Patient Advisor, Heart Failure Self-Management Quality Improvement Project – Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH)

Volunteer Opportunity
Heart patients who learn how to manage their health daily after leaving the hospital increase their chances of a healthy life. A team at RCH are asking one patient partner to provide input into their patient education materials to increase patients’ active participation in their care.

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Lead Organization/Department
Professional Practice – Fraser Health

Aim
• To increase the average patient reported self-management by 25% among patients hospitalized with an admitting diagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure at RCH by June 2021.
• Patient partners will provide input on patient education materials related to starting to self-manage their heart disease in the hospital and continuing at home.

Level of Engagement
This opportunity is at the level of consult on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will listen to and acknowledge your ideas and concerns, and provide feedback on how your input affected the decision.

 Eligibility
Open to volunteers from in Fraser Health communities who:
• Have experience with a chronic disease, in particular heart disease
• Feel comfortable sharing their experience

Logistics
• Number of vacancies: 1
• Date/Time: To be determined with patient partner
• Commitment: 1-2 meetings in the next month

Reimbursement
No expenses are anticipated. However, we are always seeking to understand and reduce barriers to participation. If you meet the eligibility and would like to be considered for this opportunity, but have concerns about your ability to participate, please contact Jami Brown – jbrown@bcpsqc.ca to see if there are support options possible.

Background
Self-management is a way to apply a person and family centered approach to care as the goal is for patients to participate in their care and ensures that patients have a central role. Self-management is an approach that supports patients who have chronic conditions to learn how to manage their health daily as patients work with the entire health care team set and achieve goals and live the healthiest life possible.

The RCH team that is leading this quality improvement project includes 2 doctors (hospitalist and internal medicine) a clinical nurse educator, and a unit manager. The team is developing tools and supports to introduce self-management to patients during their hospitalization.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Jami Brown | BA, MAPC (she/her/hers)
Engagement Leader
BC Patient Safety & Quality Council
604.510.0449
jbrown@bcpsqc.ca