The Patients’ Association of Canada is here to make your experience count. Since our inception, we have been gathering patient and family stories about the experiences that you’ve had with the Canadian health care system. These stories have come from Canadians of all walks of life: those with severe medical and mental health problems, caregivers, to prominent health care leaders - both pro-active and frustrated with the current state of our system. Your experiences are the fundamental basis for bringing about change to our health care system; how to build on its great strengths and how to overcome its serious deficiencies. In order to continue our valuable work, we need to count on your generous donation NOW!
Let’s make every Canadian’s experience count!
The Patients’ Choice Awards
Some of you have told us about the extraordinarily caring physicians you have nominated for the Patients’ Choice Awards, which we sponsor in partnership with the Ontario Medical Association. The most recent awards were presented in Sarnia to doctors who listen carefully to you, hear what you need to say, and show how much they truly care for your preferences and needs. For all of our award ceremonies, our patient jury has found shared criteria that express your views of the kind of practitioners we should recognize and reward. By nominating special doctors, you have made your very positive experiences count. These doctors are models of exceptional practice and they act as examples for others.
Public Meetings and Participation on Boards and Advisory Councils
We have received many stories on our website and during our open meetings where patients and family members share experiences. At our meetings we experiment with different ways to listen to your stories, record them, and find their greater meanings for the system. All your stories are important in our attempts to find commonalities and lessons. It is these stories that allow us to bring a patient and family perspective to health care deliberations on the boards and advisory councils we serve. The Patients’ Association of Canada makes your perspective count in clinical care, in the design of patient and family centred health services, and in the establishment of patient-friendly policies.
Development of Performance Indicators of Patient and Family Centred Care
We promote measures of patient centred care based on significant patient experience. The Muslim patient with the erroneous claim in her chart that she was discharged to the care of a nonexistent daughter should be able to easily correct this error which, if made public, would irreparably damage her reputation in her community. The non-alcoholic laborer, who was mistakenly labelled as alcoholic in his chart should be able to repair the mistake without the difficulties he has encountered. Anyone should be able to easily correct factual errors in their medical charts. Your experiences have helped us to begin to formulate this and other measurable indicators of patient and family centred care. Your stories will help us make your experiences count by developing clear and measurable policies and practices that are patient friendly.
Training of Patient and Family Advisers
We are beginning to work with patients and family members to help them become patient and family advisers, and thereby participate more actively in the health care system. We encourage them to bring their experiences to help the system change for the better – to bring their good experiences as models to elaborate and spread, and their difficult experiences as a basis for thinking about how to make things better. We believe that patient and family advisers will soon participate throughout the Canadian health care system and make their experience count by bringing a patient and family perspective to future developments.