Engaging with patients and families helps build understanding and empathy for the people who are using our health care system and whose lives are impacted by the decisions we make.
Through the work of the Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) the voice of patients is being included in important health care decisions. This input will improve the safety and quality of health care for all Albertans.
Patient and Family Advisors serve in many ways across Alberta Health Services.
Recruited to each individual SCN based on their specific health care experiences and their passion to make positive change, Patient and Family Advisors are committed to sharing their knowledge, perspectives and time as part of their SCN committee work.
Learn more about Becoming an Advisor.
Bringing together their personal health experiences with training in how to conduct research, Patient Engagement Researchers create unique and extremely valuable peer to peer research projects.
These individuals are contracted as mini teams to conduct research or quality improvement studies for the SCNs through the O’Brien Institute of Public Health at the University of Calgary. Many of the Patient Engagement Researchers are also volunteer members of other SCN committees, depending on their interests and time.
They understand how to plan, conduct, write and publish research using a unique, patient engagement method called Set, Collect, Reflect.
