Member, Smoking Cessation Quality Improvement Project Team

If you had surgery in the last few years, and happen to be or were someone who smokes cigarettes , we want to learn from you! Our surgeon-led team is looking for patient perspectives to help develop information for patients getting ready for surgery who want to improve their healing by quitting smoking before surgery. Join our team and share your thoughts!

Open to: Patient partners across the province

Lead Organization or Department

Island Health, Royal Jubilee Hospital

Aim

The aim of this project is to help patients heal more reliably and avoid complications after their hip or knee surgery by helping them quit smoking for at least four to eight weeks prior to surgery and, hopefully, stay off cigarettes long-term. The project will test ways that the clinic can connect with their patients who smoke, provide the information they need about smoking and its surgery-related risks and give them the help they prefer. The patient partners’ experience as a former surgical patient and former or current tobacco user will help us ensure future patients' needs are met. The patient partner will be asked to attend project meetings with the team, including surgeons and hospital staff, to provide their views.  

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

• Open to patient partners across the province.
• Recent experience (personal or family) with surgery and current or previous smoking.
• Comfortable to share their story and opinions in a meeting environment with surgeons, hospital staff, project administrators, etc.
• Ability to reflect on the needs/experiences of others who smoke, as well as hospital & clinic staff

The placement process for this opportunity may include an informal interview between the volunteer and the health care partner. Applicants must 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 Ashley Clark directly to see if accommodations may be possible.

Logistics

Vacancies: 2 Date and Time: TBD. Time of meetings likely to occur after 5 pm for most meetings. Monthly meetings are expected from November 2018 – April 2019. Location: Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria.  Teleconference participation encouraged for those who live out of town. Commitment: Over six months. In addition to attending monthly meetings, patient partners will be included on correspondence re: project activities via email.

Reimbursement

Pre-approved transportation and parking costs to attend meetings will likely be reimbursed for those who live locally. This will be confirmed prior to patient partners joining the project team.

Background

The orthopaedic surgery and anesthesia groups in Victoria are aware of strong evidence that shows significant risk reduction in surgical patients if patients are able to quit smoking in the period before their surgery. Taking a continuous improvement approach, we hope to test ways to identify patients who smoke and provide them with timely access to appropriate resources to help to quit. Those involved on the project team are the care team (including surgeons, anesthesiology, family medicine, nurses and other allied health and administrative workers), patient/family caregiver, representatives of the provincial smoker's quitline and the Ministry of Health.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Ashley Clark
Engagement Leader, Patient & Public Engagement | Vancouver Island
250.812.8908
aclark@bcpsqc.ca