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Hospice Palliative Care Ontario (HPCO) has been designated as the lead for Advance Care Planning and Goals of Care by the Ontario Palliative Care Network (OPCN) in their current Action Plan Priorities: Action Area A: Enhancing Patient and Caregiver Engagement in Hospice Palliative Care - A3. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the vital need for Health Care Consent, Advance Care Planning, and Goals of Care (HCC ACP GoC) resources for health care providers and the general public. Therefore, HPCO has been diligently reviewing, developing, and compiling resources on Speak Up Ontario that offer guidance and practical ideas for planning and delivering ACP conversations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients want to have discussions about their current and future care, about their values and goals, and they want support and guidance from their healthcare practitioners. These conversations have become increasingly complex and changing terminology with unclear definitions and outcomes can often add to the confusion. The Person-Centred Decision Making (PCDM) toolkit contains a set of resources to assist clinicians to engage patients in HCC ACP GoC conversations. The toolkit helps providers understand the conversations most appropriate to their practice setting and context, and includes the following:

• The Framework provides definitions of and the differences between Advance care Planning (ACP), Goals of care conversations (GOCC) and Health Care Consent (HCC).
• The Clinician Algorithm directs clinicians to the right conversation.
• The E-learning modules advance clinician’s knowledge & attitudes through interactive case scenarios, reflective questions, and videos of both simulated and real clinical encounters. Note: The modules are currently available at no cost until March 31st, 2021.
• The Quick Reference Guide acts as a reference for a busy clinician, or, for administrators looking for a summary of activities required for Patient-Centred Decision-Making. The columns are linked directly to the algorithm actions. Content is summarized from the e-learning modules.
• The Implementation Guide is intended to help Ontario health care institutions implement PCDM. Using the structure of quality improvement, the guide lists several resources for administrators and clinicians to use to enhance awareness, desire for change, knowledge, ability and reinforcement/capacity building.

HPCO is also currently offering free virtual PCDM Skills-Building Workshops on Engaging Patients in ACP and GoC Conversations. This competency training is intended for organizations and system leaders actively engaging in implementing ACP, GOC and Consent into practice. The workshops provide an opportunity to embed and integrate HCC/ACP/GOC into clinical practice and settings of care through two streams of training; health care providers will learn how to have the conversations through simulated exercises and administrators will learn the development of change management strategies system and how to integrate policies and practices into care settings (i.e., EMR). The interactive workshops are tailored by sector (long term care, acute, primary, and community care), and incorporate a variety of different learning styles including didactic components, videos, role playing with Standardized Patients, as well as group exercises and discussions. Note: 2020-21 workshops have been confirmed and are currently in progress. To add your organization to the waitlist for April 2021-March 2022, please visit: www.research.net/r/EOI_PCDM

For more Ontario-compliant resources and webinars on Advance Care Planning, Goals of Care, and Health Care Consent for health care providers, non-health care professionals, and the general public, we would encourage you to visit speakupontario.ca. HPCO also maintains a network of RegionalChampions, who are volunteers appointed as recognized experts in Health Care Consent (HCC), Advance Care Planning (ACP), and Goals of Care (GoC) in Ontario. The designation is received following the successful completion of a 55-hour mentorship program. RegionalChampions demonstrate interest and capacity to educate, support, and mentor HCC, ACP, GoC initiatives within their local region. For support,or to find the closest Regional Champion to you, click here.

We encourage you to explore the toolkit to ensure that your work and processes align with the Ontario Framework. We also ask that you please circulate this information to relevant stakeholders within your organizations and regions. If you have any questions, please contact rachel.dragas@hpco.ca.