Posted
Closed
Commitment: Short-term
Connection method: Virtual
Open to Provincial Region
Posted
Volunteer Opportunity
The BCIT Nursing Program supports the goal of good health and well-being for all persons. Help our future nurses put into action their health interview skills to better understand your health journey and perspectives by volunteering for a 15-30 minute interview. Let’s make a difference now and into the future!
Lead Organization/Department
BCIT Nursing Program
Aim
To give newly enrolled student nurses an opportunity to develop their communication skills and develop an understanding of how the health care journey impacts what patients go through and ultimately their health outcomes.
The role of the patient partner is to engage in a short 15-30 minute interview with a group of student nurses to share their or a family members health care journey.
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 across the province who:
• Have previous/current experience as a patient or family member/caregiver of a person who has accessed the health care system
• Ideally would be an older adult (55 years of age or older) with long term medical condition(s) (for example diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, etc.), however younger older adults (between 45 – 55 years of age) experiencing long term medical condition(s) would meet the eligibility criteria
• Are willing & comfortable to share their health journey and experience as a patient, family member or caregiver
• Have access to a phone (for a phone meeting) or computer (for a Zoom meeting)
If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and 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: 14-32
• Date and Time: Interviews to be scheduled between May 15th to 29th, 2023 at a time that is convenient for patient partners (interviews will last between 15-30 minutes)
• Location: Telephone or Zoom interviews
• Commitment: One time
Reimbursement
No out of pocket expenses are anticipated for this engagement opportunity. However, 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.
Background
At BCIT, student nurses start their first term in a community rotation. During this rotation, student nurses meet older patients with long term medical condition(s) and who live in the community. We believe that interviewing patient partners through PVN will provide these students with an opportunity to therefore practice their communication skills. It is important at the beginning of a student nurses education, that they develop an understanding of the patient’s health care journey and the impact it has on the patient’s health outcomes.
BCIT Nursing students and instructors will be involved in this initiative and confidentiality will be maintained as per nursing regulations.
The BCIT Nursing program does not see any risks with this request as the students will engage in an interview focused on the patient partner’s health care journey. However, should a concern be raised by the patient partner, the BCIT student nurse will loop in the nursing instructor for guidance. The student nurses are in their first semester of the nursing program so if any health concerns are raised by the patient partner, the students will seek out the nursing instructor for guidance. The knowledge level is limited for these first semester student nurses, so they will not be providing any instructions to the patient partner. This patient partner interview is not to address any health issues, rather, simply a learning exercise for student nurses in the area of developing communication skills.
None of these sessions will be recorded and information will not be shared with any other peers/colleagues. Information may be shared with the instructor however for learning purposes only.
