Abstract
Caregivers play an essential role in patient care and bridge silos in the health care system but are often not included as partners in care. This workshop will highlight the Ontario Caregiver Organization Essential Care Partner Support Hub - a first-of-its-kind initiative working to transform the culture of care through the spread of practices that embed caregivers as a key component of integrated care. Why conduct a workshop? Caregivers provide an estimated 75% of care for individuals of all ages, significantly easing the burden on the healthcare system. However, despite their essential contributions, caregivers are frequently underrecognized within care teams. This workshop will address the importance of caregivers as partners in care as an essential feature of integrated care.
Audience: This workshop will be of interest to a wide range of health care professionals (point-of-care, leaders, and managers), patients, caregivers, and policy makers. The content will be particularly relevant to those involved in patient/family experience, quality improvement, integrated and team-based care models or patient/family advisory committees.
Approach: This workshop will be led and facilitated by two members of the OCO staff team (Lisa Salapatek, Executive Lead of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation and Alison Kilbourn, Manager of the Essential Care Partner Support Hub) and Brina Ludwig-Prout, caregiver and Co-Chair of the Essential Care Partner Advisory Committee. Outline (90 minutes) Introduction, Overview of the Essential Care Partner Support Hub (5 mins) How caregivers are critical: real life experience (0 mins - Brina sharing her experience expertise) Evidence Insights: (5 min ) Why caregivers are essential to person-centred care and positive health outcomes Why a focus on caregivers is critical to the goal of integrated care Essential Care Partner Programs Leading/Emerging Practices: (0 min) Strategies to identify, include and support caregivers at point of care Building blocks for Essential Care Partner Program implementation Interactive table discussions (25 min) and report-back (5 min), co-facilitated by presenters What policies and practices have you seen (or been involved in) to identify, include and support caregivers in health care delivery? What are the barriers or challenges to identifying, including and supporting caregivers as part of the integrated care team? Essential Care Partner Programs in Action: (5 min) Highlight practical tools and resources Case examples promising practices from integrated care teams in Ontario (Ontario Health Teams, integrated primary care teams) Interactive reflections: (0 min) Based on what you heard today, how can we better identify, include and support caregivers? Closing thoughts How will you engage with the audience? The workshop will include a presentation followed by facilitated discussion. Participants will engage in small group discussions based on two key questions, sharing their perspectives and ideas. Afterward, each group will report back to the larger audience. This approach will foster active participation and collaborative problem-solving among attendees. How are you going to summarize the take home messages? Caregivers play an essential role in patient health outcomes, quality of care, safety and patient care experience. Caregivers are the thread that links together all parts of the health care system: however, are often not recognized and empowered to participate as part of the care team. The Essential Care Partner Support Hub is a first-of-its-kind initiative working to transform the culture of care by accelerating the spread of practices that embed caregivers as a key component of integrated care. Practical, proven tools are available to support the implementation of Essential Care Partner programs that are designed to identify, include and support caregivers in care delivery. The journey to a more connected, inclusive and integrated and team-based health care system needs to recognize caregivers as partners in care.