College Website Reviews
Each advisor was asked to find the list of college websites on the BC-PAN website, choose any college, find a member of that profession who lives near to them, find information about how to file a complaint, and find the practice standard related to record keeping. This isn’t an exercise about achieving the goal but about identifying the difficulties in achieving the goal.
Cultural Safety
College partners wanted to hear from the advisors on what colleges can do to regulate through a lens of anti-racism, cultural safety,
and health equity. Personal experiences, thoughts and opinions on this issue were explored.
Complementary and Alternative Therapies
Public advisors gave their perspectives on the use and regulation of complementary and alternative therapies in the healthcare professions.
College Complaints Process
Regulatory colleges are responsible for ensuring that health care practitioners provide qualified, safe,
and ethical care- in part by responding to complaints from the public about health care practitioners. Colleges wanted to hear about the public advisors’ experiences, expectations, and obstacles related to filing a complaint so they can seek out ways to improve the pubic experience throughout each stage of the complaints process.
2020-2021 End of Year Summary
Following a successful pilot phase, 2020-2021 was the first operational year of the BC-PAN. The end of year summary describes the work and activities of the BC-PAN from September 2020 to February 2021. It highlights new additions to the BC-PAN along with learnings and college actions throughout the year.
Ethical and Professional Use of Social Media by Health Care Practitioners
Health care practitioners may use social media to provide health information to the community, improve patient and public health outcomes, develop a professional network, increase personal awareness of news, and/or educate and interact with patients, caregivers, students and colleagues. Colleges asked BC-PAN for input to better understand the public’s expectations of health care practitioners who use social media and explore potential risks that may be associated with its use.
Virtual Care
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, use of virtual methods to access care has increased. The college partners are interested in the advisors’ experiences with virtual care during and prior to the pandemic, as well as the public’s expectations moving forward. College partners would like to seek guidance on how colleges can support an effective public experience with virtual care.
Pilot Phase Summary Report
The pilot phase of the BC-PAN was conducted form December 2018 to February 2020. This report summarizes key findings from the pilot phase along with college actions taken following the meetings.
Modernization of Health Professions Regulation
Colleges aimed to gain insight from public advisors to help inform next steps in regards to regulatory changes in British Columbia.