Patient Partner, Improving Patient Experience of Home Infusion Therapy Working Group

Volunteer Opportunity
If you or a loved one has lived experience of home infusion (IV) therapy and are interested in bringing your experience to this work, we would be excited for you to join us!

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Lead Organization/Department
Island Health, The Medicine Quality Council

Aim
The Medicine Quality Council at Island Health has established a working group that aims to standardize the delivery of care for patients receiving home infusion (IV) therapy and to improve the patient and family care experience. We are interested in engaging patient partners who would bring their lived experience to the working group.

In the working group, patient partners would review and provide feedback on patient education materials and co-develop a patient experience survey. Patient partners will be encouraged to be involved as much as they would like to in other tasks, including co-developing or providing input on patient/family facing documents, such as educational materials. The patient partners will also be part of the co-development of terms of reference. Patient partners will receive agendas, meeting minutes and meeting materials ahead of the meetings. Onboarding will be tailored to the patient partners to ensure they feel supported and included.

Level of Engagement
This opportunity is at the level of collaborate on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will work together with you to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

Eligibility
• Open to patient partners from: Vancouver Island region.
• Experience (personal or family) receiving home infusion (IV) therapy.
• 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
– 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 Charmaine Niebergall cniebergall@bcpsqc.ca directly to see if accommodations may be possible.

Logistics
• Number of vacancies: 2
• Date/Time: 1 meeting per month, on the third Thursday of every month from 7am-8am (sorry, we know it’s early!)
• Location: Virtual with Zoom
• Commitment: seven months to 1 year

Reimbursement
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
This working group is comprised of physicians, nurses, managers, quality consultants and directors.
We are interested in standardizing home infusion therapy to reduce variations in care and improve patient outcomes in both acute and out-patient settings. The working group reports up to the Medicine Quality Council. The Medicine Quality Council provides leadership, support and action with respect to quality and patient safety across Island Health.

The Medicine Quality Council includes Ambulatory Care leadership (Director and Medical Director); quality consultant; nurse leaders and managers and physicians. Interested patient partners will have an initial meeting with leads to ensure that it’s the right mutual fit.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Charmaine Niebergall
Engagement Leader, Patient & Public Engagement | Vancouver Island
778.700.2064
cniebergall@bcpsqc.ca