Report to (ELT) from Precision Health Team
Block Week for the fourth cohort of the Precision Health Program at U of C ran from August 26th to 30th. ICN hosted a 2 ½ hour session titled “Working with Patients and Communities: Co-Creating Healthcare”. ICN has partnered with this program since it was launched as a new program in 2021. There are four streams in the Precision Health Program: Precision Medicine: Quality and Safety; Health Professions Education and Leadership; and Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
For the first three years, the theme of our ICN session was ‘Person-Centred Care’. As a result of evaluation and feedback, this year a new approach was taken – that of working with patients and communities to co-create healthcare. The session was very positively received; the engagement level of the 40 students was very high, and one of the U of Calgary staff supporters indicated we ‘hit it out of the ballpark’ with the new approach. This revamp of the program was led by long-time ICN volunteer Alex Harrison, and the involvement of Simron Sidhu who shared not only his own lived experience but also contributed the wisdom of various roles he has filled in his work and volunteer roles.
Thanks to Barb Stolee who has co-led the Precision Health work for the first three years, and also to Kelly Mendes who has agreed to ‘come back’ to a co-leadership role in Precision Health. Kelly was very involved in the Quality and Safety stream in the first year. ICN involvement has been consistent in the Quality and Safety stream from the beginning, thanks in large part to Ward Flemons who was one of the founders of ICN and is still very involved clinically and in teaching. This year we also used two of the videos from our launch in 2015: Gail MacKean’s story and Lisa Casselman’s. They are still very relevant and helpful.
Congratulations to the ICN Precision Health team!
