Rapid Innovation & Leadership in Virtual Care
Format
The National Conversation took place over two virtual webinars. The first webinar, with almost 200 registrations, hosted a panel of three experts on virtual care who shared their pre-pandemic status of virtual care, their pandemic experience of growth and adaptation to provide and support almost exclusive virtual care, and their visions for the future of virtual care in Canada. Within their visions, the panelists were asked to consider the following themes:
- equity, diversity, and inclusion
- the health human resource crisis
- the impact on the environment
- barriers to achieving the vision
- the role of health leaders
We were privileged to have as panelists:
Megan Stowe, Executive Director, Clinical Informatics and Virtual Health, Vancouver Coastal Health.
Megan provided a clinical perspective from supporting a large health authority as they transitioned very quickly to delivering virtual care in a setting where before the pandemic, there was primarily in-person care.
Shelagh Maloney, Executive Vice President, Engagement and Marketing, Canada Health Infoway.
Shelagh provided the perspective from a pan-Canadian health organization’s perspective, with a mandate to support and encourage the use of digital health solutions.
Alisa Simon, Executive Vice President, Chief Youth and Innovation Officer, Kids Help Phone.
Alisa provided the perspective of a national program, that was already providing services in virtual modalities, and that experienced exponential growth and demand during the pandemic.
The second webinar brought registrants back to further discuss and identify their visions for virtual care in Canada, and the leadership behaviours, framed in LEADS, required to achieve the visions. Participants used break-out rooms with small group facilitators who recorded thoughts and ideas on a shared platform to be used to inform the executive summary.