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Member, Cannabis Clinical Policy Working Group

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Open to Vancouver Island Region, Patient partners across the Island Health Authority region

Last updated

Island Health is creating a policy for the clinical use and management of cannabis products for any patient, resident or client while under Island Health care services.  If you are a thoughtful communicator with an interest in policy development and personal experience or awareness of issues related to the clinical use of cannabis, we want your help on this dynamic, short-term policy development project.

Open to: Patient partners across the Island Health Authority region

Lead Organization or Department

Island Health, Pharmacy Services

Aim

This working group has been established to develop Island Health’s policy for the clinical use and management of cannabis products for any patient, resident or client while under Island Health care services.  This policy development is arising from the pending legalization of cannabis product for recreational use in Canada and the corresponding significant changes in the legislation and regulation of Cannabis for both medical and recreational uses. The patient partners’ role is to help the working group better understand and consider the perspectives of patients, families, and communities, and to ensure that those priorities are reflected in the recommendations.   Through their participation in bi-weekly meetings, patient partners will be asked to help the working group ensure that the new policy appropriately fulfills clinical needs for all patients presenting to the health authority with either medical use authority or clinically definable dependency from recreational use cannabis.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will involve patients in planning and design phases to ensure ideas or concerns are considered and reflected in alternatives and recommendations.  

Eligibility

  • Resides in the Vancouver Island Health Authority region
  • Have experience accessing health services within Island Health
  • Direct or familial exposure to medical cannabis use is an asset
  • Ideally, at least one of the two patient partners can bring an Indigenous lens to the policy discussions
  • Interest in policy development or understanding of professional regulations, as the policy will guide physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and hospital staff
  • Comfortable sharing patient experiences in a group setting for the purposes of learning and quality improvement
  • A skilled listener who is respectful of a broad range of views
  • Previous experience as part of committee or quality improvement project is an asset, but is not required
  • Links to other agencies, networks or communities to inform a broad perspective is an asset, but is not required
Please Note:
  • Not open to individuals who are currently employed by Island Health
  • The placement process for this opportunity may include an informal interview between the patient partner and the health care partner.
Patient partners will 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 Kira Tozer directly to see if accommodations may be possible.

Logistics

Number of vacancies: 2 Commitment: Bi-weekly meetings, 1-2 hours long, from July – November 2018. (The work of this task group needs to be complete with a policy ready for presentation to the Board of Directors and implementation before the October 17th activation of new Canadian cannabis laws.) Location: Face-to-face meetings will be held in Victoria, although participation is also possible via hospital video conference across the island, or via teleconference. Term: 4-6 months

Reimbursement

Pre-approved out-of-pocket expenses to participate in meetings such as mileage, parking and public transit will be reimbursed by Island Health.

Background

The Cannabis Working Group is a sub-group of Island Health’s Therapeutic Stewardship and Safety Quality Council. Underneath this working group is a task team, Cannabis Clinical Policy Sub Group  devoted to developing the policy for clinical and associated professional and security considerations of Cannabis across all Island Health facilities. More information on Island Health’s Quality Structures is available online at: http://www.viha.ca/quality/care/leadership/cqs/cqc.htm.  The Therapeutic Stewardship and Safety Quality Council (TSSQC) is a multi-disciplinary council reporting to the Quality Operations Council and secondarily to HAMQC/HAMAC for all issues, policy, and formulary management topics relating to Island Health’s medication services. The council completes its work through the use of several sub-committees, working groups and task teams, and holds seats on the BC Health Authority Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee. The Council is co-chaired by the Director of Pharmacy, Medical Director of Pharmacy and the Director of Medication Safety, and includes membership from multiple divisions of medical practice, nursing, medication safety, patient advisers, clinical informatics, and pharmacy clinical and operational services. Pending arrival of the new federal legislation and regulation regarding cannabis, Island Health has not supported clinical use of cannabis in acute care except by individual case considerations.  Further, for residential care service a guideline has been developed to support medicinal use of cannabis by residents. The focus of the work at hand is to develop a policy document that embraces all clinical settings and all patient needs regardless if the patient presents with medical use authority or not. The new legislation is entitled the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations with the accompanying Regulations to Support the Coming Into Force of the Cannabis Act.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Kira Tozer
Engagement Leader, Patient & Public Engagement | Vancouver Island
250.888.4525
ktozer@bcpsqc.ca

From Our Community

Derek Koch

Spiritual Health Practitioner and Patient- and Family-Centred Care Lead — Kelowna General Hospital

Derek Koch

The bottom line is because we’re caring for patients. People who know best are those who are receiving the care so it makes logical sense that we would consult with them about their experiences. By connecting with PVN we have been able to educate our teams about the value of patient partners and how important their perspective is in our services.