Vikki Entwistle was in Canada recently, contributing to a Masterclass on the Conduct and Use of Patient Oriented Research, giving a seminar at the University of Toronto, and meeting a variety of academic and policy colleagues in Toronto and Ottawa.
The Masterclass was funded via the Ontario Strategy for Patient Oriented Research Support Unit (OSSU) and adeptly led by Professor John Lavis of McMaster University. The three day program brought together advocates and people with experience as patients or family carers, health service and policy leaders, and researchers. They worked within and across groups, building relationships as well as competencies, familiarising themselves with the various forms of support available for partnership working, and developing plans to monitor and evaluate their work as they move forward.
The seminar was hosted by Associate Professor Fiona Miller at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, with video links for colleagues elsewhere in Ontario. Vikki presented some of the learning from our Concept:SSM project (about health professionals’ support for people with long-term health conditions). This was well received and generated a lot of discussion, including about the scope of clinical activity and the appropriateness of some health care quality indicators.
Colleagues from Health Quality Ontario and Public Health Ontario were also interested in our work on support for self-management, and Vikki looks forward to further discussions following her meetings with them. She is also delighted to have met a number of academic colleagues with whom we might extend or initiate collaborative work.
And beyond the office? Vikki thoroughly enjoyed a visit with former HSRU and University of Aberdeen colleagues Professors Jeremy Grimshaw and Brenda Wilson, who took her to her first ice hockey game. Vikki is pleased to report that their home team (Ottawa Senators) won the match – and that she didn’t quite get eaten by the team mascot.