First Steps to Create a National Network

PCPE and colleagues from the Centre d’excellence sur le partenariat avec les patients et le public (Université de Montréal) hosted a webinar on September 17 to begin the formation of a national network of people interested in patient engagement in health professional education. The webinar was attended by 37 people from at least 10 different institutions, including several patient partners.

We presented the results of the national survey we conducted to understand current state of patient and public involvement in healthcare professional programs across Canada. Over 80% of survey respondents said they were interested in connecting with others and the webinar was the first step in bringing them together.

Webinar participants identified several topics of interest including: creation of a repository of resources (documents, tools) that can be shared; creation of pan-Canadian recommendations for compensation of patient partners; ways to sustain patient involvement; how to recruit for diversity; ways in which patients can be involved in assessment of learners and curriculum development; and interest in what is being done internationally. We plan to follow up with a survey to identify people willing to share experiences and resources, and help plan future webinars. Stay tuned!