encourages diverse representation from across the province including people from different ethnic, economic and social backgrounds
Please note:
• The placement process for this opportunity will include an interview
If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and signed Patient Partner Commitments, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact Cassy Mitchell.
Logistics
• Number of vacancies: 1
• Date and Time: Fridays 1:00-4:00pm every 2 months. The first meeting is September 16, 2022.
• Location: Meetings are held in a hybrid fashion, with some meetings being virtual (Zoom) and others in person out of Vancouver (with a virtual option). Meetings are held on a bi-monthly basis, or at the discretion of the chair.
• GPAC General Committee meetings take place every 2-3 months typically 3 hours during regular business hours, members are expected to attend all meetings
• Commitment: Term limit is 6 months with a possibility of extension
• Patient partners will be sent a meeting package 1 week prior to the GPAC Committee meeting and will be expected to review in preparation and be expected to contribute during the meeting
• Membership includes general practitioners and primary care experts from across the province
Reimbursement
GPAC will be compensate for meeting attendance and preparation, in alignment with the GPAC reimbursement policy.
GPAC will also cover all out-of-pocket expenses for patient partners to attend in-person (if required) including ground travel, meals, parking, and accommodation if necessary. If you meet the eligibility criteria, but have concerns about your ability to participate, please contact Cassy Mitchell cmitchell@bcpsqc.ca to see if support options are available. We are always seeking to better understand and reduce barriers to participation.
If the patient partner is outside of the Lower Mainland or Vancouver Island regions, virtual participation is likely.
Background
Clinical practice guidelines represent the best medical guidance for clinical decision-making and encourage the provision of medically necessary services that have proven benefits to patients in specific situations. We base practice recommendations on critical appraisal of evidence, focusing on improved outcomes and recommendations, and when certain services should/should not be offered.
GPAC’s Mandate:
The Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee’s (GPAC) mandate is to support both the effective utilization of medical services and high quality, appropriate patient care. This is achieved through the development, publication and promotion of clinical practice guidelines and protocols. GPAC’s clinical practice guidelines are evidence-based recommendations for common medical situations with a particular focus on circumstances in British Columbia (BC). These “Made in BC” clinical practice guidelines are published in a user -friendly format under our brand name BC Guidelines on our website at www.BCGuidelines.ca.
GPAC’s guiding principles are:
• to encourage appropriate responses to common medical situations;
• to recommend actions that are sufficient and efficient, neither excessive nor deficient; and,
• to permit exceptions when justified by clinical circumstances.
Please refer to the GPAC Handbook – How our “Made in BC” Clinical Practice Guidelines and Protocols are Developed here.
