2024 Agenda

Newfoundland and Labrador will celebrate one year since their transition to one health authority. Given the scale, there were some challenges, but many more successes as they move into their next phase.

The restructure had a large impact on rural healthcare delivery models, and required a realignment, and innovative approaches to meet the needs of the patients and the Ministry.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How were the transition and opportunities and challenges planned and implemented over the past year
• What changes to access were implement, and how were improvements rolled out
• How has specialty care in rural communities been implemented, particularly the Orthopedics program
• How were services standardized and how are they going forward in year two

Access to robust healthcare in rural and remote areas is increasingly not just a possibility, but also consistently of high quality. The advancement of technology and innovative platforms, coupled with improved utilization of these tools, has diminished geographical barriers, and elevated the standard of care in both rural and urban healthcare settings. From utilizing phone and video-based access for symptomatic triage at a patient’s home to Virtual Emergency Room assessments leveraging remote biometric devices for comprehensive evaluations, as well as remote diagnostics and in-home care, rural communities can now access top-notch healthcare services within their localities, resulting in more positive health outcomes.

Key Session Takeaways

• Insights into the deployment of remote strategies in rural and remote communities
• Real-world examples of increasing access to care through remote diagnostic testing and virtual examinations
• The significance of integrating virtual care with traditional in-person services in rural healthcare settings
• Understanding patient perspectives and the advocacy for virtual care in facilitating real-time access to quality healthcare services

Hospitals are a strong source of pride in the community. This is important for leaders, particularly the CEO, to keep in mind when engaging with the community – either through formal channels, or through on-street encounters.   Remember, in a small town, you are always on. 

We all have different leadership styles, but there are certain principles that can support leading hospitals in smaller communities. In this session Robert will share musings, experiences, and leadership insights through 20 years of leading hospitals in smaller communities.   

Key Session Takeaways Include:  

• Important considerations for building engagement with patient advocates and political leaders  
• Developing relationships with local media to demonstrate your hospital’s leadership in the community 
• The importance of leading by walking around, being the face of the organization, and also the art of recognition 
• Balancing the happiness of staff and internal teams with the goal of providing outstanding patient care  

Retaining nurses remains a significant challenge across Canada, but more so for rural communities. Drawing on the early data from upcoming doctoral studies report from Royal Roads University, this research involved frontline nurses and their managers, utilizing a mixed method approach that comprised of surveys, interviews and focus group discussions.

This report provides important insight into what matters most to nurses living and practicing in rural communities – and it doesn’t always align with what leaders imagine nurses are looking for.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What were the major findings, and how do they impact leaders going forward
• Which internal factors mattered most, and how can leaders respond to meet them
• What specific needs were identified from nurses surveys, and what do they tell us about their long-term needs

Paramedics capture a vast quantity of data, however much of it is never reviewed which means a great deal of insight is being missed. The importance of data analytics is in its ability to allocate appropriate resources, such as staffing, and provide real time data on critical public health incidents.

Data literacy and communication among healthcare teams are key factors in using this important data. It is therefore vital that organizations devote resources to building relationships and robust data capture/analytical capabilities.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How to get started, and how to use existing data to get a picture of what is happening in real time
• What live monitoring of community health looks like, and how it can lead to reduced opioid deaths and improve care for the unhomed patients
• Essential communication strategies for physicians, hospital and health agencies to engage with paramedics in their community.
• The importance of choosing the correct data points in building your metrics
• How to deal with problematic paramedic data and how to turn it into useful data
• Lessons learned on connecting the data and determining what it means 

Patient experience, quality of care, and healthy outcomes, is the ultimate goal of all healthcare providers and hospitals. Ensuring the best care and outcomes requires the coordination of a team of providers and family input.

While Northumberland Hills Hospitals has had a Patient and Family Advisory Council since 2016, they have evolved and expanded their council. They are emphasizing the importance of collaboration between all departments and the role of the Patient Family Advisory Council (PFAC) in decision-making.

Evolving the processes across their 137-bed hospital to strike a balance between their PFAC partnerships across every core program and corporate projects, this integrated model is seeing positive results from patients, staff, and physicians.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How the PFAC was established and how it can be applied to other smaller community hospitals
• How the program is governed and structured to maximize effectiveness and outcomes
• How they have been progressing on their evolution, and where they expect to be in the future

Formed as a partnership between Old Sun Community College (Siksika First Nation), Alberta Health Services (Wainwright, Alberta), and Portage College (Cold Lake and St. Paul, Alberta), several communities are able to adapt to this innovative program to mobilize the strengths and address the needs of the community.

With a goal of addressing the ongoing recruitment and retention issues in rural and remote communities, they are able to recruit and train nurses in their own communities. Learn how the program developed and operates, how it can be adapted to any location, and what their expected next steps will be.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How the funding and organizational models were structured, and how integration is being facilitated
• The interest, uptake, and benefits of building a local nursing workforce in rural communities, including interest from indigenous students
• How the program will expand, and what lessons were learned
• How others can adopt a similar program suited to their own needs

By now everyone has had some awareness of ChatGPT and AI, but how many have begun to use it in a real setting. When deployment in healthcare settings, there are more concerns than we would see in many other industries. But also more opportunities to deliver care, particularly in rural and remote areas.

Through a highly interactive session of polls, demos and discussion, we will explore when and how to effectively address the challenges and harness the tremendous opportunities that AI presents in the healthcare sector.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What AI can do well, and what it can’t do well
• How leaders can harness ChatGPT to draft up strategic plans under limitless scenarios
• How ChatGPT can be directed toward patient and stakeholder communication to remote areas
• Real-world uses and case studies specific to healthcare in rural and northern communities

Innovative strategies have been developed to support the provision of rural pediatric care in British Columbia. It is hoped this will support the recruitment and retention of rural general pediatricians and rural primary care providers. These strategies could be applied to other jurisdictions and to other specialties which play a critical role in rural health care, such as general psychiatry.

The Sustaining Pediatrics in Rural and Underserved Communities (SPRUCe) network coordinates in-person pediatric care to rural and remote BC communities, while also supporting connections between rural pediatricians and supporting the mentorship of medical learners (pediatric residents and medical students) by rural pediatricians. The Child Advice in Real-time Electronically (CHARLiE) virtual pathway offers immediate, 24/7, real time virtual pediatric care, virtual simulation training and education for rural primary care providers. Both are initiatives of the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, and support the improvement of health equity for individuals living in remote, rural communities in British Columbia.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Learn how a clinical network can support rural pediatricians to fill provider care gaps, to provide education and to foster mentorship of future rural pediatricians
• Consider the possibility of a virtual method to support rural primary care providers in the provision of care to children and youth with urgent health needs
• Discuss the importance of medial trainees having exposure to rural pediatric practice, and how this can impact recruitment
• Leverage this care model to be deployed nationally, and for other specialties, providing improved access to specialty care in rural and remote communities

While there has been a healthcare staffing crisis across the country, it is particularly stressed in rural and remote communities, in particular Yukon’s First Nation communities. In response, Yukon Hospital Corporation is working to address its staffing crisis while improving the experiences of Indigenous clients, through their Indigenous Workforce Strategy.

Through Yukon Hospitals Commitment to Truths & Reconciliation, Decolonization and Indigenization, the Indigenous Workforce Strategy is being implemented, with some initial success that we are proud to share.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How Yukon Hospitals are increasing indigenous representation within its workforce
• How they are increasing cultural safety and humility and supporting traditional ways of knowing and being
• How they are developing foundational supports for advancing Truth and Reconciliation, decolonization, and indigenization
• How they are enhancing engagement with Indigenous communities and establishing meaningful relationships with those Indigenous communities

Clinical governance is the framework by which the governing body, leaders, and health care providers have responsibility and accountability for the quality of care.

In the fall of 2021, in response to clear direction from our care teams, Island Health launched the Clinical Governance Improvement Initiative with the ultimate goal of improving clinical outcomes for patients and families.

In this progress report, we will elaborate on how we continue to listen to our care teams and are proud to be taking meaningful steps towards clear, simple, and transparent clinical governance and accountability.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Intrinsic motivation to make things better that is deeply rooted in perspective of public service, we are challenging the norm because we can make things better for the public and the people we serve, care doesn’t just happen at the point of care
• We are in the process of changing the model for health system decision making, following the HSO standard for clinical governance, delegating authority to clinicians and teams to ensure we are charting the best course of improvement based on the data, standards and evidence
• We are designing a model with patient partners included at every level of decision making, including the most senior executive tables, to ensure we are designing the system with the patient, for the patient.