Putting Patients First (PPF) is an annual conference that fosters collaboration and learning about patient experiences in the health system. Join on October 24 in Vancouver, BC, to help build a provincial care system with patients and families at the centre. There is no cost to attend. Learn more here: https://healthresearchbc.ca/event/putting-patients-first-2023/

May 31, 2023 | 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM PDT

Join in person or online!

Objectives

• Celebrate the CPCRN Launch (BC-PHCRN is part of CPCRN)
• Learn more about CPCRN research projects
• Discuss the future of primary care research and opportunities
• Network, socialize and celebrate our accomplishments

Register to attend in-person (Centre Mont-Royal 2200 Rue Mansfield, Salon Cartier 1, Montréal, QC)

Register to attend online on Zoom

Join a hybrid dialogue session to discuss lessons learned about conducting research and Indigenous resilience during the pandemic with researchers based in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand.

Date: Thursday, June 8, 2023
Time: 9 am – 3 pm
Location Jack Poole Hall in Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre – UBC Campus
In person attendance includes catered breakfast and lunch.

Register online

Health After 2020 dialogue sessions are held as part of the Health After 2020 program at UBC Health. The program enables researchers to engage in interdisciplinary, cross-institutional collaborations that aim to create change in health and health producing systems. These collaborations respond to the broad effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and further our understanding of the determinants and experience of health and wellbeing.

This dialogue session highlights the experiences and triumphs of Indigenous peoples around the world. The session will be an opportunity to discuss lessons learned about conducting research and Indigenous resilience during the pandemic with researchers based in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand.

This session is presented in partnership with UBC Health, CIEDAR, UBC Vancouver Provost’s Office, UBC Sociology, UBC First Nations House of Learning, UBC Indigenous Land-Based Health, Wellness, and Education Research Cluster; and CoVaRR-Net EDI&I.

The BC Primary Health Care Research Network (BC-PHCRN) is excited to share updates on ongoing primary care research, the Canadian Primary Care Research Network, and upcoming events where you can learn from and contribute to research, policy, and practice change initiatives!

In This Update

• Research Activity Updates
  • SPIDER – A research and quality improvement collaboration supporting practices in improving care for complex older patients with polypharmacy
  • OECD Patient Reported Indicators Survey (PaRIS)
  • Development of a Frailty Screening Tool – The Electronic Frailty Index
• Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) Update
• The Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN) Update
• BC-PHCRN Activities at the CHSPR 2023 Annual Health Policy Conference
• About BC-PHCRN

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Research Activity Updates

SPIDER – A research and quality improvement collaboration supporting practices in improving care for complex older patients with polypharmacy

Polypharmacy in the elderly contributes to an elevated risk of adverse drug reactions, falls, drug-disease interactions, frailty, and many other adverse outcomes. Choosing Wisely Canada and the Canadian Deprescribing Network have identified several drug classes as potentially inappropriate medications (PIPs) and targets for decreased prescribing. Currently, a pan-Canadian pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial called SPIDER (Structured Process Informed by Data Evidence and Research) is proposed in BC, aiming to assess the impact of SPIDER compared to usual care in reducing PIPs. In the SPIDER intervention, a quality improvement (QI) coach will assist primary care providers to identify areas for improvement, set goals to improve care for the elderly, and implement changes to make practices more effective and efficient.

We are sending preliminary information about the upcoming study to Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) participating practitioners to advise of study goals and that recruitment will commence in the coming months. The study will run for one year. Patient participation will require 20-60 minutes of their time. Provider participation will require up to 25 hours of their time.

If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact the research lead, Dr. Rubee Dev (rubee.dev@ubc.ca) or the research coordinator, Lanting Cheng (lanting.cheng@ubc.ca).

OECD Patient Reported Indicators Survey (PaRIS) – set to roll out in April

Little information is available about how users of health services experience care and to what extent it adds value to their lives. The PaRIS survey fills this critical information gap in primary care, by measuring the experiences that people have with health services and the outcomes they report. The survey was field tested across 6 provinces – thank you to those in BC who participated! The results of that field study have informed the full rollout, which will occur across Canada beginning in April 2023. Watch for details about participation! More information about this international survey can be found on the study website. For more information, email info@spor-bcphcrn.ca.

Development of a Frailty Screening Tool – The Electronic Frailty Index

We are developing a new screening tool that can automatically calculate a frailty score for your patients using existing electronic medical record (EMR) data.

Study 1 of this three-part project is complete. An expert panel of 23 participants (5 family physicians, 5 nurse practitioners, 5 primary care nurses, 4 allied health team members, and 4 older adults) reviewed 36 factors associated with frailty. Panelists also suggested additional factors they believe should be included in a frailty screening tool. We are currently working on mapping the frailty factors to EMR terminologies and will develop an algorithm to identify these factors in EMR data. Our anticipated outcome from this work is a validated frailty screening tool that may result in earlier detection of frailty and improved patient and system level outcomes. 

The anticipated frailty screening tool will only be accessible to CPCSSN clinicians. The tool will ultimately be built in to the CPCSSN Data Presentation Tool where clinicians will be able to see an automatically calculated frailty score for their patients. The tool is meant to flag patients who are at a greater risk of frailty in order to develop an effective treatment plan.

For more information, email info@spor-bcphcrn.ca.

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Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) Update

CPCSSN engages with clinicians, researchers, and policymakers to better understand primary care efficiencies and gaps to improve health care for Canadians. CPCSSN brings together fourteen primary care research networks under a common governance structure for the purposes of research, disease surveillance and quality improvement.

Primary care providers that are part of CPCSSN have access to the Data Presentation Tool (DPT) to visualize patient information and clinician practice patterns for quality improvement. Use theDPT to see an overview of your data, view prepared reports, and perform in-depth, patient-level searches. Providers can identify patients with particular needs and conditions to proactively follow-up with them for enhanced care.

We have seven new case definitions for the following chronic conditions, bringing our total to 23:

Adult asthma	Cardiovascular disease	Cerebrovascular disease
Cirrhosis	Coronary Artery Disease	Diabetic retinopathy
Diabetic neuropathy

For more information about CPCSSN or to join, visit https://spor-bcphcrn.ca/bc-cpcssn/ or email info@spor-bcphcrn.ca.

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The Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN) Update

In 2022, the Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovations Networks (PIHCIN) adopted a new name: the Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN). The CPCRN is an established interdisciplinary and intersectoral network of people who collaborate on generating solution-focused innovations in primary health care delivery. The CPCRN is composed of approximately 21 provincial practice-based research and learning networks (PBRLNs). BC-PHCRN is one of those provincial nodes.

We encourage you to visit the CPCRN website and join their newsletter mailing list to learn more about their vision and mission, and stay up to date with activities happening across the network!

CPCRN hosts a Learning Series, and the next event is coming up on May 2, from 9-10 am PT.

CPCRN Learning Series: Meaningful Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Efforts Across the Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN)

In this interactive virtual session, our CPCRN equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) specialists will facilitate conversations about our varying understandings of EDI, ways to support self-reflection, and doing meaningful EDI work in research. This session recognizes that teams and individuals start this work at different stages and have varying degrees of comfort with EDI. Panelists include Charlene Ronquillo, RN, PhD, UBC Okanagan; Aisha Lofters, MD, PhD, Women’s College Hospital, St Michael’s Hospital, and University of Toronto; Jackie Hanson, patient-partner, CPCRN Patient Council; and Ali Ben Charif, PhD, Scientific Consultant, CubecXpert. Register here

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BC-PHCRN Activities at the CHSPR 2023 Annual Health Policy Conference

BC-PHCRN and CPCRN members presented research posters and hosted two associated events at the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research annual health policy conference, held March 8-10, 2023 at the Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront in Vancouver. The posters were focused on the three research projects described above. In addition, BC-PHCRN hosted a workshop for clinicians and researchers interested in polypharmacy and potentially joining the SPIDER study. CPCRN hosted a roundtable discussion to co-develop a primary care policy hub for policymakers in primary care interested in patient-oriented research.

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About BC-PHCRN

The BC Primary Health Care Research Network (BC-PHCRN) is a practice-based research and learning network, part of the Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN), designed to support evidence-informed transformation of the delivery of primary and integrated health care.

The goal of the BC-PHCRN is to encourage, facilitate, and support collaborations between government, health authorities, health professionals, patients and researchers in order to improve BC’s health care delivery system. The BC-PHCRN is an open network and welcomes individuals from all sectors involved in primary health care – researchers, patients, health care providers and policy makers.

The BC arm of the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) is housed within BC-PHCRN, where we specifically reach out and work with primary care clinicians (e.g., family physicians, nurse practitioners, etc.) to provide analytic support of electronic medical record data for purposes ofpractice quality improvement, disease surveillance and research.

Please share this update with colleagues who you think may be interested in our activities. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions. For more information about BC-PHCRN, please visit our website at https://spor-bcphcrn.ca/ or email info@spor-bcphcrn.ca.

What do we want to do and how do we want to do it?

Session 1 of CPCRN Learning Series 2023

Virtual Event February 28, 2023, 12–1 pm ET

Objectives

1. To learn more about the CPCRN.
2. To learn more about the CPCRN’s objectives, activities, deliverables, and investments.
3. To provide an opportunity to ask questions about the CPCRN.
4. To discuss how the CPCRN can engage differently with its various partners.

Panelists

• Onil Bhattacharyya, CPCRN Nominated Principal Investigator
• Brenda Andreas, CPCRN Pan Canadian Patient Council Chair
• Jamie DeMore, CPCRN Executive Director

Click here to register!

An open invitation to policy and decision-makers to join the Canadian Primary Care Research Network for a roundtable discussion.

March 10, 2023 | 12:30-2:00 pm PST | In person: Downtown Vancouver | Virtual: via Zoom

This hybrid session is an associated event with the 2023 Centre for Health Services and Policy Research Health Policy Conference. Lunch is included for in-person participants and registration is via Zoom, not via the conference registration system.

The Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN) is an established interdisciplinary and intersectoral group of people who collaborate on generating solution-focused innovations in primary health care delivery. The CPCRN’s vision is to create a sustainable pan-Canadian primary health care learning health systems platform supported by patient-oriented, practiced based-research to improve patient and provider experiences in delivering and receiving care; population health; and health care expenditures. The Network’s mission is to establish and grow provincial and territorial practiced-based research and learning networks (PBLRNs) and a primary health care information system that will facilitate research to spread and scale innovations in PHC across the country.

One of the CPCRN’s objectives is to create sustained partnerships with financial partners, other SPOR funded networks/units, Indigenous communities/organizations and other like-minded entities, including policy and decision makers across the country. As such, the CPCRN seeks to form a policy hub with policymakers that will benefit its participants and the Network alike.

Objectives
The purpose of this roundtable discussion is to co-develop a primary care policy hub for policymakers in primary care interested in patient-oriented research.

1. To co-develop, provide feedback, and modify activities, opportunities, and deliverables for a policy hub of policymakers across Canada within the Canadian Primary Care Research Network.
2. To co-develop, provide feedback, and modify the logistics of this new policy hub to acquire best-added value.
3. To establish buy-in from policymakers for maximum participation in this new policy hub.

Who Should Attend
Policymakers, decisionmakers

Preliminary Agenda
12:30 pm | Lunch for in-person attendees
1:00 pm | Welcome & introductions
1:10 pm | Roundtable discussion
1:50 pm | Discussion summary & wrap-up
2:00 pm | Concluding thoughts

Hosts
The panelists for this consultative session will include:

• Jamie DeMore, Executive Director, Canadian Primary Care Research Network
• Mylaine Breton, Associate Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke

Participate in a learning collaborative to reduce polypharmacy in complex elderly patients.
March 8, 2023 | 5:00-7:00 pm | In-person: 1190 Hornby St, Vancouver | Virtual: via Zoom

This hybrid session is an associated event with the 2023 Centre for Health Services and Policy Research Health Policy Conference, but will NOT be held at the conference venue, but rather at Providence Health Care offices at 1190 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC. Register for the session when you register for the conference, OR register via Zoom.

More than one in four Canadians 65 years of age or older are prescribed 10+ unique medications per year. Are you interested in improving care for complex elderly patients by reducing polypharmacy? This is an opportunity to participate in a 12-month learning collaborative quality improvement project named SPIDER (Structured Process Informed by Data, Evidence, and Research) for interested primary care teams across BC.

Objectives

1. To recognize and respond to the complex care needs pertaining to elderly patients living with polypharmacy
2. To apply the science of quality improvement to facilitate changes and measure impact to optimize patient care

Who Should Attend
Primary care physicians and nurse practitioners participating in the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network and interested in polypharmacy should attend, as should researchers and others interested in polypharmacy.

Preliminary Agenda
5:00 pm | Welcome and introductions
5:10 pm | Speakers’ panel
5:40 pm | Small group discussion
6:00 pm | Response from panelists
6:10 pm | Large group & panel discussion (local examples)
6:20 pm | Wrap-up
6:30 pm | Close

Hosts
The workshop will be led by Drs Rubee Dev and Alex Singer of the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network.

Sabrina Wong leads a team awarded $10M from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to build a research network aimed at transforming primary care. The new Strategy for Patient-Oriented (SPOR) Primary Care Research Network (PCRN) will build upon patient-oriented primary care innovations from the previous SPOR Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovations Network (2014-2022), of which BC-PHCRN was part. This established interdisciplinary and intersectoral network of people will continue to collaborate on generating solution-focused innovations in primary care delivery.

The SPOR PCRN’s vision is to create a sustainable pan-Canadian primary health care (PHC) learning health system network supported by patient-oriented, practice-based research and learning to improve patient and provider experiences in delivering and receiving care; population health; and health care system expenditures. The Network’s mission is to establish and grow provincial and territorial practice-based research and learning networks (PBRLNs) supported by a PHC information system consisting of electronic medical record data linked with patient reported experience and outcome measures.

Learn more at https://spor-pihci.com/, and stay tuned for updates on what this means for BC-PHCRN.

The 12 Community-Based Primary Healthcare (CBPHC) Innovation teams were designed to develop and evaluate innovative models of care that improve the prevention and management of chronic diseases and reduce inequities in access to CBPHC and health outcomes in vulnerable populations. A summary from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) reports on the impacts of the 12 teams from 2013-2019.

In April 2022 the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) released a report on potentially inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infections in Canadian primary care. The report represents a collaboration between CPCSSN and Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC), the national voice for reducing unnecessary tests and treatments in Canada. The report contributes to antimicrobial stewardship in Canada by showing baseline prescription patterns of antibiotics before and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Data are analyzed from the years 2019 and 2020 for those who had a visit to primary care for either a respiratory or urinary tract infection. A visual research brief and the full report are available on the CPCSSN website.