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Because your voice matters.

Participant, Culturally Safe Digital Health Patient Advisory Group

Posted • Last updated

Closed

Commitment: Long-term

Connection method: Virtual

Open to Provincial Region, Indigenous patient partners within BC

Last updated

Volunteer Opportunity
Given the significant changes in how people now access health care services, would you like to help advise the Ministry of Health as they develop the future vision of digital health? If yes, this could be the opportunity for you!

RSVP Now

Lead Organization/Department
BC Ministry of Health, Digital Health Policy Team

Aim
The Digital Health Policy Team has prioritized the development of a core set of standards and policies that will provide provincial direction and support for the use of digital health in British Columbia. Our aim is to ensure that the digital health policies we have developed are inclusive, patient and family centred, and reflect patient perspectives on empowerment and digital health.
Your role as a patient partner will be to review and provide your involved feedback to our team on these draft standards and policies.
The Ministry of Health has prioritized several policy areas that you will review and provide feedback on: Information Management, Patient Portals and Personal Health Records, Remote Patient Monitoring, and other key topics. The policies that we will review with you will provide a clear blueprint for how we move forward with a strategic, systematic and aligned vision for digital health in British Columbia.

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
The inclusion of Indigenous voices in policy development is essential for insuring safe, inclusive, and culturally safe virtual care in BC. Because of this, we are looking for Indigenous patient partners to share their feedback with our team as this work moves forward. This engagement will create a safe space for Indigenous voices to be shared and respectfully heard. A broader provincial patient partner group is also being offered, and Indigenous patient partners responding to this invitation are also welcome to join the broader group if they would like.

Additional eligibility criteria:
• Are comfortable working in large groups with other patient partners
• Are comfortable with the use of Zoom/teleconference to attend meetings
• Are comfortable using Microsoft Word, PDF, or other formats for sharing and reviewing documents
• Prior experience using digital health services is not necessary for this engagement.

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 Cassy Mitchell.

Logistics
• Number of vacancies: 16-18
Date and Time: Meetings are set to tentatively begin May, 2021
Each session will last 40 minutes – 1.5 hours, with one meeting per week or as needed. Agenda and supporting documents will be provided in advance. Reviewing items before each meeting is not required
Location: Via Zoom/teleconference
Commitment: 6 months

Reimbursement
If you would like to participate in this opportunity, but have concerns about your internet provider and data limit, please contact Cassy Mitchell at cmitchell@bcpsqc.ca. Otherwise, no expenses are anticipated.

Background
Digital health policy refers to using and promoting the opportunities offered by digitalisation in the delivery of health care services. It includes integration of virtual care into BC’s health care system and the regulation of electronic communications and information security in relation to health.

Digitally-enabled team based care is a top priority for the Digital Health Policy Team. This includes, but is not limited to, creating a standard that ensures all of the correct information about the patient is shared with the correct people in a timely manner that supports safe and high-quality health care.

The developed digital health policies were based on a review of domestic and international sources, focusing on jurisdictions with mature approaches to digital health (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, Northern Europe, United Kingdom, the United States, etc.).

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Cassy Mitchell
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Provincial
250.279.o717
cmitchell@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.