Member, Development of Team-Based Interprofessional Group Medical Visits for Chronic Pain

Volunteer Opportunity
The Blue Pine Clinic is working to develop more inclusive ways to support patients experiencing chronic pain by creating group medical visits where patients can access a variety of health practitioners in a safe and supportive setting. If you are interested in this work, please apply!

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Lead Organization/Department
Northern Health, Physician Quality Improvement

Aim
Evidence shows that a large percentage of non-cancer pain persisting for more than 3 months can be improved with access to mental health, nutrition, physiotherapy, and pharmacy. The supports and tools can help patients self manage their pain and improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, not all patients have access to these types of care because they may not have private insurance coverage and waitlists are long for these resources. We will use a group medical visit model to create peer supportive relationships between patients with similar experiences of pain to learn from each other and a variety of different health care providers and clinicians.

We are looking for a patient partner to help us design these sessions to be patient centered and inclusive. The patient partner would join our project team as we design the process, content, and materials for these group medical visits.

Level of Engagement
This opportunity is at the level of collaborate on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will work together with you to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

Eligibility
• Experience with chronic pain would be an asset but not necessary.
• Comfortable participating on a working group.
• Please note:
– The placement process for this opportunity may include an informal interview between the volunteer and the health care partner.
• 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 Cathy Almost

Logistics
• Number of vacancies: 2
• Date and Time: Tuesdays at 5pm Bi-weekly (can be discussed if this is a barrier)
• Location: Zoom, phone or videoconference
• Commitment: One week to six months

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 Cathy Almost at calmost@bcpsqc.ca to see if support options are available. We are always seeking to better understand and reduce barriers to participation

Background
This opportunity is an action based on the recommendations from the Northern Health Chronic Pain Steering Committee. It will be based in the Blue Pine Clinic in Prince George and will include a team of physicians, a physiotherapist, dietitian, mental health clinician, pharmacist, and two physician quality improvement coaches.

Potential risks include lack of staff time and resources due to demands of covid. This will be mitigated by scoping and streamlining the project to a small pilot.

Covid risks will also be mitigated by having the project team meet on zoom for planning meetings. Unfortunately, this means the patient partners will need access to reliable internet and a device they can use for zoom.

This project takes place in primary care.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Cathy Almost
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Northern Region
250-615-9932
calmost@bcpsqc.ca