Port Alberni Oceanside Partnership Progress

Since our merger in early April a number of things have occurred. While these things might not be immediately apparent to our membership, staff is hoping to keep members updated as things change, and progress occurs.

Here is progress to date:

In early May Sharon Todd (Division Operations Manager) and Suzanne Beyrodt Blyt (from PSP) visited most doctor’s offices in Port Alberni with a large sack of muffins and had an initial meet and greet with doctors and MOAs. They were there to introduce themselves, get and give contact information and welcome people to the Division.

As well, a conversation was had with GPSC as to how to develop processes and procedures to ensure correct oversight of RCI funds currently flowing directly to Port Alberni doctors for RCI services. Those conversation are ongoing. Watch this space for a full reporting the near future.

In early June Division staff visited Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and requested their attendance at the CSC/PCN meetings to establish a relationship early in the process for Port Alberni.

A “Name That Division” contest was launched last week, asking for member input and thoughts as to the name of our newly formed Division. If you have yet to vote, there is still time! Please check your e-mails for that opportunity or contact us to hook you up to the contest! (oceansideadmin@divisionsbc.ca)

This summer Board and staff from Oceanside hope to:

• Set up group lunches and early dinners dates to meet members in Port Alberni and talk further about the Division and how it can help members
•  Host a “Pathways Discovery” evening for Port Alberni doctors, NPs and MOAs at Chances Casino on June 26
• Host a Med-Access mentorship meeting
• Host the AGM on Friday September 13 at Tigh Na Mara Resort in Parksville

Here is what we need from you!

We are looking for at least one member to come forward to volunteer to serve on the Division Board for at least one year, starting directly after the AGM. We are also looking for members who have an interest in volunteering for leadership opportunities with the Division. We currently are looking for a Port Alberni representative to the CSC/PCN committee, members to assist on the RCI committee and a Pathways leader/mentor. If you have any interest in any of these committees and want further information, let us know!
If you have any questions or concerns or want to book a time to meet the Division staff, contact Evelyn Clark (Executive Director) at eclark@divisionsbc.ca or call (250) 703-6159.

Dine and Learn - Pathways Referral Tracker

We will be holding 2 separate "Dine and Learn" sessions for you to get the chance to join BC's Pathways experts to learn how to set up your Family Practice profile and get set for the online Referral Tracker service coming to Pathways!  Participants will get an overview of the referral tracker, hands-on clinical skills and practice-based learning to find out how Pathways can help with your daily clinical work. 

***Family Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and MOAs are all invited!  Bring your laptop and your Pathways logon for this hands' on session. ALL attendees will also be paid a sessional rate for their attendance. ***
Monday, June 25th 6-9pm - Parksville, Bayside Resort
Tuesday, June 26th 6-9pm - Port Alberni, Chances Rimrock
You are more than welcome to attend either of these events, but will have only received an invitation for the one nearest to you. If you wish to attend the alternate evening, please contact Jill Skuse at oceansideadmin@divisionsbc.ca, and she will send you an invite!

PCN Update

The PCN project is winding up the engagement activities which provided invaluable information for the Service Plan.  In all, we captured diverse perspectives from over 270 care providers and community members throughout the Oceanside region!

Highlights from the engagement events:
• The 2 community events in Parksville and Qualicum Beach had a combined attendance of approximately 100 community members.  These interactive events were an opportunity to share perspectives and people dug right into the table activities.
• On May 15th several members attended a “PCN Validation” dinner event to hear about findings to date and to provide their feedback on the proposed PCN concepts.
• On the May long weekend, NP Rosemary Graham and Laura Cross met with several community members accessing services from the Manna van.  They told us incredible stories of resiliency and many shared both their compliments of health care services and where they need more help and assistance to receive health care. 

The Service Plan is reaching the home stretch and will be submitted on June 28th to the Ministry of Health. The Working Group has come up with a redesign proposal of services based on: information we have heard to date, the population and health data, and the current services available in the area.

For more information, contact Laura Cross at: lcross@divisionsbc.ca or cell: 604-723-0797

After-Hours Access to Palliative Care Physician Consultation

Island Health palliative care physicians are available after-hours to provide clinical advice to physicians and nurse practitioners about pain and symptom management or difficult end-of-life decision-making. Please click here for more information.

UVic's Self Management Programs

Chronic Pain Self-Management Program

The Chronic Pain Self-Management Program is intended for adults of all ages who are experiencing any ongoing pain. There is no cost to attend this 6-session program or for the excellent “Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Pain” reference book participants receive. Please click here for more information.

For details and Registration please click here.

Therapeutics Initiative Conference: October 4 - 5, 2019

We are planning to host a conference on October 4 - 5, 2019 at UBC Robson Square and Vancouver General Hospital. It is geared toward general practice clinicians, as well as trainees (residents and medical/nursing/pharmacy students).
We are able to offer 13.5 Mainpro+ CPD credits over the two days.

Registration and additional information can be found by clicking here.

Nuu-chah-nulth Patient Voices Project - Sessionals available.

A research team involving members of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Nursing Services, SE Research Centre, and two First Nations communities are conducting a “Nuu-chah-nulth Patient Voices” project. The project goal is to improve the quality of health services available to First Nations communities by enhancing cross-cultural understanding of the impact of culturally safe care delivery on health outcomes. We hope to improve the interaction of the two health systems (NTC Nursing services and primary/acute care providers) for the benefit of the patients, communities and care providers.

If you agree to participate, you will be asked to view a series of videos expressing Nuu-chah-nulth community members’ stories about what cultural safety means to them and how it has impacted their health and wellness. You will be asked to comment from your experience as a provider on some of the themes and issues raised in these stories.  The viewing of the videos and interview will take about 30-45 minutes. Later in the project, we’d like to connect with you again for another 30-45-minute interview to discuss key issues identified and potential solutions.
The time commitment for your participation would be two 30 - 45 minute interviews.
Sessionals are available to compensate you for your time.

You will be provided with a copy of all recordings and offered an opportunity to make any changes or remove content from your interview. The team will then take the collection of responses back to the First Nations participants and provide them with a chance to view and comment. Based on your responses and the project findings, we will develop recommendations or guidelines to support increased cultural safety across the health systems serving Nuu-chah-nulth patients, families and communities who access care in your region.

Your experience is valuable! Your impressions and suggestions are an important step towards building greater understanding between Indigenous communities and health care providers.

If you would like to participate in this research project, or have any questions, please contact me at
meganmuller@saintelizabeth.com or by phone at 250-218-6303.

Sincerely,

Megan Muller

Megan Muller, MSc, PhD(c)
CIHR Health System Impact Fellow
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Carleton University

This project is conducted in collaboration with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Nursing Services and Saint Elizabeth Research Centre. This project is jointly funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Saint Elizabeth Research Centre. Ethical clearance for this project has been provided by the Carleton University Research Ethics Board.

Compass Mental Health - Upcoming Webinars

Compass Website is Live!

Earlier this month we launched CompassBC.ca - a website for Community Care Providers.  Currently, providers can learn about our services, register for the program and see upcoming events that Compass is either hosting or will be at in the community.

Stay tuned, in the near future, we will be growing our website to include additional tools, resources and materials to help providers in treating children and youth with mental health and substance use concerns in the community.

Compass Summer 2019 info-sessions
Following the positive feedback from our first round of Compass info-sessions, we will continue to host them once a month. These are opportunities for community care providers to join a short webinar, learn about Compass as a service, how they can access it and ask the Compass team their questions on the goals of the service and how they can leverage it in their community. The format will be a short 15-20 minute presentation followed by time for Q&A.   Registration and event information can be found on the website, or by clicking here.

Rural CQI Needs Assessment Final Report

Family physicians, specialists and other healthcare providers from across rural British Columbia participated in the “Rural Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Needs Assessment”. This needs assessment project was led by the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Division of Continuing Professional Development (UBC CPD) in partnership with the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc) and was funded by the Joint Standing Committee (JSC) on rural issues. The study was designed to investigate rural physician engagement in practice improvement/quality improvement (PI/QI), including current attitudes and practices, enablers and barriers, technology and meaningful use of practice data and which CPD opportunities would be of value to them to support their practice and quality improvement efforts. This work used a variety of methods to capture the data which included a literature review, environmental scan, online survey, focus groups and key informant interviews. The needs assessment was also supported by an Advisory Committee which help determined areas of focus, research questions, specific recommendations and how best to disseminate the results.

The online survey was launched in early 2018 with nearly 300 physicians completing the 15-page survey.  Following the survey, seven demographic-based focus groups were conducted to further understand and explore the study questions and research aims. In addition, key informant interviews were conducted with subject matter experts on quality and practice improvement who were considered to be knowledgeable in the field and leaders provincially.

Findings from the needs assessment have now been compiled into a final report and executive summary (links provided below). Results of the study have informed a set of recommendations related to PI/QI in rural BC for key stakeholder organizations.

This study provides a comprehensive exploration of the BC landscape of PI/QI. The findings related to: organizational involvement (page 44), technology/electronic data (page 64), current attitudes and practices of PI/QI (page 72),  motivators and barriers to PI/QI (page 34, 54, 74), attitudes and practices (page 37, 50), enablers to PI/QI (page 60, 73), future directions to PI/QI (page 68) and current attitudes and practices of PI/QI (page 72) may be of particular interest to you.

In addition, the following recommendations may be of particular interest to you: relationship building # 4 (page 77), technology and data #5 (page 78), system changes #1 - 7 (page 75) and relationship building #1 - 4.

Please find the executive summary here.

Please find the full report here.

In disseminating this report and realizing that in order to achieve the recommendations made would require the participation of many provincial stakeholders, we ask you to please provide a written response to this report outlining how you and your Division could support and help move forward the recommendations based on your responsibilities, mandate and interests. We welcome you to share the final report and executive summary within your Division and/or professional networks. We hope you will find the results to be of interest and value and look forward to hearing your feedback.

Sent on behalf of Drs. Bob Bluman, Brenna Lynn and Ray Markham

Regenerative Orthopedic Medicine - 34th Annual Conference

Here is an opportunity to attend a conference on the treatment of chronic pain from October 25th - 27th in Victoria. The Canadian Association of Orthopaedic Medicine has been organising annual conferences for physicians for 33 years in Canada. Please see the brochure for details and programme. We welcome your attendance.

Oceanside Hospice Society

The Oceanside Hospice Society serves individuals and families experiencing end-of-life, care-giving and bereavement in the area stretching from Deep Bay to Nanoose, and west to Errington and Whiskey Creek

• OHS currently delivers the following services to the community:
• Medical Equipment Loan Program
• One to One Client Support Services
• One to One Grief Support
• Grief Support Groups
• Grief Walking Groups
• Self Care Fridays
• Caregiver Respite and Companioning
• Palliative Vigil Team
• Lending Library
• Community Networking , Education and Training
• Advance Care Planning Guidance

We strive to provide links in the continuum of care by supporting care giving at home, in hospital or the palliative care unit at Trillium and at community care facilities.
Please contact us at 250.752.6227 or visit www.oceansidehospice.com for further information.

Divisions in the News

See what is going on in other divisions around BC:

https://www.divisionsbc.ca/provincial/news-and-events/in-the-news