Although there is lots of talk about making measures of health system performance available to the public, the reality often falls short of the aspirations. Not only are these measures often difficult for public users to understand and access; evidence suggests that they have little impact.
OTTAWA - Two Ottawa doctors were recognized for their quality of service Thursday night. Dr. Robin Boushey and Dr. Evelyn Honsl received the first-ever patients’ choice awards. The award is jointly sponsored by the Patient’s Association of Canada and the Ontario Medical Association. Boushey is the medical director of the cancer assessment centre at the Ottawa Hospital. Honsl is a family physician with a practice on Broadview Ave.
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Friday, June 15, 2012 – Prior to the last six months, I spent a lot of time seeking out groups who were prepared to have patients join them in their discussions. Now, I have increasingly been attending meetings of groups who have, for the very first time, invited a patient representative to join them. They are now seeking out the Patients’ Association of Canada to find patient representatives to join them.
What is very interesting is how much their deliberations change once patients are in the room. They begin to recognize how little input patients have made up until now, and how patients offer a different perspective on the issues these groups face.
PAULINE W. CHEN - A friend of mine, a brilliant and accomplished academic in her 70s who once specialized in history and literature, recently phoned to ask for medical advice after being discharged from the hospital for what sounded like a mini-stroke. Ever eager to learn something new, she pressed me on “the latest research†and asked what doctors around the country were doing for her condition...
... “I don’t want him to think I’m questioning his judgment,†she added. “I don’t want to upset him or make him angry at me!â€
Health & Everything Publications and the Patients' Association of Canada present a new book!
May 9, 2012 - Last week we went to the Western Canada Health Information Privacy Symposium in Calgary. The participants were largely people who were in one way or another responsible for safeguarding the privacy of patients. In recent years many of the provinces have enacted Freedom of Information laws that are also meant to protect the privacy of patients. They have also appointed privacy commissioners to make sure the new laws are followed. The main reason for the laws has been the concern that there is an increased risk of breaches of privacy as health records are computerized.
May 7, 2012 - The Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario (PAIRO)held its awards dinner on Friday night. They gave awards to individuals and programs for teaching and for being especially sensitive to the needs of doctors in training. This was the first time that patients were represented on the PAIRO jury so it was a big step for PAIRO and also for the Patients’ Association of Canada.
The jury process was pretty much the same as PAC’s process for the Patients’ Choice Awards. There were numerous letters of nomination that had to be read and discussed. All the nominations came from medical trainees, and the quality of the nominating letters was the most critical part of deciding who would win. Because there were many outstanding nominees, the jury debated long and hard to decide on the winners.
April 27, 2012 - In the recent past, it was difficult to get a response to our message about the importance of patient participation. Although many people agreed that patients should become more engaged in health care, there were few actual examples of that in practice and not much opportunity to participate in a meaningful way. There was also very little demand for more information.
All of that has been changing. And in fact, our message has become very desirable.
We are not sure how the change happened. We hope that it is because more people recognize that patients must participate in the system to help improve their own experience and that of everyone associated with health care. It is also now widely agreed that health care systems must improve their capacity to treat chronic conditions. And this of course means that the patient must be more actively engaged - not only in their care, but in how that care is delivered.