Patient Advisor, Trauma Tiers of Service Working Group

The Provincial Health Services Authority is developing a plan for how to best care for severely injured patients and their families. We are looking for a patient who has received care for a major injury, or who has been a caregiver to someone who has, to advise us about their experience of the system and how they think it could be improved. We are looking for volunteers to attend an in-person meeting in Vancouver or to connect with us by video or phone!

Open to: Patient partners across the province

Lead Organization or Department

Provincial Health Services Authority, Trauma Services BC

Aim

We are looking for patients who have had experience in the health system in relation to major injury care requiring hospitalization. We often refer to a major injury as a physical trauma or traumatic injury. It refers to physical injuries of sudden onset and severity which require immediate medical attention to prevent loss of life or limb. The patients will advise us about how we set up a provincial, integrated trauma care system with regards to developing a tiers of service plan (i.e. what all BC hospitals need to provide different levels of trauma care and what their responsibilities in an integrated system are). This is probably not an opportunity that will interest everyone as it is about system design. It would be ideal for patients who have an interest in the health system and health care delivery planning at a macro level. The tiers themselves have clinical components, but we will engage patients in the non-clinical components. It is important for us to hear the perspective of patients who have experienced physical trauma and have been cared for in our system. We want to know what their experience was like and how we could make the system better for patients and their families who might have similar experiences in the future.

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

• Experience in the health system as a patient or caregiver who has experiences physical trauma/major injury requiring hospitalization
• Comfortable telling their story
• Some understanding of the BC health system
• Interest in improving systems
• Comfortable advising groups of people

Logistics

Vacancies: 2 Timeline: Mid March: initial one-hour teleconference End of March: in-person one-hour meeting in Vancouver (could also have dial-in, video-conference options for patients who don't live in Vancouver) August: one-hour teleconference meeting Fall 2019: maybe a few calls for advice about implementation

Reimbursement

Travel expenses for those living in the Vancouver area (i.e. mileage, transit, parking).

Background

The BC Trauma Tiers of Service (TOS) will be a provincial framework that clearly defines the tiers of major trauma care provision across British Columbia. It will describe the roles, responsibilities and requirements of each tier (hospital) and will provide a common language and understanding of Trauma/injury care across the health system. This includes a consistent application of the tiers, and requirements and responsibilities within each regional health authority that will contribute to an integrated provincial trauma system. The TOS will also provide a foundation to support quality assurance and performance improvement programs. Trauma care is provided across the full continuum of care, which will be identified in the tiers - from community care, prevention, population health, emergency services, acute hospital care, subspecialty care to rehabilitation. This opportunity has come about because the current health system for major trauma in BC is somewhat disjointed. Hospitals across BC have designated levels for providing trauma care however they are not universally accepted or applied consistently. Our goal is to create one integrated, efficient system of care with tiers of service for trauma that are clear and consistent. A broad group of stakeholders will be involved including: BC Injury Prevention, All Health Authorities including BC Emergency Health Services, Ministry of Health, Specialized Physician groups - Critical Care, Surgical, Internal Medicine, Allied Health groups, BC Patient Safety and Quality Council groups.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Kathryn Proudfoot
Engagement Leader, Patient & Public Engagement | Provincial
604.668.8246
kproudfoot@bcpsqc.ca