A collaborative project to explore COVID-19 rapid redesign and redeployment best practices and their uptake in British Columbia long-term care sector

Co-lead: 

  • David Keselman
    Louis Brier Home and Hospital

Team members:

  • Karen Neilson
    BC Ministry of Health
  • Heather Cook 
    BC Ministry of Health
  • Maura McPhee
    UBC
  • Alison Phinney
    UBC 
  • Sabina Staempfli
    UBC
  • Jennifer Stokes
    Island Health
  • Ayako Nilssen
    Island Health
  • Vicki Andersen
    Louise Brier Home and Hospital
  • Mirsad Dragic
    Louis Brier Home and Hospital
  • Keren Gersman
    Louise Brier Home and Hospital
  • Dan Galazka
    Louise Brier Home and Hospital
  • Michael Kary
    BC Care Providers Association
  • Pam Baxter 
    McMaster University

In Canada, 81% of COVID-19 deaths were in long-term care (LTC) settings. To slow the virus spread, the BC government mandated LTC sites to introduce a series of new practices and policies. For example, families and visitors were no longer allowed into LTC sites; and staff were banned from working in more than one location. In June 2020, our research team received an MSFHR grant to examine the intended and unintended consequences of these practices and policies on residents, families and staff in a ‘gold standard’ publicly funded facility with no COVID cases. We have had many interesting findings related to effective pandemic management to date, but it is unclear if these findings are applicable to other BC LTC sites.

The proposed project will bring together nearly 170 researchers and research users across 5 regional health authorities to identify best pandemic management practices and policies and to discuss strategies for their uptake. The network represents 7 key stakeholder groups including policy/advocacy, leadership and resident and family representatives. The project outcomes include recommendations for effective pandemic management in publicly funded BC LTC sites and a research advisory group to support future research.