Expectations
DAY 1
10:35–11:30 AM PST // 1:35–2:30 PM EST
Health Policy and Health Funding in Canada
Speaker: Dr. Jason Sutherland
Based on his experience working at the federal and provincial level, Dr. Sutherland will describe the primary elements of provincial health care systems, patterns of utilization/spending and differences in outcomes.
He will then discuss aspects of cost-efficiency, effectiveness and equity of the provincial delivery systems. Then, he will explain key policies governing the delivery and funding of healthcare and opine upon future opportunities for healthcare reform by drawing from examples from other countries
DAY 1
10:35–11:30 AM PST // 1:35–2:30 PM EST
Choosing Leadership in Unfamiliar Times
Speaker: Carolyn Canfield
Introducing disruptive methods and radical ideas are familiar kickstarts to innovate and improve. Can you imagine a bigger disruptor of just about everything, including healthcare's status quo, than COVID-19? Do you suppose your healthcare entry is perfectly timed for change leadership?
Let’s look at how this systemwide upheaval is revealing opportunities and new expectations in every facet of healthcare. Get ready to add imagination to your initiative, insight and hard work in new and old arenas to transform practice and policy.
Students and early professionals may be the very best navigators for the way forward using novel partnerships for rapid results. With many years ahead in your budding career, sustaining the change mindset can be your greatest work satisfaction.
Leadership is a choice, your choice. Deciding where to aim may be a bigger challenge than mustering the determination and stamina to succeed. Since, by chance, disruption has chosen you, how will you seize this moment for life changing leadership?
DAY 1
10:35–11:30 AM PST // 1:35–2:30 PM EST
A Social Accountability of Medical School
Speaker: Dr. Cheryl Holmes
Social accountability is the medical school’s commitment to address the priority health concerns of the populations it has a responsibility to serve. According to the WHO, priority health concerns are to be identified jointly by governments, health care organizations, health professionals and the public. In Canada, Educating Future Physicians for Ontario (1990) is the only published example of a consultation that included the public. The most influential outcome was identification of physician roles that later became the CanMEDS roles.
In 2019 the MD Undergraduate Program at the University of British Columbia sought patient and public input into a re-examination of its social accountability framework. The results substantially informed the revised mission statement, priority populations and exit competencies. Further research is needed to co-create with patients and the public a set of evidence-based guiding principles, models and processes for the authentic, responsive, ongoing and sustainable engagement of patients and the public in the mission, goals, curriculum and delivery of medical education.
Disparities
DAY 1
1:05–2:00 PM PST // 4:05–5:00 PM EST
Morality and the Social Dimensions of Risk: Learnings from the Field of Sexual Minority Men’s Health Research
Speaker: Dr. Mark Gaspar
Public health research and health promotion is dedicated to helping people manage risk. However, the social science literature has shown that how people navigate risk in their everyday lives is complex and sometimes at odds with medical advice. In this presentation, Dr. Gaspar will draw on over a decade of research on gay, bisexual, and queer men’s health—including case studies on HIV, mental health, substance use, COVID-19, and sexual violence—to outline some of the evolving social and moral considerations informing risk perception and risk-taking within this population.
He will discuss some of the limitations of biomedical frameworks at understanding the fundamental causes of risk and health inequities in sexual minority men’s lives and how such approaches to researching and communicating health risk can aggravate anxiety, shame, and stigma. He will argue that people are not just risk calculators processing objective health information ‘rationally’, but are social agents who are drawing on their lived experiences and social obligations to make sense of uncertainty, contradiction, identity, and power. A nuanced understanding of the social and moral dimensions of risk is vital to creating health education and care capable of effectively addressing health inequities.
DAY 1
1:05–2:00 PM PST // 4:05–5:00 PM EST
How to be an Agent for Change
Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Christian
After attending the IHI Student Quality Leadership Academy as a first year medical student, Nick Christian soon realized that the frameworks taught by the IHI Open School can be applied in a tangible, powerful, and meaningful way to projects addressing healthcare disparities in the community.
Nick will walk you through his leadership journey, highlighting some of the IHI tools that have helped him along the way. He will share his work improving care for people who use substances and people with lived experience of homelessness in the hope of helping you channel your energy as a “change agent” to make effective change in your community.
DAY 1
1:05–2:00 PM PST // 4:05–5:00 PM EST
The Indigenous Cancer Journey: "the Truth and how to Reconcile"
Speaker: Dr. Jason Pennington
The talk will begin with a review of the Cancer Journey with a focus on Colorectal Cancer (CRC). Next will be a review historical and current Indigenous Health Status with a specific examination of the burden of CRC on Indigenous Populations.
An exploration of the Social Determinants of Indigenous Health (SDOIH) will allow learners to gain some insight into the impact they have on the Indigenous Cancer Journey. The final segment will be an examination into ways to mitigate the negative impacts of the Distal SDOIH (Cultural Safety, Alliship, Partnership And Leadership).
Solutions
DAY 2
9:35–10:30 AM PST // 12:35–1:30 PM EST
WelTel: Digital technologies for healthcare improvement and global health
Speaker: Dr. Richard Lester
WelTel’s concept started in 2005 when clinicians living in Kenya noticed unprecedented loss to follow up during the wide-scale rollout for antiretroviral medications in the treatment of HIV. The need for enhanced engagement in care was evident, especially during long-term management of chronic illness. Mobile phones were ubiquitous and offered the opportunity for a low-touch, efficient way to connect with patients and support treatment adherence.
WelTel has worked with numerous patient and provider focus groups, including those most marginalized, to create its core concept. The platform has recently implemented a function to
manage contact tracing of patients, allowing both COVID-19+ patients and their close contacts to communicate virtually with health care practitioners during self-quarantine.
This strategy has been implemented nationwide in Rwanda. No matter the background of the individual when it came to two-way text messaging in patient care, the best protocol was always “Ask Don’t Tell”, an approach that remains true today. WelTel’s vision is to change the way healthcare is delivered globally while ensuring that those who are hardest to reach are not left behind.
DAY 2
9:35–10:30 AM PST // 12:35–1:30 PM EST
Insulin and the Future of Chronic Pain Management
Speaker: Dr. Gary Lewis
This talk will begin with a brief overview of the events leading to the momentous discovery of insulin in Toronto 100 years ago, in 1921-22. Next, we will briefly summarize some of the major advances in the treatment of diabetes over the past 100 years and will then pivot to discuss the next 100 years of diabetes prevention and management and the major challenges that remain.
Public healthcare systems are overburdened with person power shortage, long waiting times, infrequent structured evaluation, and insufficient patient engagement. Annual growth of healthcare expenditure exceeds that of GDP growth, calling for more efficient and value-added care.
Even in high-income countries/areas with medical coverage, large patient volumes, complex care protocols, frequent changes in healthcare providers, lack of regular evaluation and insufficient patient engagement can lead to delayed intervention, suboptimal self-management and patient distress with poor clinical outcomes. Due to the high patient: health care provider ratio, use of information and communications technology and non-physician personnel can improve the efficacy and continuation of care delivery.
Multicomponent, data-driven integrated care assisted by non-physician personnel, information and communications technology has been demonstrated to cost-effectively improve clinical outcomes by 30 to 60%. Data stratify risk, triage care, empower patients and individualize treatment. Big data track secular trends, identify unmet needs and verify interventions in a naturalistic environment.
We need to
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Identify persons at higher risk of adverse outcomes using data
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Develop tools and processes for a Remote Patient Monitoring Program
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Reach out to those identified and offer them access to the virtual care service Integrate virtual service with primary care
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Develop new tools and processes for information sharing including EMRs
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Focus on chronic conditions screening and prevention
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Evaluate effectiveness, acceptability and cost effectiveness from the patient, provider and health system perspectives
DAY 2
10:35–11:30 AM PST // 1:35–2:30 PM EST
Values-Based Leadership
in Complex Systems
Speakers: Dr. Allan Best + Dr. Carol Herbert
How can we work to solve the issues caused by the current systems? Why is transformative change in our current systems proving hard? How do we deal with the realities of government? Most importantly, how might these realities factor into your career decisions – academia, government, non-profit, or consulting? These quite different contexts are fundamental to your career choices and the opportunities you’ll have for system change.
Looking at the whole system and the need for strong and effective collaboration across organizations, what are the most critical barriers and how might they be addressed? Are there simple rules that offer pivotal leverage points for fundamental change?
This session takes a complexity lens to frame these issues and focus on the issue of value-based leadership to guide new ways of thinking and working. We will explore the diversity of important partnerships and what’s needed to commit to a common purpose and vision. The importance is stressed of a governance framework that articulates roles, accountability, and decision-making to ensure continuous improvement based on measured outcomes. Key messages from a recent review of international research and initiatives to inform BC’s response to the opioid overdose crisis will be used to illustrate complexity strategy.
DAY 2
10:30–11:30 AM PST // 1:35–2:30 PM EST
Recovery for All: Healthcare Response to Ending Homelessness in Canada
Speaker: Dr. Sandy Buchman and Dr. Naheed Dosani
Dr. Sandy Buchman and Dr. Naheed Dosani are passionate advocates for homeless health, a growing challenge Canada faces as a nation. Each year, more than 235,000 people in Canada experience homelessness, which puts these individuals at risk of illness and death.
This interactive workshop will encompass topics of the evolution of social determinants of health in Medicine, strategies to tackle the homelessness crisis at its roots, and how COVID has impacted the endeavour to end homelessness in Canada.
We hope to foster a conversation on the role of the healthcare system on social justice, compassion, and equity for the homeless population. Through an interview and small-group discussion format, the workshop will provide you with a fundamental understanding of the homelessness epidemic and a solution framework for the crisis.