Palliative Care Clinical Coach, 1.0 Fte

Position: Palliative Care Clinical Coach, 1.0 FTE (Contract) Reports To**:Manager of Specialized Program & Services** The Palliative Care Clinical Coach will be an employee of the Couchiching Family Health Team (CFHT) but will provide guidance, education, and expertise to all agencies providing palliative care in the Couchiching sub - region. The Palliative Care Clinical Coach will work closely with the Couchiching Ontario Health Team (COHT) and the COHT Palliative Care Working Group to accomplish the working goals set out by this group. The Palliative Care Clinical Coach is responsible for working with participating community organizations in alignment with provincial direction established by Ontario Health and guidance developed by the Ontario Palliative Care Network. The Palliative Care Clinical Coach will drive practice change, with a focus on improving access to and quality of clinical care, aligned to the Palliative Care Health Services Delivery Framework in the Community ("The Delivery Framework") and the Ontario Palliative Care Competency Framework. The Clinical Coach will: - Provide palliative care coaching and mentoring to staff and clinicians in participating community organizations, to build primary-level palliative care competencies. - Collaborate with leaders of community organizations on local service integration, and change management initiatives, using quality improvement methodologies to achieve results. - Consult on clinical care when the complexity of the patients’ needs is beyond the existing competencies of providers (in the community organizations). - Provide support to Indigenous communities and Indigenous organizations for their implementation efforts, where Indigenous communities wish to be involved, in collaboration with regional partners. A. Co-create the regional Delivery Framework implementation plan with Ontario Health, including required measurement and reporting. - Attend all regional planning meetings and contribute to the regional palliative care implementation plan, especially plans for education and practice change. - Keep comprehensive records and support data collection for measurement and reporting. - Provide feedback on key learnings related to coach role, along with providing input and reviewing regional progress reports as required. B. Foster regional collaboration and contribute to broader system integration. - Develop relationships with key partners to establish trust, credibility, and respect. - Clearly articulate key messages that resonate across different partner groups and audiences. - Update the regional implementation team on challenges and opportunities in the community. - Support Ontario Health Team planning and/or implementation of palliative models of care (where there is readiness). C. Ensure alignment of community implementation with the guidance of the Ontario Palliative Care Network - Participate in relevant provincial level committees, working groups and task forces. D. Lead engagement and community-building activities with participating organizations. - Develop and present materials that express palliative care concepts and implementation plans effectively. E. Provide support to Indigenous communities and organizations for their implementation efforts, as requested by those organizations and, where appropriate, in collaboration with regional partners F. Critically evaluate the quality of palliative care in participating community organizations. - Collaborate with leadership teams from participating community organizations to identify strengths and gaps in the palliative care they currently provide and in the relevant provider policies and practice documents. - Guide the creation of a quality improvement plan to address gaps. G. Build competency amongst front-line community providers in the delivery of primary-level palliative care. - Promote/provide palliative care education in participating community organizations, aligned to the Ontario Palliative Care Competency Framework. - Provide informal, case-based educational opportunities (coaching) for health service providers in community organizations, incorporating principles of adult learning. - Provide palliative care mentoring for health service providers in the community. - Complement the work of educational organizations, such as Ontario CLRI and Pallium Canada. H. Guide palliative care quality improvement (QI) and practice change initiatives in participating community organizations. - Assist with quality improvement initiatives to implement the Delivery Framework (with an initial emphasis on the prioritized recommendations) by: - Building internal and external relationships, to enhance communication among all staff. - Tracking and evaluating progress. - Sustaining best practice by updating policies and procedures. - Works closely with regional partners, including equity deserving populations, to ensure implementation of the model addresses barriers to access to care for priority