Working Group Member, Patient Medical Home – A New Model in Primary Care

Would you like to be part of a group working to improve coordination and communication between family doctors and other members of a health care team towards better patient care?

Open to: Patient partners in the Campbell River area

Lead Organization or Department

Campbell River and District Division of Family Practice

Aim

In collaboration with Island Health, this project aims to:

• support the inclusion of more allied health care professionals, such as nurses and social workers,
• work directly with family physicians in support of patients with complex conditions, and
• simplify the process of accessing community services. Over the course of this project we will identify local improvement opportunities, implement those that will bring most benefit, and share what we learned with others. This initiative is part of the evolution of primary care, which is working to become the foundation of our entire health care system.
• Patient Partners will play a key role in helping to ensure the patient and family perspective informs the overall aims of the project

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement (www.iap2.org). 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

• Experience receiving care from a full-scope Family Practice clinic in Campbell River (i.e. must have a regular physician, not only seek drop-in care)
• Willing to share your experience in a proactive manner helping to collaboratively inform systemic quality improvement from a patient and family perspective
• Resident of Campbell River area
• 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 Ryan Sidorchuk directly.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 2
• Available for monthly meetings and some email follow up from September 2017 to March 2019.
• The first meeting will take place the week of September 25, 2017.
• Meetings will take place in Campbell River.

Reimbursement

Mileage and parking as incurred will be reimbursed. Any unanticipated expenses will be reviewed and approved as required.

Background

The Patient Medical Home (PMH) was defined by the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2011 as a new model for patient-centred primary care. Since then projects have been going on across the country, with similar projects occurring around the globe. The Doctors of BC (formerly the BC Medical Association) has recently provided funding for PMH projects to local Divisions of Family Practice across BC as part of their vision to enable better access to continuous primary care. The Patient Medical Home is being recognized as the foundation on which to deliver streamlined, accessible and appropriate care to patients. Click here to learn more. This is essentially a quality improvement project focused on improving primary care. Primary care is the first level of care, most often coordinated by a Family Physician. Island Health also runs clinics and services that provide primary care. As such, the Campbell River and District Division of Family Practice is working closely with Island Health, Home and Community Care and Practice Support Program, as partners in this collaborative quality improvement initiative. Please see the Terms of Reference for a list of PMH Advisory committee members to see who else is on this diverse team! The ultimate aim of the PMH model is patient-centred care. Building our team to include the patient voice from the beginning will help ensure the integrity of the work by aligning our actions with our values. The role of our patient partner will be to participate on our Advisory Committee,participate in a patient journey mapping activity, review ongoing patient engagement strategies, and to help identify which improvement opportunities will benefit both providers and patients. The patient partner will be an active member of the team, involved in all aspects of the project. A formal evaluation will be completed at the end of the project. This outcomes report will be shared and reviewed with all committee members.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Ryan Sidorchuk
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Central & North Vancouver Island
250.951.4850
rsidorchuk@bcpsqc.ca