A collaborative approach to a chronic care problem: An academic mentor's point of view

The Atlantic Healthcare Collaboration for Innovation and Improvement in Chronic Disease (AHC) represents a social experiment of sorts. The AHC provided a platform to integrate regions, health issues, healthcare systems, providers and individuals/families living with chronic disease. As such, the scope of the AHC was very broad, providing a rich learning environment but also risking biting off more than it could chew. I participated in this experiment as an academic mentor to three of the improvement projects (IPs) with Health PEI, Central Health and Western Health and also was a member of the IP extended team at Nova Scotia Health Authority (formerly Capital Health) in Nova Scotia. My professional contribution was from the perspective of health behaviour change - change at the level of the patient and family living with chronic disease, at the level of the healthcare provider working within an expert-based, siloed system, and at the level of the healthcare system - the managers and decision-makers.