Posted
Closed
Commitment: Short-term
Open to Vancouver Island Region
Posted
Volunteer Opportunity
Do you have experience as a patient, client, and/or family member of Island Health Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) services and want to influence quality assurance and improvement? The MHSU Quality Council brings together executive, medical, operations, and other quality leaders, to steward patient safety and quality improvement initiatives. Patient, client, and family partners are valued members of this council.
Lead Organization/Department
Island Health, MHSU Strategic Clinical Network
Aim
Patient, client, and family partners have valuable insights into improving patient safety and quality of care. The Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) Quality Council is committed to the meaningful inclusion of those with lived experience into its planning and decision-making processes. As voting members, patient, client and/or family partners/advisors contribute their perspectives and ideas during monthly Quality Council meetings and associated initiatives. Patient, client and/or family partner/advisors are expected to prepare for meetings by familiarizing themselves with the agenda and circulated materials, attend meetings, and participate in discussions and decision-making.
Level of Engagement
This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement (www.iap2.org). The promise to you is that the health care partner will work with you to ensure that your ideas and concerns are integrated into quality council discussions and decisions.
Eligibility
• Open to patient partners from: Vancouver Island region.
• Experience with Island Health MHSU services as a patient, client, and/or family member.
• Comfort and experience with using technology to access documents and attend virtual meetings such as using a computer to use email, Zoom and opening documents.
• Comfortable sharing your health care journey, patient experiences, ideas and opinions in a group setting.
• Patient, client, and/or family partners/advisors give a lot of themselves: time, energy, and the sharing of personal stories or experiences that may be difficult. It is important that this not be done at the expense of your own health/wellbeing. There is a potential risk that patient, client, and/or family partners may experience emotional distress through reflecting on and sharing what may have been a negative care experience, and/ or meetings may have content that a partners/advisors may find triggering. With this in mind, we ask that you only consider participating if you feel it would be safe and comfortable for you to do so.
• Please note:
– This opportunity, as with all Island Health patient engagement opportunities, is not open to Island Health staff members or patient partners who are currently employed by Island Health. If you have questions regarding this, please email patient.experience@islandhealth.ca
– As connection and relationship building is important, we may like to meet with short listed patient partners as part of our selection process in an informal interview between the patient partner and the health care partner.
– Applicants must have previously attended a PVN orientation session and completed the Patient Partner Commitments form. If you have not attended an orientation session but you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Charmaine Niebergall directly to see if accommodations may be possible.
– As required by the October 14, 2021 Public Health Order released by the Provincial Health Officer, proof of vaccination is required to access any in-person meetings at a health care site. Proof of vaccination can be provided by way of a Vaccination Passport or Vaccination card, along with government issued photo ID. For patient partnership activities that are virtual only (via Zoom, video conference, phone, etc.), proof of vaccination is not required.
Logistics
• Number of vacancies: 2
• Date/Time: The fourth Wednesday of each month, 10:00am – 12:00pm
• Location: Until further notice, meetings are held virtually, using Zoom
• Commitment:
– One meeting per month,
– 2 hours long,
– plus additional time to read agendas and documents in advanced of meetings,
– 1 year term with possibility of extension.
Reimbursement
This engagement opportunity is eligible for honorariums as per the Island Health Peer Engagement Guidelines. 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 Charmaine Niebergall cniebergall@bcpsqc.ca to see if support options are available. We are always seeking to better understand and reduce barriers to participation.
Background
The MHSU Quality Council works collaboratively by sharing perspectives, evidence and ideas to inform and improve care processes to people accessing MHSU services. Members of this Council include but are not limited to: operations managers and directors, executive and medical directors, medical and quality leadership, and patient, client, and/or family partners/advisors. Patient partners/advisors were integrated into MHSU Quality Council in 2019. The primary patient, client, and/or family partners/advisors role is as a voting member of the monthly MHSU QC meeting. Additional temporary opportunities may also arise to participate on quality initiatives and on project teams. The Quality Lead is the primary contact person to patient partner/patient advisors for pre and post meeting and on-going support. Orientation materials, including Terms of Reference and confidentiality policies, will be made available upon partnership agreement and onboarding.
