W21C Journal Club + is proud to present:

Integrating Digital PROs into Standard Ambulatory Care Processes: What is Meaningful?

Presenter:
Dr. Linda Watson, RN, PhD
Lead, Person-Centred Care Integration, Cancer Control Alberta, Alberta Health Services

Presentation Summary: In this presentation, Dr. Watson will discuss the Cancer Control Alberta digital PRO Program.

Learning Objectives:
After this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Understand how the digital PRO tools have been integrated into the clinical processes at CCA.
2. Analyze  clinical examples of how the use of digital PRO tools impacted clinical encounters, symptom management, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
3. Understand the impact digital PRO tools has had on the patient experience in CCA.

The W21C Journal Club+ is a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

About the Presenter:

Dr. Linda Watson has been an oncology nurse in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for over 25 years.  She has held a variety of nursing and inter-professional leadership roles within the CancerControl Alberta (CCA) provincial program and is currently the provincial Lead for Person Centred Care Integration within Alberta’s provincial cancer care program. Dr. Watson completed her doctoral research in 2014, where she explored the family’s experience of living with incurable but treatable cancer.

Dr. Watson holds an adjunct professor position with the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary, but her passion for improving the patient experience has kept her committed to her full time position as a transformational leader within the Alberta cancer system. Over the last decade she has worked closely with the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) and the Alberta Cancer Foundation (ACF) to develop new processes, systems, and programs to enhance clinical capacity to deliver tailored, individualized care to cancer patients in the ambulatory cancer setting. These include using Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) to improve patient experience, the implementation and evaluation of a provincial cancer patient navigation program to improve the rural cancer patient’s access to cancer care, and a provincial post-treatment transitions program that aims to improve the transition between the cancer program and primary care.

Dr. Watson is also currently the President of the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology (CANO), providing national leadership to the specialty area of oncology nursing across Canada.