Participant, Developing a Collaborative Care Plan Focus Group

Do you think it’s important for patients and families to be actively involved in their care and treatment planning? We are looking for patient partners to help develop a ‘collaborative care plan’ document for use in the following Interior Health services: Primary Care, Seniors Health and Wellness, Mental Health and Substance Use, and Chronic Disease Management.

Open to: Patient partners in the Interior Region

Lead Organization or Department

Interior Health

Aim

The purpose of this engagement is to:

1. Learn from patients and families about how a collaborative care plan (CCP) could be useful to help manage their health
2. Identify the types of information in the collaborative care plan that is important to patients and families.

Patients will be asked to participate in two focus group session. The first meeting will focus on how patients/families might use this tool, and identify the information that should be included in the CCP. In the second meeting we will review the CCP paper form and flow and make any final adjustments to it.

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

• Be an older adult with health challenges
• Be a caregiver of an older adult who has health challenges such as dementia, frailty, or other chronic conditions
• Be a person of any age who is managing a mental health, substance use, or other conditions such as anxiety, depression, diabetes, COPD, etc.
• Have access to a telephone, email, and have adequate hearing, speaking, and cognitive abilities.
• Experience with community health services such as home health services, other specialized services for seniors, mental health, substance use, or chronic disease services is an asset.
• Access to internet is an asset.

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 the engagement leader directly.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 25+ (no set limit)
• Initial preparation session by phone (15 minutes) with individual participants to prepare for the focus group, and answer any questions about the project.
• The first focus group is expected to occur in early March at a time that is suitable for patient partners with a second follow up session about two weeks later.
• The focus group(s) will occur via teleconference and WebEx (optional).

Reimbursement

There are no expenses associated with this event, a toll-free phone number for the teleconference will be provided.

Background

The collaborative care plan (CCP) is used by the interdisciplinary team within the Community Care setting and the patient/family to guide the development and documentation of a person’s identified and prioritized health goals, interventions and care activities. It is:

• Developed and maintained in collaboration with the patient, their family and/or caregivers and the inter-professional team
• Supports communication between clients and their inter-professional team, and
• Offers clients and caregivers a tool to learn about and actively participate in their health.

The delivery of patient-centred care is a fundamental goal of our health system and services. Traditionally, care planning has been led by health care providers, with varying degrees of collaboration with other providers who are involved in a person's care, and sometimes limited input from patients and families. Our goal is to develop a collaborative care plan that meets the needs of both providers and patients. We have a group of care providers who have started to identify what is important to include in the CCP from their perspective. We want to use this as a starting point and have patient/family partners enrich the content of the CCP so that it may be a useful tool for patients, families, and providers.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Carol Stathers
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Okanagan, Interior Region
778.516.3308
cstathers@bcpsqc.ca