Ultimate Blogging Championship

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  • Input Needed for Family Caregiver Engagement Snapshot by The Change Foundation

    As part of their 2015-2020 strategic plan, The Change Foundation is working to improve the experience of family caregivers as they help their family members transition through and interact with Ontario’s health and community care systems. As part of this work, they’re aiming to compile a baseline snapshot of established family caregiver engagement activities in the province. This information will help identify models of engagement between family caregivers and providers in which families are actively incorporated into shared decision making. They also plan to update the information again in 2 or 3 years. They’d like to know how your organization is engaging with patients and their families on an ongoing basis. If you have information regarding family councils, caregiver support groups, or caregiver engagement activities within your primary care team, please contact Cayla Baarda, Research Assistant, at cbaarda@changefoundation.com or 1-416-205-1353.

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #38: Advancing EMR Use

    Scheduled outage of D2D Data Review platform. We’re getting ready for D2D 4.0! In order to test the updated submission form and review platforms, we will be taking the webpage offline from July 11-13. Need help extracting data from your EMR? Check out our standardized EMR queries, developed to help you gather data for the EMR-based indicators for D2D and other quality improvement efforts. Add your patients’ voice to the clinical trial of a patient-reported outcomes tool. Patient-reported outcomes are increasingly recognized as a major indicator of quality in health care. An Electronic Patient Reported Outcomes (ePRO) Tool has been developed, and the research team is looking for your and your patients’ input in a pilot study. If your team might be a good fit, contact Carolyn Steele-Gray. Assess your team’s EMR maturity with OntarioMD’s EMR Progress Assessment (EPA). The tool is available to physicians now and will be available to QIDSS and EDs later this summer. The assessment is your team’s entry point to the OntarioMD EMR Practice Enhancement Program services. New 2015/16 Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) report from Health Quality Ontario entitled, Engaging with Patients: Stories and Successes from the 2015/16 Quality Improvement Plans. The report describes overall patient engagement trends and observations, and provides many spotlights and examples from AFHTO member teams. In case you missed it:

    D2D 4.0 Timeline

    2016-07-07 - D2D timeline  

    Help spread the word about D2D – invite others to sign up for the eBulletin online.  Getting too many emails? Scroll to the bottom of the original email for the unsubscribe link.

  • Just one week left to nominate your team or colleague for a Bright Lights Award!

    As an AFHTO member, we know you do great work every day. Shouldn’t others know it too? Shine a light on your team’s accomplishments with an AFHTO Bright Light Award. Deadline is July 12, 2016 to:

    • Build on your success – this year ALL award recipients will receive an education grant valued at $3,000.
    • Boost pride within your own team – ongoing acknowledgement of all they do helps remind your team their work is appreciated.

    Not sure if your team’s achievements merit recognition? Watch the webinar or review the submission guide to learn more. Small, rural and Northern teams are especially welcome.

    For more information, you can visit the Bright Lights webpage.

    And while you’re preparing your Bright Lights nomination, consider submitting for a nomination for the Minister’s Medal (deadline July 15, 2016). Recognizing programs/initiatives that align with the four key objectives outlined in Patients First: Access; Connect; Inform; Protect; this year there’s also additional emphasis on patient engagement.  

    Given the high volume of excellent applications submitted over the past three years, the ministry is encouraging any previous applicants to reapply.

  • Quality Committees

    Operational Planning

  • Quality Committees

    Operational Planning

  • Looking beyond measurement to improvement in interprofessional care: focus groups with IHPs

    In January and February of 2016, we conducted a series of focus groups with AFHTO-member Interprofessional Health Care Providers (IHPs) about what you need in order to get better at what you do – and about how we can get better at helping you with that. We heard a lot of great information from these focus groups! Now its our turn to teach back in order to be sure we heard right from all those who were able to be a part of the focus group discussions, as well as to get input from the wider group of volunteers to help us set priorities for action. To do this, we have created an anonymous, online survey. This brief questionnaire is your opportunity to tell us what Quality Improvement (QI) means to you, whether that’s even an accurate term to describe the process of getting better at what we do, and how we can support you in doing this. The questions for this survey come out of our discussions at the focus groups. Please confirm/correct our impressions and tell us which aspects of the enablers and barriers are the highest priority for you so they can also be the highest priority for our work together. Data from the focus groups and this survey will be used internally to set priorities in supporting teams to move beyond measurement to improvement. We can’t promise we will do everything that you identify as important – but at the very least, we can commit to focusing whatever resources we have in that direction. Data from the survey will also be used externally via direct communication and broader publication to advocate for resources/tools/other supports for AFHTO members. The results will also constitute part of the data being considered in my (i.e., Carol Mulder) doctoral thesis. Rest assured that your survey data will be completely anonymous, even to us – we won’t know who has completed it The survey has been sent to everyone who signed up for the focus groups. We look forward to learning from your responses and using them to help us in improving our efforts to help you. Thanks again for taking the time to share.

    March 3, 2016

    Thanks to the more than 100 IHPs who  have signed up for focus groups!

    What’s next?

    Meeting invitations have now been sent for sessions in London (March 24), Toronto (March 29) and Kitchener (March 30). Planning for sessions in other locations is still underway.  Not all IHPs will have received a meeting invitation; they were sent to those who indicated availability for the chosen date/time.  Where there were more IHPs available than space in the focus group (maximum size of 8), a random sample of available IHPs was invited to the session. Closer to the dates of the sessions, we will send the high-level questions that will be addressed during the focus groups. There is no presentation planned as the goal of the sessions is to hear from IHPs about quality improvement, what it looks like in their teams and what it would take to better support it. All IHPs (not only those who take part in the focus groups) will be invited to comment on the guidance emerging from the focus groups and implications for AFHTO. To do that, we are hoping all IHPs who have signed up will agree to be added to the email distribution list for updates – watch your email for more information. AFHTO will work with all members to develop activities, resources and/or tools to support quality improvement within teams. These interventions will be informed by the focus group discussions and reflection on them by IHPs as well as other staff of AFHTO member organizations.

    All IHPs are invited to participate in a series of regional focus groups. AFHTO has been making progress with measurement of comprehensive, team-based primary care.  There is still more work to do with that. In the meantime, it is time to look beyond measurement to improvement in interprofessional care. IHPs are invited to complete the online survey about potential dates, times and locations as soon as possible so we can set up the sessions.  We are looking for up to 6 people for each session on a first come, first served basis. The sessions will be facilitated by Lori Chambers, a qualitative researcher and doctoral candidate from McMaster and Carol Mulder, Provincial Lead for AFHTO’s Quality Improvement and Decision Support program. There is no charge for the sessions, which are expected to be about 1.5 hours long. Date and location of groups will be decided based on response to Doodle polls. The first sessions (which we anticipate to be in late March) will be held in the locations which fill up first.  Additional options will be offered after the first sessions are set. Contact Carol Mulder for more information

  • Experiencing Aging: A Health Care Reality Check from The Change Foundation

    Health care services are created with the patients in mind, right? How would your perspective change if you had limited mobility, couldn’t hear properly and had restricted vision? That’s what many seniors experience every day. It’s time for a reality check. The Change Foundation has released two Experiencing Aging videos (also referred to as the Aging Suit videos). Through simulations informed by lived experience and using the Aging Suit to mimic the effects of aging, we’ve crafted a video series that serves as a reality check of the challenges seniors face in differently health care settings, starting with home care and primary care. You can watch a video featuring Kavita Mehta, Executive Director, South East Toronto FHT, who agreed to wear The Aging Suit and be taken through a simulation in a Primary Care setting. She was able “to walk a mile in our patient’s shoes”.

  • Nomination deadlines approaching fast! Show your leadership & earn recognition in the health system

    We encourage all members to send nominations for each of the following calls for application. Please share this information with your colleagues:

    AFHTO Bright Lights Awards: Shine a light on your team’s everyday accomplishments

    Minister’s Medal nominations: Prestigious cross-sectoral healthcare award

    • Deadline to send your application to your LHIN office via e-mail is July 15, 2016
    • The awards are recognizing programs/initiatives that align with the four key objectives outlined in Patients First: Access; Connect; Inform; Protect. This year, there’s also additional emphasis on patient engagement.  
    • Given the high volume of excellent applications submitted over the past three years, the ministry is encouraging any previous applicants to reapply.
    • AFHTO members have been recognized in the past- see the 2014 awards presentations.

    AFHTO Board of Directors: Bring your experience to your association

    • Deadline to apply is July 5, 2016
    • Now is a VERY interesting time to be serving on the AFHTO board of directors! Guide primary care through system transformation.
    • Anyone who works within an AFHTO member organization is eligible. To maintain balanced representation on the board, priority consideration will be given to candidates who are:
      • Physicians (Executive Directors and Interprofessional Health Providers are also welcome to apply)
      • From AFHTO members located in the eastern and northern regions of Ontario

  • B7 Taking Care Everywhere: eConsult Progress in Ontario

    Theme 7. Clinical innovations to address equity

    Presentation Details

    • Date: 10/17/2016
    • Concurrent Session B
    • Time: 3:30pm – 4:15pm
    • Room: Harbour B
    • Style: Presentation (information provided to audience, with opportunity for audience to ask question)
    • Focus: Practical (e.g. Presentation on how to implement programs and/or practices in the team environment)
    • Target Audience: Leadership (ED, clinical lead, board chair, board member, etc.), Clinical providers, Administrative staff, Representatives of stakeholder/partner organizations

    Learning Objectives

    Participants will explore the development of two eConsult services in Ontario: the Champlain BASE (Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation) eConsult service and the Provincial eConsult Initiative. Participants will receive an overview of how both services work and how interested healthcare providers can enroll. Presenters will discuss their experiences implementing eConsult services, describe what measures should be considered when planning service development (e.g. wait times for regional specialists, local access needs), and provide a look at the latest usage data.

    Participants will receive resources supporting the implementation of eConsult services in new jurisdictions.

    Summary/Abstract

    Excessive wait times for specialist appointments pose a significant barrier to patient care. Electronic consultation (eConsult) services can address this issue by improving access to specialists. This presentation discusses two eConsult services launched in Ontario: the Champlain BASE (Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation) eConsult service and the Provincial eConsult Initiative.

    Champlain BASE has enrolled 1,040 primary care providers (PCP), including 879 family doctors and 160 nurse practitioners, and offered access to 86 specialty groups, the largest menu of specialties available from any such service worldwide. The eConsult team conducted a cross-sectional study of all eConsult cases submitted from April 2011 to March 2016 in order to describe the utilization and impact of the service. The Champlain BASE eConsult model demonstrated sustained high user uptake and impact on access to specialist advice.

    The Provincial eConsult Initiative is conducting a proof-of-concept of its service and is building on the experiences of the Champlain BASE service. Primary care teams in the pilot regions have acknowledged in a benefits evaluation and recent survey that eConsult is a welcome innovation that provides better access and equity to specialist resources.

    These innovative solutions have leveled the playing field for access to specialist advice, especially in underserved areas. Provider satisfaction with both services is high. Our lessons learned and results can be used to inform other regions interested in implementing similar systems. Ongoing research includes policy development, economic impact, education opportunities and patient perspective.

    Presenters

    • Clare Liddy, Clinician Investigator, C.T. Lamont Primary Health Care Research Centre, Bruyère Research Institute, cliddy@bruyere.org
    • Kevin Samson, Family Physician, East Wellington Family Health Team, kevin.samson@ewfht.ca

    Authors & Contributors

    • Clare Liddy, Clinician Investigator, C.T. Lamont Primary Health Care Research Centre, Bruyère Research Institute
    • Amir Afkham, Senior Project Manager – Enabling Technologies, Champlain Local Health Integration Network
    • Erin Keely, Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The Ottawa Hospital
    • Darren Larsen, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer, OntarioMD
    • Elizabeth Keller, Vice-President, Product Strategy & Delivery, OntarioMD

  • Diabetes Learning Event: Improving Diabetes Care; Improving Diabetes Outcomes

    On June 16, 2016, in support of AHFTO members’ efforts to move the needle on the quality of diabetes care, we hosted a full-day learning event for interprofessional health providers (IHPs), QI staff, and patients. The day’s learnings were focused on the use of self-management as a care tool for patients affected by diabetes. Improving Diabetes Care; Improving Diabetes Outcomes was presented in partnership with the Centre for Collaboration, Motivation, and Innovation (CCMI) and five of Ontario’s Self-Management Programs. It was followed by a half-day Knowledge Translation and Exchange workshop for Quality Improvement Decision Support Specialists and other QI staff to explore ways to improve our ability to improve diabetes care. Slide decks and handouts from the presentations are available at the links below. Please feel free to contact Catherine Macdonald for more information.

    Morning Plenary Sessions

    Diabetes Care & Measurement: How fare have we come; how far do we have to go? (Carol Mulder)

    Presentation: Introduction to Self-Management (Natasha Beckles and Dona Hird)

    Afternoon Breakout sessions

    For IHPs: Brief training in developing and using Brief Action Plans (BAPs) (Carole Dove and Tammy Purdy)

    For QIDSS and QI staff: Using the EMR to facilitate and measure the use of Self-Management programs (Christina Southey)

    For patients, IHPs, and QIDSS/QI staff: Patient Tools for Self-Management (Mike Hindmarsh, Dona Hird, and Parnaz Sadighi)

     

    Want to Learn More?

    For more information about self-management as a care tool, or to find a self-management program near you, visit the following:

    AFHTO gratefully acknowledges the financial and in-kind support of Ontario’s Self-Management programs and the in-kind support of the Centre for Collaboration, Motivation, and Innovation (CCMI).