ILTCCABC was excited to participate in Putting Patients First 2024, the Michael Smith Health Research BC Annual Conference. Live at the Marriott Pinnacle in downtown Vancouver November 14, this full day event brought together over 500 attendees from BC and beyond. The Putting Patients First Conference is a flagship event for patient-oriented research in BC, and is attended by a community that prioritizes patients, communities and the public in health research. This year’s theme was Building Learning Communities. The conference goal was to advance learning communities to improve health and health research ecosystems.
This conference included multiple presentations on Long-Term Care, including the Poster Presentation, Raise Your Voice: How to Increase the Effectiveness of Resident and Family Councils in Long-Term Care Homes which featured a research project conducted by UBC School of Nursing, in partnership with patient partner, Lisa Dawson in her family council role and as Vice-President of ILTCCABC. UBC School of Nursing and ILTCCABC were honoured to have their poster selected from 90 abstract submissions, to showcase at the conference. Dr. Farinaz Havaei, UBC School of Nursing, presented on the research project, highlighting research findings that culminated in the creation of a mini-documentary that features the value of Resident Councils and Family Councils in Long-Term Care. Visit the ILTCCABC website for more information on this project and to view this meaningful video presentation. One other highlight at the conference for Long-Term Care included a presentation by the five health authorities, on the Long-Term Care Quality Initiative (LTC-QI), a research project that adopts a collaborative, complementary and evidence-based approach to enhancing the experiences and outcomes for residents, families and LTC staff in BC.
Keynote speakers at the conference, Dr. Robert Reid and Dr. Kerry Kuluski, delivered critical messages that included 1) the importance of “people with lived experience” and how they can make a difference for positive change to transform health care; 2) the urgency to move away from a “silos-mentality” towards a “partnership mindset” that revolves around a person-centred health care system; 3) the need to engage in the political process to build relationships and communities to create a brighter future for health care in Canada; 4) the two key words “Collective Impact” – we cannot do this alone!
Visit Putting Patients First 2024 for more conference highlights.
