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BC Emergency Network Discovery, Branding, and Online Tool Development

British Columbia’s sprawling geography with urban, rural, and remote centres adds complexity to the network of care, particularly in the case of emergency care. Under the leadership of emergency medicine physician and UBC professor Dr. Jim Cristensen, the BC Emergency Medicine Network (BC EMN) was formed to address these challenges. The BC EMN recognized the need to connect and support emergency physicians in diverse settings across British Columbia, enabling them to communicate, share knowledge, and access high value resources. Be the Change Group was hired as a partner at the beginning of the creation of the network to engage with the network’s potential members across the province, help shape its brand, and design and build an online interactive tool in order to help address this need.

 

In our signature discovery process, we conducted a scoping literature review, and collected data via our custom-built surveys, focus groups, site visits, and key informant interviews. After gathering and analyzing information from more than 300 physicians, we produced a detailed discovery report with recommendations to the network leads, ensuring that we developed and designed a brand and online interactive tool that was informed by evidence and shaped by the users.

 

We built the BC EMN’s brand and an exceptionally functional, user-friendly custom management system (CMS) website that includes a private member area, member directory, member discussions, blogs, podcasts, provincial emergency medicine course listings and calendar, clinical point-of-care resources, and various other integrated features and highlights of emergency medicine in the province. The website launched in September 2017, and we have continued to partner with the BC EMN to provide communications support and design, and the development of additional features.

Sector

    Services

      Visit the website

      impact

      The Change

      300

      stakeholders were engaged.

      75%

      75% of all emergency medicine doctors practicing in B.C. are on the network website.

      discovery

      Our discovery process

      In our comprehensive, three-month discovery process, we conducted an online survey of 208 emergency physicians from across B.C., interviews with 21 key informants, and site visits and focus groups at 14 emergency medicine sites in every health authority across the province.

      discovery

      Report and recommendations

      Our report presents a comprehensive, evidence- and stakeholder-driven data collection and analysis of how B.C. emergency medicine physicians access information and communicate online. To ensure that the BC EMN delivers current best practices and clinical information in a secure, timely, and supportive manner, the report makes clear recommendations regarding branding; planning, design, development, and launch of the online tool; and in-house training.

      See full report

      The brand

      The brand discovery survey and report

      After surveying key BC EMN project and leadership team members using a series of general, emotive, brand-specific, and messaging and copy style questions, we coded the responses, summarized the content, and identified key themes regarding branding for consideration by the BC EMN team. Following the discovery we provided three brand options, and ultimately landed on the one that best represented the network and the digital tool we were building for emergency medicine physicians in B.C. to connect, share ideas, and improve their practice, ultimately improving patient care.

      Our solution

      Website summary

      A custom management system (CMS) WordPress platform that features a user-friendly interface and consistent functionality with various integrated features and highlights of emergency medicine in the province. We continue to develop new features as BC EMN identifies new goals for service.

      Visit website
      A collection of various emergency room resources collated by network members, from reputable resources, including BC specific clinical summaries addressing core clinical questions developed by emergency practitioners across the province. These resources are presented succinctly for use on shift, updated to reflect new knowledge, and tailored to meet the needs of members across the network.
      This is BC’s only directory of emergency medicine practitioners from across the province, working in tertiary, large community, rural, and remote emergency departments. The smart directory allows members to search for each other by name, hospital, health authority, and clinical interests.
      In urban centres, hospitals have doctor’s lounges where colleagues can socialize, share ideas, or discuss clinical cases in privacy. The opportunity to have a virtual space where physicians can connect across the province and share experiences from both urban, rural, and remote centres improves collective clinical experience. It includes blogs, podcast, and a private member discussion board.
      Continuing professional development (CPD) can be difficult when you have to go to multiple organizations to look and register for them. In addition to developing their own CPD courses, BC EMN also brought together a comprehensive and accessible list of CPD for all emergency medicine practitioners in BC.
      Research moves forward when we stop working in silos and start collaborating with others. The network facilitates collaboration on a range of clinically relevant research programs and initiatives in BC. Members can see featured research and reach out to principal investigators to participate in research in the BC or find out more. It also helps facilitate knowledge translation and dialogue between researchers.

      our solution

      User testing

      The advisory map was tested with the general public in Invermere, Kelowna, Penticton, and Kamloops via in-person, focus group user testing. User testing helped identify actionable updates for the map including lightening up the designs; creating more contrast between roads, land, and bodies of water; including more detail such as buildings, parks, and structures; and, in general, simplifying the designs by eliminating extraneous information that takes away from the main message and purpose of the map. In addition, resources including the videos and explanations of advisory types were also user-tested with the public for clarity. Once changes based on user feedback were incorporated, the advisory map was launched.

      Partnership

      Continuing our collaboration with the BC EMN team

      The launch was not the end, it was just the beginning. We continue to support the BC EMN through website maintenance, the development and testing of new features based on member feedback, communications strategy, and design support for project-related assets.