Gold Quill Spotlight: Elevation Day 2.0 Fights Post-Pandemic Burnout

How do you "wow" burned-out health care staff and persuade them to do more?

This was the question Keith Bradford, SCMP, and his team faced as they sought input, funding, collaboration and resource support for a three-year plan from a group of stakeholders.

Navigating the Post-Pandemic Health Care Landscape

Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are not-for-profit government-funded health care organizations in Alberta, Canada. They are family doctors who work alongside nurses, mental health workers, pharmacists and other health professionals to meet the everyday health needs of patients.

Alberta is home to 40 PCNs, divided into five geographic zones. Each zone works on collaborative projects, receiving voluntary per-capita funding from each PCN to support shared work. Bradford and his team were responsible for the Calgary Zone and its Zone Service Plan.

Zone Service Plans articulate the activities that PCNs and partners agree to work toward over a period of three years. Endorsement of the plan secures funding for its initiatives and activities, as well as staffing costs for the business unit working on projects within the plan.

Post-pandemic, the Alberta health care landscape was challenging for PCNs, and endorsement of the Zone Service Plan — and the jobs it created — was at risk. Contributing factors included the government breaking its contract with doctors, COVID-19’s impact on income, physician and staff burnout, and a lack of opportunities to hold in-person meetings to collaboratively build the plan.

‘Better Together’

Bradford and his team decided to develop an in-person event that would allow them to present the plan to stakeholders, receive valuable input and ultimately get the endorsement they needed.

The Zone Service Plan was based on extensive research, data and stakeholder engagement that had been conducted over the past year. This included desk research (health data, meeting notes, external reports, policies and legislation), quantitative data (analysis from existing programs), stakeholder engagement and a previous in-person meeting (Elevation Day 1.0). 

The new event, Elevation Day 2.0, was an opportunity to gather primary care partners to deliver on their mission: better together — leveraging their strengths and sharing resources to better serve patients.

Out of This World Collaboration

The Zone Service Plan thrives on collaboration, but the pandemic had become a significant road block. In the past three years, stakeholders had only met in-person once.

This is where Bradford and his team found themselves asking how they could wow their audience — burned-out health care professionals — and get their support.

The answer was in a space theme, launching them away from their day-to-day and reinforcing the key message of looking at primary care from a different perspective.

Instead of meeting in a hotel, Bradford and his team chose the TELUS Science Centre, staying true to theme and offering an unexpected venue choice that would infuse energy into the event.

Each project was presented as a "mission," accompanied by a matrix for "fuel required" and "impact," as well as a timeline. This addressed audience concerns about workload and impact. Eight priority initiatives were featured, each represented by one of the eight planets in the solar system, with the sun as a guiding light.

Key messaging reinforced that the proposed plan was based on research, data and engagement, resulting in coordinated, aligned priorities and projects. To shake things up, a science fair poster activity was developed to further discuss each mission. Live polling was used to allow participants to rank all 19 projects featured. 

Not to be overlooked, the space theme offered a light, innovative concept that was relevant, visually appealing and an escape from reality. The team had lift-off!

Mission Accomplished

Throughout the process, Bradford and team met several objectives, making their mission a success. This included:

• Eleven of 12 survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the event increased understanding of the priority initiatives.
• A post-event survey rated the science fair and discussion as the most valuable.
• Nineteen of 23 survey participants agreed or strongly agreed that the event activities encouraged balanced feedback. 
• Twenty of 23 survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the event encouraged collaboration.

Perhaps most important of all, in December 2022, all seven PCNs voted to endorse, fund and implement the plan. Eighteen of the 19 activities were approved.