Public Engagement Project

This public engagement (PE) project will be completed in collaboration with the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board (principal public partner), the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research, the Department of Health and Community Services (Health Transformation), and the Upstream Lab. It will engage patients/citizens, health professionals, and other public partners in deliberative dialogues on the topic of community pharmacist screening for social determinants of health (SDoH) in NL. We are interested in leveraging the unique frontline position of community pharmacists to screen for the SDoH using the SPARK Tool—a tool developed and validated by the Upstream Lab (University of Toronto) that supports primary care providers in screening for poverty and related social determinants. The knowledge and perspectives of public partners will help to identify needs, gaps, and opportunities as well as considerations for implementation and evaluation of the initiative.

Public Engagement Project

This public engagement project is being completed in collaboration with the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board (principal public partner), the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research, the Department of Health and Community Services (Health Transformation), and the Upstream Lab.

We are engaging patients/citizens, health professionals, and other public partners in deliberative dialogues on the topic of community pharmacist screening for social determinants of health (SDoH) in NL.

We are interested in leveraging the unique frontline position of community pharmacists to screen for the SDoH using the SPARK Tool—a tool developed and validated by the Upstream Lab (University of Toronto) that supports primary care providers in screening for poverty and related social determinants.

The knowledge and perspectives of public partners will help to identify needs, gaps, and opportunities as well as considerations for implementation and evaluation of the initiative.

Approach

Using deliberative dialogues as a system-level knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) strategy, this PE project consists of a series of participant advisory meetings to assemble patients/citizens, policymakers, regulators, and health professionals across disciplines in knowledge exchange and research planning. Deliberative dialogues have been used in the public policy arena for many years. They can help to inform policy development and practice change by integrating empirical and experiential evidence and contextual data on topics of public importance.

We are hosting a total of 5 dialogues, including:

dialogues with each participant group: (1) patients/citizens (2) policymakers, regulators, and the professional association, (3) pharmacists, and (4) other health professionals; AND
an interdisciplinary workshop with 1-2 representatives from each participant group as well as project team members and other representatives from each organization involved.

Each deliberative dialogue is led by an experienced member of the team with notetakers present to capture the discussion. We are aiming to recruit 8-12 participants for each of the four participant advisory meetings. Up to 30 participants will take part in the large, interdisciplinary workshop and research planning session. The patient/citizen meeting will be conducted in-person at an accessible location in St. John’s. All other meetings will be conducted virtually using Webex–the virtual meeting platform hosted by Memorial University.

Outcomes and Deliverables

Our objectives are to:

Identify needs, gaps, opportunities around SDoH screening in the NL pharmacy setting
Identify considerations for the implementation and evaluation of the SPARK Tool in pharmacies, including the use of digital health solutions
Engage strategic public partnerships in next steps

Using deliberative dialogues as a system-level knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) strategy, this public engagement (PE) project will consist of a series of participant advisory meetings to assemble patients/citizens, policymakers, regulators, and health professionals across disciplines in knowledge exchange and research planning.

Project Status and Updates

Patient and Public Deliberative Dialogue Meetings: Click here to Register

September 25th, 2024 (7:00 - 9:00 pm) VIRTUAL
TBD (7:00 - 9:00 pm) IN-PERSON

Pharmacist and Pharmacy Owners Dialogue Meeting: Click here to Register

November 20th, 2024 (7:00 - 9:00 pm) VIRTUAL