Meaningful Engagement
Has there ever been a year where meaningful engagement has been more important than in 2020 ? The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed every health-sector organization – including ours – to new heights in terms of collaborating , communicating , and partnering with our wider community . 2020 proved that meaningful engagement is not just a nice-to-have ; it has been paramount to keeping people safe and informed throughout the pandemic .
CPSO took this call for meaningful engagement to heart . Very shortly after the pandemic struck in March 2020 , we launched our COVID-19 Updates page , providing information and resources to both Ontario ’ s physicians and the public . These resources were updated in real time and included :
Links to CPSO ’ s expectations for physicians during a public health emergency
COVID-19 FAQs for Ontario physicians ( updated regularly )
COVID-19 FAQs for patients ( updated regularly )
COVID-19 information , from federal and provincial Ministries of Health , as well as the World Health Organization
COVID-19-related mental health information from CAMH
As the pandemic forced many physician-patient interactions to move online , we also recognized just how important virtual care and telemedicine were going to be . With the many challenges of this type of medicine in mind , we hosted our Virtual Care Symposium in October 2020 . Led by CPSO President Dr . Brenda Copps , this virtual event brought together diverse physicians , patients , and caregivers to discuss their experiences with virtual care and examine what a quality virtual care encounter looks like from these various points of view .
The discussion resulted in substantive perspective sharing between physicians , patients , and caregivers , as well as agreement on many of the key points and themes that emerged . Overall , feedback about the Symposium was overwhelmingly positive and participants strongly agreed that having patients , caregivers and physicians come together to talk about virtual care was a valuable experience .
Of course , these sorts of outreach efforts are nothing new here at CPSO . 2020 was another successful year with our public-engagement initiative , the Citizen Advisory Group ( CAG ). Comprised of patients and caregivers , the CAG draws upon members ’ experiences , perspectives , and feedback to help health-care regulators here in Ontario – not just for physicians , but also nurses , dentists , massage therapists , physiotherapists , and many more – with their decision-making processes and policy positions .
CPSO has been the chair of the CAG since 2019 , and the input we ’ ve received from this group has been invaluable . This was especially true during the early days of the pandemic , when , working with 14 partner colleges , we engaged the CAG in a discussion about the health-system restart back in May , when elective care was coming back online . Another huge achievement this year was the development of our Continuity of Care Guide for Patients and Caregivers . CPSO and the CAG co-designed this document to
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