VPSA’s Substance Use Disorder Patient and Provider Experience (SUDPPE) Task Group wants to help empower and support Vancouver Acute and Vancouver Community staff to provide the best possible environment for patients with substance use disorder. To that end, the group is funding a pilot project to support initiatives that enhance the care environment.
This first project builds on the work emergency physician Dr. Jessica Moe has been doing for several years with patients with SUD. Two of her earlier projects have been supported by Small Steps, Big Idea funding.
“We’re now turning our attention to understanding patient and provider experiences with peer support workers in emergency departments who support people who use drugs,” explained Dr. Moe. “ED peer support workers were introduced at VGH this past November, but medical staff haven’t had the opportunity to explore the insights the peers have gathered from their interactions with patients as well as with health-care providers. These are important as they will allow us to refine the peer project and improve engagement and collaboration.”
People coming to emergency departments with post-opioid poisoning have a greater than five per cent 12-month mortality rate. Their risk increases seven-fold if they leave before medically advised. It is hoped that peers—people with lived experience of substance use—could improve patient experiences during emergency care and encourage patients to stay to complete their care.
The project will convene focus groups that include peers, physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and security personnel and administer surveys to patients with lived experience of substance use. The project will gather Indigenous patients’ experiences through storytelling and Elder-facilitated sharing circles. Findings and themes from focus groups, surveys, and Indigenous patient engagement will inform improvements to VGH’s ED peer support worker program.
“We’re hoping to increase health-care provider engagement with the ED peer support worker program as well as increase patient engagement in the program,” said Dr. Moe. “We’ll track the number of referrals health-care providers make to the peers as well as the number of patients who accept peer support worker services and their self-rated satisfaction.”
“We’re pleased to be able to support this work by funding meals for the focus groups as well as reimbursing the people participating who have lived/living experience of substance use, the Indigenous participants, and the facilitators,” said SUDPPE Task Group co-chair Dr. Adam Chodkiewicz.
“This project matches our mandate to develop and support the implementation of practical strategies and initiatives through a collaborative multidisciplinary approach,” added co-chair Dr. Jan Hajek. “While we only have funding for one project this year, we are hoping to do a call for additional projects in the future.”
If you have an idea for a SUD project that could benefit from funding, please reach out to VPSA Operations Director Andrew Pinfold.