The 2015 conference of the MUHC-ISAI, chaired by Ms. Patricia O’Connor, Senior Advisor, Patient Engagement, MUHC, and special guest co-chair, Professor Angela Coulter, University of Oxford marked a second opportunity to focus on patient engagement. In 2014, we provided a broad look at why patient engagement has become a priority. In 2015, we narrowed the focus to look specifically at partnering with patients to design care processes that better meet patient needs. Presenters discussed emerging best practices and strategies to include patients as partners in healthcare improvement.

Click on the links below to:
read speaker bios – view slides – watch the presentations

The UK is likely the most advanced country in creating structures and implementing policies to support patient partnership throughout the healthcare system. To open the conference, Angela Coulter offered an account of how patient engagement has evolved in the past few decades, and where it will take us in future.
The evolution of patient engagement in care and service design
Professor Angela Coulter, University of Oxford VIEW SLIDES

SESSION 1 — PATIENT ENGAGEMENT LEADERSHIP
The first session explored what it takes to lead patient engagement, and this from three different perspectives. Carolyn Canfield has adopted “citizen-patient” to describe her role and has made a full time commitment to working internationally to transform healthcare culture. Leslee Thompson related her experience as a hospital director in integrating patients as real partners at Kingston General Hospital — a centre that has taken on almost mythic status in the patient engagement world. Dr. Tom Hutchinson shared lessons from palliative care at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and the Cleveland Clinic program about the benefits of whole person care for patients and physicians.

Patient engagement leadership: What does it take?
Ms. Carolyn Canfield, citizen-patient volunteer and 2014 Patient Safety Champion VIEW SLIDES

Why and how does senior management support patient engagement?
Ms. Leslee Thompson, President and CEO, Kingston General Hospital

Enhancing clinician performance through patient engagement
Dr. Tom Hutchinson, Director, McGill Programs in Whole Person Care; Palliative Care physician, MUHC VIEW SLIDES

SESSION 2: PATIENT PARTNERSHIP: RECRUITMENT, TRAINING, GOVERNANCE AND EVALUATION
The presentations in Session 2 described how different health centres are integrating patient partners into their operations.
PART 1. The Université de Montréal’s Office of Collaboration and Patient Partnership
The Office of Collaboration and Patient Partnership at the Université de Montréal is leading the way in training and deploying patient advisors to undertake improvement work in a variety of settings. The conference heard from Sylvie Martel, who worked with the Office to integrate patient partners into quality improvement teams; Dr. Paule Lebel, co-director of the Office, on work underway to increase and strengthen their resources; and Marie-Pascale Pomey about progress in evaluating the impact of patient engagement on care and service design.

Using the Office to support patient partners at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont
Ms. Sylvie Martel, Associate director professional practice, multidisciplinary affairs, CIUSSS Centre-Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal VIEW SLIDES

Building and sustaining the Office resources
Dr. Paule Lebel, Co-director, Office of Collaboration and Patient Partnership, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal VIEW SLIDES

Evaluating the quality of patient engagement and the impact of patient engagement on improvement teams
Dr. Marie-Pascale Pomey, Professor, Department of Health Administration, Université de Montréal VIEW SLIDES

PART 2. Integrating patient engagement into organizational structures at the MUHC
At the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), efforts are underway to integrate patient partnership into organizational structures. Karine Vigneault discussed the opportunities for patient partnership and measures that facilitate the recruitment and coaching of patient advisors. Emmanuelle Simony, who co-directs the project and also works on the MUHC’s users’ committee, described winning conditions for patients involved in these initiatives. Finally, Alain Biron looked at performance and patient experience measures that inform these improvement projects.

Institutional and organizational challenges
Dr. Karine Vigneault, Patient Partnership Program Coordinator, MUHC VIEW SLIDES

Creating winning conditions for patient partners
Ms. Emmanuelle Simony, Co-Lead, Patient Partnership Project, MUHC VIEW SLIDES

Measurement and evaluation tools to monitor progress
Dr. Alain Biron, Assistant to the Director, Quality, Risk Management and Performance, MUHC VIEW SLIDES

SESSION 3: HOW DOES THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE DRIVE IMPROVEMENT?
Patient experience provides an important measure to guide improvement work. Much as institutions are adopting these measures and surveying patients, there is still much to learn about how to collect, package and use that information. The conference heard from Gary Teare about efforts in Saskatchewan to combine patient experience measures and Lean quality improvement methods in healthcare settings across the province. The challenge of collecting and using patient experience was pursued in Alain Biron’s presentation of an information management system being piloted at the MUHC to provide timely patient feedback, and by Tom Edgar’s description of ethnographic research undertaken at Roche to better understand the oncology patient journey.

Creating feedback loops to monitor progress
Mr. Gary Teare, Chief Executive officer, Measurement and Analysis, Health Quality Council, Saskatchewan VIEW SLIDES

Facilitating feedback and follow-up
Dr. Alain Biron, Assistant to the Director, Quality, Risk Management and Performance, MUHC VIEW SLIDES

Understanding the patient journey
Mr. Tom Edgar, Customer Experience Manager, Hoffmann-La Roche VIEW SLIDES

SESSION 4: BUILDING CAPACITY TO LEAD QUALITY IMPROVEMENT WITH PATIENT PARTNERS The
The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI) has led a two-year patient engagement collaborative to support healthcare centres across Canada in their efforts to partner with patients on improvements. In Session 4, the conference heard several of these projects presented by the healthcare professionals and patients involved.

The CFHI Collaborative: Assessing the impact of patient engagement on care process improvements
Ms. Maria Judd, Senior Director, Patient Engagement, CFHI
Ms. Patricia O’Connor, Senior Advisor, Patient Engagement, MUHC; CFHI Faculty
VIEW SLIDES

Partnering with patients to improve transitions in care
Ms. Sandra Schmidt, Project Lead – Transforming the Patient Care Experience, Bruyère Continuing Care
Ms. Jacqueline Tetroe and Mr. John Robinson, Patient/family advisors, Bruyère Continuing Care
VIEW SLIDES

Integrating patients into the care team for replantation of the upper limb
Ms. Audrey-Maude Mercier, Health Promotion Advisor, Direction of Professional Services and Access Mechanisms, Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM)
M. Olivier Fortin, Patient Partner, CHUM
VIEW SLIDES

Experience-based co-design to improve care processes for newly diagnosed children with cancer
Ms. Mireille Brosseau, Project Manager, Patient Engagement, Childrens’ Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)
Ms. Linda Jones, Patient/Family advisor, CHEO
VIEW SLIDES

SESSION 5: ENGAGING PATIENTS TO IMPROVE THE CLINICAL ENCOUNTER
Session 5 turned to ways of using information around patient experience within clinical encounters to improve effectiveness and quality of care. Dr. Zeev Rosberger described an initiative to incorporate patient reported outcomes into cancer care. Dr. Alan Forster looked at ways to measure and improve the performance of healthcare professionals.

Using patient-reported experience to better meet patient needs: the iPEHOC project
Dr. Zeev Rosberger, Director, Louise Granovsky Psychosocial Oncology Program, Jewish General Hospital VIEW SLIDES

Patient feedback in professional performance improvement
Dr. Alan Forster, Chief Quality and Performance Officer, The Ottawa Hospital

SESSION 6: PATIENT ENGAGEMENT IN PATIENT SAFETY
Safety is an area where patients can play a much more significant role but need education and encouragement to question and challenge actions of healthcare professionals that may put them at risk. In Session 6, Andrea Bishop described a health behaviours approach to thinking about patient engagement in patient safety, and Dr. Sasha Dubrovsky and Aaron Fima described how a project at the MUHC’s Montreal Children’s Hospital is encouraging all patients and staff to talk more openly about potential safety concerns. Finally, one of the teams involved in the CFHI Collaborative presented their efforts to include patients in improving safety by involving them in shift-change transfers.

Connecting the dots between patients, providers and organizations
Dr. Andrea Bishop, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Nursing, Dalhousie University VIEW SLIDES

“We should talk” A program to improve patient safety in the paediatric setting
Dr. Sasha Dubrovsky, MUHC Montreal Children’s Hospital
Mr. Aaron Fima, Patient and Family Advisor, MUHC Montreal Children’s Hospital
VIEW SLIDES

Including patients and families in bedside transfer of accountability at shift change
Ms. Anne Campbell, VP Partnerships and Patient Experience, Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance
Ms. Cathy Bachner, Patient and Family Advisor, Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance
VIEW SLIDES

CLOSING PANEL: A BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE
The conference ended by calling on a panel of leaders, all working to increase patient engagement in health system design and health care, to sketch out possible next steps. Two of Montreal’s most active patient partners, Mr. Mario Di Carlo, Co-chair, Central Users’ Committee, MUHC, and Mr. Vincent Dumez, Co-director, Office of Collaboration and Patient Partnership, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, chaired the session.
Participants:
Dr. Francine Girard, Deputy-Chair, Health Canada Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation
Ms. Maureen O’Neil, President, Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement
Ms. France Laverdière, Expert advisor, Department of Ethics and Quality, Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services
Dr. Angela Coulter, Senior Research Scientist, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford

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2015 Conference planning committee
Co-Chairs:
Ms. Patricia O’Connor, Senior Advisor, Patient Engagement and McGill Nursing Collaborative, MUHC
Ms. Susan Usher, Director, Health Innovation Forum

Members:
Dr. Alain Biron, Assistant to the Director, Quality, Risk Management and Performance, MUHC
Mr. Mario Di Carlo, Co-chair, Central Users’ Committee, MUHC
Dr. Sasha Dubrovsky, Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine, MUHC
Mr. Vincent Dumez, Co-director, Office of Collaboration and Patient Partnership, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal
Mr. Richard Fahey, Director, Public Affairs and Strategic Planning, MUHC
Dr. Carolyn Freeman, Radiation oncologist and Physician Quality Champion, MUHC
Ms. Valerie Frunchak, Associate Director of Nursing Mental Health, Training and Staf Development, Jewish General Hospital
Ms. Maria Judd, Senior Director, Patient Engagement, Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement
Dr. Sylvie Lambert, Assistant Professor, Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University
Dr. Susan Law, Vice-President, Academic Affairs, Saint Mary’s Hospital Centre
Ms. Amy Ma, Co-chair, Central Users’ Committee, MUHC
Dr. James Martin, Chief, Department of Medicine, MUHC
Mr. Harris Poulis, General Counsel and Director of Legal Affairs, MUHC
Ms. Andréanne Saucier, Director of Nursing, MUHC
Ms. Alyson Turner, Associate Director of Nursing, Medical Mission, MUHC
Dr. Karine Vigneault, Patient Partnership Program Coordinator, MUHC

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We thank our partners for supporting the 2015 MUHC-ISAI conference!