AMA launches patient-engagement website
June 12, 2015
Dear Member:
In a recent President’s Letter I mentioned that you would be hearing more about a new initiative in which the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) hopes to engage with Albertans for some discussion about health care.
I am pleased to announce the launch of a new, AMA-sponsored website: albertapatients.ca. I’d like to tell you what we hope to achieve with this website, how it works and how you can help us make it a success.
Why?
The AMA has a strong reputation and credibility when we speak about patient care. This authority is conferred via the millions of individual relationships that our 12,000-plus members have with patients.
As an organization, however, the AMA has not had the ability to interact with large numbers of Albertans or give them a way to help us understand their thoughts and concerns regarding health care delivery. This is a great opportunity for the AMA, because when we know what matters to our patients, we can have meaningful conversations, share the information and play an active role in creating a patient- and family-centered health care system.
What is albertapatients.ca?
This website is an online forum for Albertans to come together and participate in conversations about health care. To join, visitors must register to create an account, confirm their membership by email and complete a member profile. All of this only takes a few minutes.
Once they have joined, people will have the opportunity to:
- Participate in surveys about different aspects of health care.
- Take quick polls and see instant results.
- Join discussion forums about topics that interest them.
- Receive invitations for special surveys or discussions that relate to the interests expressed in their profiles.
- Receive newsletters about what’s been happening on the website, including survey results, news from the AMA or other items, such as what is happening in other jurisdictions, recent health care-related studies, etc.
- Be eligible for monthly prize draws.
What topics will be discussed on the website?
The topics that will be discussed on the website will flow directly from what Albertans tell us they want to talk about. For the launch, the focus will be issues of aging in Alberta, seniors’ care and the experience of being a caregiver.
We chose these themes because we thought they would be personally relevant in some way for many of the site’s potential users. We have conducted some interesting research around these issues. In the first phase of the website, we will share the results as a basis of discussion by people who join the site.
After that, though, we will see how Albertans respond and the issues they raise in surveys and discussions. Those are the topics that we will pursue on the site. This is not a platform for the AMA to push our own agenda. It’s really about listening to what patients want to talk about.
How is the website being launched?
For this first phase, we will be promoting the website through physician offices. Each AMA member with an office address on the AMA membership system will receive this launch package. We have provided you with:
These materials simply feature the albertapatients.ca address with the slogan, “Your voice matters.” The tear-off sheets for patients to take away also include a bit of commentary about the project.
Please display the posters that you and your clinic colleagues receive in your reception area(s), hallways or your examination rooms (as you feel appropriate). Please leave the pad(s) of tear-off sheets in a location that is visible and accessible to patients, so they can help themselves.
Once you have made the material available in your office, I hope you will respond positively if asked about the website (and encourage your staff and colleagues to do the same). If you feel comfortable, you might point the website out to some patients and suggest that they join. To assist in answering questions you or your staff might have, please see the document Tips and Frequently Asked Questions.
It will take a relatively small number of patients from each AMA member office to get albertapatients.ca off to a healthy start! After that, it’s up to the AMA to ensure that the experience of being a member of the online community continues to be valuable and enjoyable.
I will let you know how the launch progresses. As always, your thoughts and comment are welcome. Email president@albertadoctors.org or leave a comment below.
Regards,
Richard G.R. Johnston, MD, MBA, FRCPC
President
4 comments
Commenting on this page is closed.
Rod Morgan
10:57 PM on June 14, 2015
The AlbertaPatients is a very good idea, but the AMA must set it up so that you don't attract people who are not serious, and supportive of the principles of "improving health care, etc genuinely".
Withdraw the last feature you list above: Win prizes.
Anyone really interested in improving health care, and one who does not come from the fringe of our population, should be self-motivated when the opportunity presents and not feel that a "prize" is necessary to encourage him/her to become involved. Simply present the material clearly and on good topics and let those who feel genuinely interested in helping respond. If you get insufficient answers, then consider a reward, but expect a lot of reward seekers who have axes to grind. -- Good luck!
Peggy Thomson
11:46 AM on June 15, 2015
Is the AMA preparing a position on the decriminalization of Physician Assisted Suicide to bring to the August CMA meeting in Halifax this August? It seems likely that a regulatory vacuum that will be left if the Supreme Court deadline for new federal legislation passes on February 6, 2016. The responsibility for filling that vacuum will likely fall to the provincial licensing bodies. The Ontario College of Physicians proposal fails to provide conscience protection by insisting that all physicians refer to a practitioner who does provide either Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia. True protection of conscience has three components: freedom to refuse to perform PAS or Euthanasia, freedom to decline to refer for the services and thus be complicit in their provision, freedom from discrimination for declining performance or referral. For example, will physicians be denied privileges to some facilities based on their position on PAS? There is a CMA questionnaire but I could not find anything on our provincial website. Thank you for this forum
This comment has been deleted.
AMA senior staff
3:02 PM on June 22, 2015
In response to Peggy Thomson [comment #2]
The AMA is letting the Canadian Medical Association take the lead on the physician assisted death issue. We think it’s really important for the input to be gathered together and have a central voice speak for physicians – on both sides of the debate. The CMA is the best positioned to do that. That’s why we encouraged members to complete the CMA questionnaire so the national organization can hear from Alberta physicians.
The General Council will indeed be dealing with this issue at the meeting in Halifax.
We’ll be considering what to place on our website at such time as there are documents and materials that are of use to physicians. It’s likely we will create a space but link directly to the CMA where the master documents will live.