The 2020 Cochrane Colloquium is Patients Included.
The Patients Included conference charter provides conference organizers with a means of demonstrating that their events are committed to incorporating the experience of patients as experts in living with their condition while ensuring they are neither excluded nor exploited.
This page below outlines how the Cochrane Colloquium Toronto 2020 will meet the five charter criteria listed below:
1. Patients or caregivers with experience relevant to the conference’s central theme actively participate in the design and planning of the event, including the selection of themes, topics and speakers.
The Scientific Committee includes a patient/patient advocate who actively participated in planning the conference, including the exploration of the theme and identification of topics and speakers. Focus groups will also be held periodically during the planning process to obtain feedback from patients and advocates on the design of the Colloquium.
2. Patients or caregivers with experience of the issues addressed by the event participate in its delivery, and appear in its physical audience.
Patients are invited to participate in all aspects of the Colloquium, including the submitting of posters and abstracts, chair sessions and present at plenaries. As part of its marketing efforts, Cochrane Canada specifically reached out to multiple patient and patient advocacy groups to encourage participation and attendance in the 2020 Colloquium.
Cochrane encourages its entities and partners to support patient partners who have been engaged in their work. If you are a patient partner who has worked on a project with a health care partner, we encourage you to submit an abstract together.
3. Travel and accommodation expenses for patients or carers participating in the advertised programme are paid in full, in advance. Scholarships are provided by the conference organizers to allow patients or carers affected by the relevant issues to attend as delegates.
Cochrane has a robust stipends programme in place for its Colloquiua that will be utilized to ensure that a minimum of two patients or carers are able to attend the 2020 Colloquium by covering all expenses related to travel, registration and accommodation. Additional patients and carers are encouraged to apply for partial stipends, and a limited number of discounted hotel room rates have been secured for participants.
4. The disability requirements of participants are accommodated. All applicable sessions, breakouts, ancillary meetings and other programme elements are open to patient delegates.
The conference facility is completely accessible. Conference organizers are also installing infrastructure for the conference to accommodate the disability requirements of participants and delegates through assistive devices.
5. Access for virtual participants is facilitated, with free streaming video provided online wherever possible.
Virtual attendance will be facilitated via social media utilizing the hashtag #CochraneToronto. Any materials and pictures available post conference will also be shared publicly through social media and/or the Cochrane 2020 Colloquium website. Videos from the Colloquium’s plenary presentations will be recorded and uploaded to social media to be shared publicly.
