Where to start: Building a foundation of engagement to support healthcare transformation.
Authors: Precious Sarah , McCallum Melissa 
Published: January 2024

Introduction: Healthcare transformation is rooted in engagement, engaging people with context and content expertise to shape and co-design programs, services, and systems.  The question that is often asked is where do we begin?  To offer person centered integrated care, organizations are seeking to understand the needs, experiences, and expertise of those accessing care by building meaningful partnerships with patients, families, and care partners.  This workshop will provide attendees with tools, resources, and a roadmap to support building partnerships with people with lived and living experience and engagement models, practices and principles that will support co-designing a healthcare system that is equitable, culturally safe and patient centered.

Background: The Greater Hamilton Health Network (GHHN) is one of the first Ontario Health Teams across the province, with a purpose of transforming healthcare in partnership with patients, families, care partners, primary care, local organizations, and the community that is equitable, culturally safe and patient centred.

Aims and Objectives:This workshop will provide attendees with an understanding of where to begin when looking to develop an engagement strategy and embed engagement practices and principles into their work at an organizational and system level.  With a strong focus on how to develop partnerships with patients, families and carepartners, support patient advisors in their roles, build capacity and integrating lived experience on the team and throughout governance.  We will provide examples and outcomes of how engagement has been implemented and successfully used at the GHHN and explore how learnings could be replicated.  Emphasis will be placed on how to move from theory into practice.

Target audience:This workshop is open to everyone and will work to provide meaningful learning, unlearning, relearning and reflection opportunities for staff, primary care, community organizations, leadership and people with lived and living experience seeking to transform healthcare with engagement as the foundation.

Format (timing, speakers, discussion, group work, etc)

5 minutes- Overview of GHHN and introductions

5 minutes- Purpose of Workshop and Objectives

10 minutes-Why Engagement in Healthcare (Benefits, Outcomes)

    -Patient Advisor example of engagement

    -Popcorn: common myths of engagement and the real benefits

20 minutes-Building an Engagement strategy and leadership network to support healthcare transformation

10 minutes- Onboarding, integrating lived experience on the team and throughout governance.

    -Resource package

    -Activity: Personal Reflection exercise

10 minutes- A culture of engagement that supports providers, patients, families and care partners

20 minutes: Activity: barriers and pathways empathy map exercise (patient, org, staff)

5 minutes- Closing: call to action

5 minutes- Questions

Key Learnings/Take away: Patient engagement is a quantifiable measurement of healthcare, offering insights into what is working well and opportunities for growth.  This workshop will focus on understanding practical examples of:

Models of engagement

Engagement strategy

Onboarding and capacity building

Developing an engagement leadership network

Engagement roadmap

Meaningful Engagement