EPION Spotlight on… SISC Fidelity Pilot: Where?

Where do we go from here?

As mentioned in last week’s Spotlight, the outcomes of last year’s fidelity assessments supported a second round. The SISC, Gord Langill, Avra Selick, Janet Durbin and Shannel Butt have been working diligently to coordinate all the pieces needed to get the second wave of fidelity assessments rolled out. This is no short list of tasks either.

Significant tasks include, but are most definitely not limited to:

• Weekly committee phone conference meetings
• Reviewing of the First Episode Psychosis Service Fidelity Scale (FEPS –FS) with developer, Don Addington, adapting it for Ontario, and incorporating 7 Ontario supplement items
• Identifying and orienting programs that will receive a fidelity assessment
• Recruiting, and training seasoned and new EPI clinicians to conduct fidelity assessments, and
• Organizing a fidelity assessment schedule

As we are full swing into the process, the SISC, its 7 returning assessors and 9 new assessors are receiving their training at CAMH as you read this spotlight. Following the training, our assessors will divide and conquer the assessment of 7 new programs. Programs range from Windsor all the way to Thunder Bay and include programs both big and small.

The above mentioned is a natural next step. That being said, as people become invested and inspired by this project, minds begin to wonder things like, how can it be improved, how can we use this information so it is most impactful and who needs to know; Ultimately what’s next and where do we go from here?

Though we cannot say what ideas will come to fruition, the SISC is encouraged and motivated by the flow of ideas that are originating from assessors and assessed alike. Some food for thought include things like implementing a complimentary follow-up process to ensure the programs have the support to implement the quality improvement suggestions (Jennifer Jackson, Clinical Lead at Heads Up!). Starting to consider how the SISC can showcase the results of the fidelity assessments; as Krista Whittard, Manager of the Mental Health Program’s Clinical Services, Niagara Region, puts it “Who knows and who cares?” How are we disseminating information among other EPI programs to support one another, should we be hosting webinars so people outside EPI can learn from us and what impact could this be making on a national level? Ultimately, as emphasized by Sandy Brooks, PSSP assessor, bringing the results full circle and understanding what the results really mean to EPI on all the various levels.

That is all from the SISC for now, but keep an eye out for our update in October highlighting the training for our new assessors, and our assessor team!