HTF 402 National First Nations Telehealth Research Project

Dissemination Plan

The dissemination plan is aimed at providing information useful to: the five First Nations communities participating in the National Project to assist them in deciding whether to continue to invest in telehealth; other Aboriginal communities who wish to undertake telehealth initiatives; and FNIHB to help it decide whether to pursue telehealth implementation in other First Nations and Inuit communities.

1. Main Themes

The information can be used as background for building a Business Case for telehealth services, or simply to gain a better understanding of telehealth implementation and use in rural and remote communities, particularly First Nations and Inuit communities. There are three main themes in the information disseminated:

1. Implementation Process: Tools developed during the National Project such as a project planning and scheduling tool, a community needs assessment tool, an evaluation framework tool, a community Request for Proposals template, a community bid analysis tool, a community MOU and contribution agreement template; and, regular updates on the progress achieved.




2. Lessons Learned: Potential benefits of telehealth identified by communities during the needs assessment process, telehealth human resource issues, financial resource issues, technical resource issues and policy issues.




3. Evaluation Findings: Results of the data gathering instruments, key informant interviews, patient satisfaction questionnaires etc.

2. Target Audiences

Target audiences are categorized according to each information theme.

• Implementation Process
  • Five participating First Nations communities and their partners (provincial facilities);
  • Aboriginal communities;
  • Other rural and remote communities;
  • Telehealth coordinators.


• Lessons Learned
  • Associations of Aboriginal and other health care providers/managers;
  • Health Canada and other federal departments;
  • National and regional First Nations and Inuit organizations;
  • Provincial/territorial governments;
  • Telehealth coordinators;
  • Researchers;
  • Telehealth industry.


• Evaluation Findings
  • Five participating First Nations communities;
  • Other Aboriginal communities;
  • Health Canada and other federal departments;
  • Provincial/territorial governments;
  • National and regional First Nations and Inuit organizations;
  • Associations of Aboriginal and other health care providers/managers;
  • Researchers;
  • Telehealth industry.

3. Dissemination Principles

The Project Accountability Framework, developed by FNIHB in consultation with the community project teams, specifies some principles to which the dissemination plan must adhere:

• We agree that all those involved in the project will respect individual and community privacy, confidentiality and ownership of health data/information as agreed to. We agree that the community will own the health data and information that is collected by the project.

• We agree that the documentation and communications of this project will be carried out, developed and produced in both official languages of Canada.

• We agree that communities will own the community health and evaluation data collected during this project and that Health Canada will release information about the community only upon the approval of the communities involved and that Health Canada will not use the data collected for any other purposes other that for which it was collected.

• We agree as project stakeholders that we will respect individual and community privacy, confidentiality and ownership of health data and information. All information of a personal nature to which the project stakeholders become privy, shall be treated as confidential. All information of a personal medical nature to which the project stakeholders become privy, shall be treated as confidential in accordance with the Privacy Act.

• We agree that only aggregate data collected throughout the pilot process will be shared with key stakeholders to support the development and management of a Business Case for Telehealth Services in First Nations and Inuit communities that can respond to the gaps and sustainability of telehealth.

4. Dissemination Activities

Activities are categorized according to each information theme. Some activities address more than one theme: the website, the HTF Final Results Report, the Education Primer.

Implementation Process

During the initial implementation process, information packages (including a movie, pamphlet and slide presentation) were disseminated to the five participating First Nations communities.

A news release was disseminated by Health Canada on September 3, 1998 entitled Release of the Final Report of the National Conference on Health Infostructure.

The FNIHB website lists tools available and provides community updates. Tools are available upon request to Aboriginal communities.

Most communities undertook some form of information dissemination during the implementation process to educate community members and promote the project at the regional/provincial level. For example:

• La Romaine: three radio communiqués, posters displayed in the community, annual updates at the Quebec Native Caucus, two radio news reports in Sept-Iles;



• Berens River: two articles in the Winnipeg Free Press (September 2000), open house (Summer 2000).



• Southend: door-to-door community information campaign with pamphlets, open house (Spring 2000).



• Fort Chipewyan: News release (May 2000), article in The Ottawa Citizen (May 29,2000), presentations at the TecKnowledge Telehealth Coordinators Conference (September 2000), at the National Information-Sharing and Feedback Session on the Potential Future of Telehealth in First Nations and Inuit Communities (October 5-6 2000), open house (October 30, 2000).

No standard communication plan was developed for all communities.

Lessons Learned

The website summarizes the Lessons Learned.

• FNIHB headquarters have presented Lessons Learned at the following events in 2000: Aboriginal Nurses Association's Annual Teaching Conference (May), the Ontario Centre for Health Promotion Summer School (June), the Building Linkages and the Role of Technology in First Nations and Inuit Health workshop organized by FNIHB (July), a FNIHB Regional Zone Nursing Officers meeting (September), Government and Technology Week (October), the Canadian Society of Telehealth Annual Conference (October), Health Canada's E-Health Conference (October), Smart 2000 (October), InfoHealth 2000 (October), a Democracy Bytes Back workshop (November 2000). Lessons Learned will continue to be presented at conferences/meetings/workshops when opportunities/requests arise. On February 26, 2001, FNIHB was asked to coordinate a live telehealth demonstration at a Plenary Session of the Assembly of First Nations Health Conference. A presentation was made on the National Project. The Project's satellite communications contractor, Telesat, sponsored the event that included three live links to the Berens River Nursing Station, the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre and the Fort Severn Nursing Station. As well, a video containing testimonials from three of the participating communities was shown at the FNIHB Conference booth.
  
  
• On October 5-6, 2000, FNIHB, in partnership with the AFN and the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, held a National Information-Sharing and Feedback Session on the Potential Future of Telehealth in First Nations and Inuit communities. Approximately 60 First Nations and Inuit representatives attended the session traveling from most provinces/territories, including the main participants of the National Project community teams. The session was a first step in a broad consultation strategy initiated by FNIHB. It was intended to give participants the opportunity to acquire a general understanding of telehealth and its implications for First Nations and Inuit communities. Participants were also invited to discuss the need for telehealth and the general components of a Blueprint to guide its potential future development. Finally, participants were called upon to identify the next steps required to move forward the telehealth agenda. A Final Report of the Session was widely disseminated to attendees and other interested Aboriginal organizations/communities, as well as within Health Canada.
  
  
• The main recommendation formulated by session attendees was to establish an Ad Hoc Working Group to address next steps in a more detailed fashion and to draft a Vision Statement for First Nations and Inuit Telehealth. Fifteen attendees volunteered to participate in the Ad Hoc Working Group. The Group's first meeting was held on November 23-24, 2000.
  
  
• An Education Primer that is largely based on the Lessons Learned will serve as the main content of a national information-sharing and feedback strategy. This strategy will be developed jointly by national and regional FNIHB telehealth coordinators, in consultation with national and regional First Nations and Inuit representatives sitting on a Standing Working Group. The Primer will target First Nations and Inuit community leadership and health providers. Its goal is to raise awareness, obtain feedback on a Vision Statement and Blueprint for potential future telehealth implementation, and build community capacity in telehealth management/implementation.

• On March 25-27, 2001, a Final Project meeting was held to reunite the five community project teams and the Peer Review Team, and to present evaluation findings and review the draft HTF Final Results Report.

• An HTF Final Results Report will be disseminated within Health Canada and distributed to other federal departments, provincial/territorial governments, First Nations and Inuit organizations/communities upon request.

• Findings will be posted on the website. They will be communicated at national, and potentially international, conferences/workshops and integrated in the Education Primer (see above).