Canadian Family Advisory Network is at CAPHC October 2011

If you volunteer or work at a pediatric care facility and are passionate about family and staff partnership in children's health then you want to attend the CFAN workshop on October 17, 2011 in Ottawa. Here are the main bits of the co-chair's most recent update on the workshop and CAPHC conference - note the last item about new, monthly professional development tele-sessions for family-centered care workers.

CFAN at the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres Conference (CAPHC) in Ottawa - Saturday October 15th and Sunday October 16th, 2011

We are very excited to announce that Dr. Karen Wayman, Endowed Director of Family Centered Care at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford will be our keynote speaker and afternoon workshop facilitator. Karen's attendance has been made possible through the generous support of CAPHC and Children's Health Foundation.

The CFAN Workshop Planning Committee is collaborating with Christine Kouri, Patient/Family Representative and Coordinator for Patient/Family Centred Care and the Family Forum at CHEO, to plan this one and a half day event. CFAN members who have suggestions or ideas about topics you would like us to consider please send an email by the end of April. We will use past evaluation along with our discussions with Karen to inform our agenda.

Important Registration Information: Family Advisors who do not have a budget to attend the CFAN workshop will be granted a complimentary registration. Members will need to obtain a code that will be given to them by contacting the CFAN Chairs. CAPHC is also offering a reduced Family Rate for the entire conference. Please continue to check the CAPHC website for up to date conference registration processes. Contact Lisa.Hawthornthwiate AT lhsc.on.ca or Sherri.wuetherick AT albertahealthservices.ca for the complimentary registration code.

CAPHC Conference: October 17th - 19th, 2011

Plans for October's CAPHC Conference in Ottawa are falling quickly into place. After last year's focus on "What's working now?" this year's theme is "Exploring the future of children's health care: What can we expect? How do we prepare?"

Among the highlights: Dr. Michael Evans, a wonderfully good-humored and forward-thinking family doctor, teacher and researcher, will give the keynote and Dr. Brian Goldman of "White Coat, Black Art" fame will lead a participatory session exploring how best to respond to and shape the changes ahead. The next day (Tuesday) will feature a performance of "Ed's Story" from Halifax and concurrent sessions on the future of primary care and impact of social media on everyone involved in child and youth health, a session CFAN will take a particularly active role in helping to plan.

There will be lots of time and space for posters--please think about submitting one yourself--and opportunities throughout for useful and enjoyable networking.

Visit CAPHC for conference information and updates from CFAN.

Patient and Family Centred Care Leaders Collaborative

With support from CFAN and CAPHC a new group has been formed for Leaders who are tasked with leading FCC change at their organizations. Monthly professional development topics with a supportive peer to peer atmosphere is offered for Leaders working in these unique roles. Please contact CFAN Director, robin.england AT iwk.nshealth.ca for more information about these telesession opportunities.

For information or to register please email CFAN co-chairs Lisa.Hawthornthwiate AT lhsc.on.ca or Sherri.wuetherick AT albertahealthservices.ca

CFAN needs your help for survey on parental/caregiver presence during induction and recovery. Please circulate.

From Sue Robins of  The Canadian Family Advisory Network

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

We are writing to ask for your help in circulating a survey link for parents and caregivers about parental/caregiver presence at anesthesia induction and post-anesthesia recovery.

The survey is part of the Child and Family in the Healthcare System project of the Canadian Child and Youth Health Coalition (CCYHC). Some of you know about the project; some of you know about the Coalition, and some of you know about both, but please allow us to provide the essential background for those who don't. (Much of this information is also included in the attached PDF to be forwarded to parents and caregivers as well as on the last page of the online survey).

Background

The Canadian Child and Youth Health Coalition (CCYHC) is a collaboration of ten major national organizational and program members working together with a common vision to advance the cause of child and youth health care in Canada. We represent The Canadian Family Advisory Network (CFAN) on the Coalition's Steering Committee. You can find out more about the Coalition and its members at www.ccyhc.org<http://www.ccyhc.org/>

CCYHC has established the Child and Family in the Healthcare System Working Group to explore the ways in which children, youth, and their families are supported and included within the healthcare system, a task that entails, among other things, identifying differences in practice at various hospitals.

The Survey

The Working Group's first project is the investigation of hospital practices related to parental presence at anesthesia induction and post-anesthesia recovery. Different hospitals have different practices as to if, when, and how parents/caregivers can accompany children into the operating room until the children are asleep and in the recovery room when the children are waking up from anesthesia.

Please note that though the issue is generally called "parental presence ..." we are keen to hear from other caregivers (grandparents, foster parents, aunts, etc.) who may have been present-or who perhaps wish they could have been present-with a child or youth during induction or recovery.

We would appreciate your help in distributing the link to the survey to all parents or caregivers on your advisory council or, for those of you who work with families in a different capacity, to those parents and caregivers you think would, because of their experience with a child or youth who has had one or more surgeries, be interested in contributing.  The survey is submitted automatically electronically online, so there's no need to collect surveys - it is all paperless.

Please cut and paste the text (including the survey website link) at the bottom of this page and forward to your contacts.  (We have already sent another survey to all of the academic health centers that have paediatric surgical programs and to a number of community hospitals across Canada, and we will soon send another survey to members of youth and children's councils.) The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete.

We hope most of the parents and caregivers can complete the survey by December 15, 2009.

Survey Results

The names of all responders and the name of the hospital where their children's surgery or surgeries were performed will be kept confidential. Any reports, publications, or presentations resulting from the surgery results will contain only summary data that will not identify the parents/caregivers or the hospital. We will be happy to share the results with all those who contributed and with all the Coalition members. Working with the survey results, the Working Group, in consultation with CCYHC, will determine best practices and develop recommendations that will be shared with all the hospitals.

On behalf of our Working Group, thank you for your interest and participation. If you have any questions, please contact us by calling Melissa Clulow (CCYHC National Coordinator) at 514-656-1268 or by emailing mclulowATcheo.on.ca

Respectfully yours

Frank Gavin and Sue Robins

Co-Chairs, Child and Family in the Healthcare System Working Group

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For you to cut and paste to your family contacts:

Subject:    Survey: Parent/Caregiver Presence at Surgical Induction and Recovery

Dear Friends and Families -

We are writing to ask for your help in completing a survey for parents and caregivers about parental/caregiver presence at anesthesia induction and post-anesthesia recovery.  The survey is part of the Child and Family in the Healthcare System project of the Canadian Child and Youth Health Coalition (CCYHC).

Please click on the link below to complete the online survey which asks about your experiences going with your child into surgery and the recovery room.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=MVutJ_2b_2fdIyge6SLxx4tdgw_3d_3d

A full description of the survey is attached. This description also appears on the last page of the online survey.

The survey should take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Please submit your responses by December 15, 2009.

Thank you very much for your time and attention - your input is important to us!