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Conference focus on patients
The Cayman Islands Journal, 7 November, 2012
Patient-centred care was the focus of the recent Healthcare 20/20
conference held at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, under the theme
Patient Centred Care: Achieving Quality Outcomes. The event brought
together professionals working in the healthcare field in the Cayman
Islands, as well as international speakers.
The conference was opened by Minister of Health Mark Scotland on Thursday,
18 October.
According to Scotland, the conference, now in its third year, has
grown in status considerably since its first edition, with international
speakers as well as international participants in addition to the
local speakers.
“That is what we intended, to see this event become a regular event,
a regional healthcare conference,” he said.
Scotland went on to say that the focus of the conference, patient-centred
care, was a key consideration for local health care services, with
implications for legislation as well as practice.
“We want this conference to drive where we go with our healthcare
industry,” he said. “Healthcare is a critical endeavour comprising
policy making, management, delivery, costing and most importantly,
the wellbeing of the patient.”
He also talked about a number of changes that would be presented to
the Legislative Assembly over the next couple of months, including
amendments to the health insurance law and its regulations.
“These proposed changes will increase the minimum level of benefits
prescribed for the standard health insurance cover, ensuring that
people under the plan have adequate resources. It will also introduce
several new elements, including a wellness benefit, increase outpatient
benefits and cover for mental health,” he said.
According to Scotland, the proposed amendments would be brought to
the Legislative Assembly before the end of the year.
Other laws scheduled to go before the Legislative Assembly in the
first quarter of next year will include updates to the mental health
law as well as Cayman’s first human tissue and transplant bill.
Furthering education in the medical field was also of great importance,
with a number of initiatives set to come to fruition.
“By the end of this year, we will be implementing a long sought after
programme by which students at the St. Matthew’s University School
of Medicine can gain credit for rotations at George Town Hospital,
benefitting not only patients, but also students and even the university
staff. I also want to mention the start of the Bachelor of Science
programme in nursing science at the University College of the Cayman
Islands being run in conjunction with the Ministry of Health,” said
Scotland.
Difficult patients
One of the elements highlighted in numerous presentations was how
technology is starting to influence patient engagement with their
treatment, as patients and family members tend to be much more informed
than in the past due to access to information on diseases and treatments
via the Internet, as well as the anywhere access provided by mobile
devices.
Speakers, including Barbara Ficarra, a registered nurse and feature
writer for The Huffington Post, pointed out that these empowered and
engaged patients used to be referred to as ‘difficult patients’ because
they asked questions about their treatment. However, this engagement
with treatment has advantages for the patient as well as the health
service provider, as patients have a greater level of comfort with
the treatment they are receiving.
One of the changes from previous years was the introduction of breakout
sessions on the second day of the conference.
“The breakout sessions are in response to feedback from delegates
over the past few years for some more focussed discussions on critical
topics enabling delegates to drill down into topics,” said Scotland.
Breakout sessions
Attendees were able to choose between one of three breakout sessions,
focussing on topical issues in the fields of oncology, paediatric
health and workplace wellness, all led by experts in the field. The
sessions took the form of presentations by panel members, with an
open discussion involving questions from the audience, composed mostly
of practitioners in the field.
This change allowed for greater engagement with the topic and the
feedback session on the final day of the conference allowed all conference
attendees to gain insight into what had been discussed during the
three breakout sessions.
During breaks in the presentations, conference attendees were also
able to browse the booths of event sponsors and exhibitors in order
to learn more about the services offered by the numerous institutions.
The event was sponsored by International Health Solutions by Tenet,
The Ministry of Health, Environment, Youth, Sports & Culture,
the Health Services Authority, Tower Marketing, Admiral Administration,
Advanced Integrated Systems, Health City Cayman Islands, 21st Century
Oncology, Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine,
the Caymanian Compass, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Health Diagnostic
Laboratory, BritCay, Cerner, National Research Corporation, UC San
Diego, Generali Worldwide, Jackson International, Simplifi, LIME,
Broward Health International, Cayman Islands Diabetes Association
and Morneau Shepell.
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