FN Telehealth Expansion Project (TEP)
Progress to Date:
Summer 2014 Update
Over the past few months, the biggest priority for the First
Nations Telehealth Expansion Project (FN TEP) team has been continuing
engagement with the communities which have agreed to participate in Wave 1 of
telehealth implementation. Specifically this has involved
completing readiness and needs assessment with communities in the Northern
Region and on the Central Coast.
Northern Communities – Skin Tyee, Nee-tahi-buhn, Cheslatta
Carrier
In early June, the FN TEP team traveled up to three communities on
the south side of Francois Lake (Skin Tyee, Nee-tahi-buhn and Cheslatta Carrier)
near Burns Lake. Each of the three communities recently had their
community connectivity upgraded which now enables high-speed internet
access. With this improved the connection and the
future installation of videoconferencing equipment, the communities will be
supported through the project to use telehealth for educational, wellness and
administrative purposes such as attending UBC Learning Circle Sessions and
participating in meetings with other communities around the province.
While in the area, the project team also met with staff working at
the Southside Health and Wellness Centre. The Centre, which is run
in partnership between the three south side communities, Carrier Sekani Family
Services and Northern Health Authority will be a hub for all clinical telehealth
activity for the three south side communities. Some
of the services that the FN TEP team identified with the staff that could be
delivered through telehealth include primary care, pre- and post-operative
consults, chronic disease management mental health and addictions.
Central Coast Communities – Bella Bella and
Klemtu
Later in June, the project team traveled up to the Central Coast
with a member of the Vancouver Coastal Health telehealth team to visit Bella
Bella and Klemtu.
In Bella Bella, the community has had access to a variety of
telehealth services in both the hospital and community health centre for the
past few years. The FN TEP team’s goals this trip were to
understand the barriers and issues that need to be resolved in order to increase
telehealth activity in the community and also to discuss additional services
that the community would like access to through telehealth.
In Klemtu, the team
spent the day with the Chief, Health Director and health staff to understand the
services currently delivered in community, the gaps in services that could
potentially be addressed through telehealth and assess the technical
requirements that need to be in place to support telehealth.
Fortunately, Klemtu’s connectivity had been upgraded just days previous
to the team’s arrival so high-speed internet is now available in the
community. Having improved connectivity will enable community
members in Klemtu to have high-quality access to telehealth services such as
mental health and addictions, primary care, chronic disease management and UBC
Learning Circle sessions.
Advisory Committee
· Provide guidance to the
project team on approaches to community engagement
· Seek advice and
guidance from Committee members around the province with experience in
implementing telehealth
Technical Working Group
· Find collaborative
solutions across organizations to ensure communities can easily and seamlessly
connect to service providers in Health Authorities across the province that are
on different private networks
· Discuss and define
technical standards and best practices for implementing telehealth
technologies
Clinical Working Group
· Discuss issues in the
clinical realm that pose barriers or issues to successful telehealth
implementation
· Discuss and define best
practice guidelines for telehealth service providers
Training Working Group
· Discuss the project’s
approach to providing training tailored to various stakeholder groups involved
in implementing telehealth with each community
· Develop training
materials to address the training needs of each stakeholder group in the
project
Building the Project Team
As the FN TEP team has been continuing with engagement work over
the past few months, it has grown significantly to ensure telehealth is properly
implemented in our communities and fully supported to ensure continued
success. In the past few months, the following positions have been
filled: Project Director, Project Manager, Technical Lead, Clinical Lead and
Privacy Analyst. In the coming months, the team also plans on
hiring a Telehealth Coordinator, Workflow and Data Analyst and Telehealth
Scheduler.
The Telehealth Scheduler will work with communities and service
providers to book clinical consults, educational sessions and business meetings
across BC.
The Telehealth Coordinator will be the contact person for the recruitment of health care providers and
specialists and for the promotion of the integration of telehealth services,
through change management initiatives and training. The Telehealth
Coordinator will also ensure appropriate policies and procedures are in place,
communicated and adher ed to,
for local providers and users to support a consistent and high standard of
care.
In order to ensure telehealth integrates seamlessly with daily
health centre work, the Workflow and Data Analyst will work with communities to
understand all clinical and business processes related to the provision of
health care services in their health centres.
Next Steps
The next step in the journey towards telehealth implementation is a
mapping and matching process. Through this process, the FN TEP team will work
collaboratively with communities and service providers to identify appropriate
and culturally relevant services that meet the unique needs of each community in
Wave 1 of the project. In cases where telehealth services don’t
already exist that communities have requested, the FN TEP team will work with
service providers to develop these programs
Starting in the fall, implementation will begin with the 46
communities in Wave 1 of the project. This will involve
installation of equipment and configuration of networks, but most importantly
training health centre staff to use the telehealth equipment, schedule and
coordinate new sessions, and adhere to privacy and security policies and
procedures.
In the background, the FN TEP team will continue to build its
internal support and scheduling processes to ensure that when telehealth is
implemented it is a positive experience for communities.
