Pts4Chg is presenting at the International Institute for Patient and Family Centred Care (IPFCC) conference that is occurring from July 25-27th. As part of the presentation, a Twitter exchange will be taking place. Please consider joining us in the Twittersphere to converse with conference delegates, share ideas and have fun. 
Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Time: 11:15 a.m. EST
Location: In the Twittersphere at #Pts4ChgNYC
Have you ever felt overburdened by the amount of paperwork, phone calls, e-mails, appointments, etc., associated with navigating the health care system? If so, you are not alone.
In the article, “Unpaid, stressed, and confused: patients are the health care system’s free labor,” Sarah Kliff describes how the health care system can place considerable burden on the patient him/herself. This realization came about from her own experience managing a chronic foot injury. As Kliff explains:
What I didn’t understand was the burden patients face in managing the health care system: a massive web of doctors, insurers, pharmacies, and other siloed actors that seem intent on not talking with one another. That unenviable task gets left to the patient, the secret glue that holds the system together.
For me, this feels like a part-time job where the pay is lousy, the hours inconvenient, and the stakes incredibly high. It’s up to me to ferry medical records between different providers, to track down a pharmacy that can fill my prescription, and to talk to my insurance when a treatment gets denied to find out why.
Click here to read the full article.
Chronic pain is one of the most taxing health problems facing individuals. Although the pain can be problematic in and of itself, it can be accompanied by depression, loss of livelihood and independence and/or addiction to prescription pain killers.
Joan Broderick, senior behavioral scientist and associate director of the Center for Self-Report Science at USC Dornsife’s Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR), suggests an alternative to drug use. Click here to discover what it is.
Are you a Patient Family Partner in Canada? If so, you are invited to join a focus group or interview in person (Vancouver) or via telephone or webinar. To find out more about this exciting opportunity, click on the image below.
Please Note: The deadline to express your interest in participating in this project is May 31, 2016.
If you are interested in Patient Oriented Research (POR), this might be something you want to attend.
The Patient-Oriented Research Training Program provides participants with a foundational understanding of Patient-Oriented Research (POR). It is intended to help equip research team members with the skills and knowledge necessary to engage meaningfully in projects that involve a POR approach. The Training Program is open to anyone who is collaborating, or planning to collaborate, in POR. It is intended for graduate students, trainees, community and academic researchers, patients and family members, health care professionals, decision-makers, and industry and community stakeholders who are interested in learning about, or contributing to, POR in Alberta.
Click here to continue reading.
The following was submitted by Matt.
Hey everybody! If you have a couple minutes, feel free have a look at this digital story I’ve worked up. The plan is to share it with other health care providers, to inform them about issues that come up outside the standard world of treatment. Feedback is appreciated!
Patient engagement is a term that is commonly used in the healthcare sector. However, what does patient engagement mean? Does patient engagement mean sitting on a committee and doing nothing more than rubber stamping decisions that were made elsewhere? Is patient engagement mere tokenism? If not, what is patient engagement and how is it promoted, facilitated and supported?
In the article, “Beyond tokenism: How hospitals are getting more out of patient engagement,” Wendy Glauser, Michelle Satsiuk and Debra Bournes explore these and other ideas.
An electronic health record system is being planned for Alberta. This will connect Alberta’s 97 hospitals, its primary care networks of family physicians, and the province’s Netcare system together. In addition to cost-saving benefits, a single health information system will allow medical specialists and emergency rooms to determine important information, including what medications an individual is taking and what diagnostic tests have already been done. Albertans themselves will also be able to log in and view their health information. As one member of Pts4Chg wrote, “Linking Healthcare with Primary care with patient! Feeling in the loop.”
Although this initiative will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Carl Amrhein, deputy health minister, “I’d say it’s critical.” Click here to read the full report.
