UBC Health is leading innovation in patient-centred learning with the new Patient & Community Advisory Committee (PAC), a first of its kind in Canada. PAC is a standing committee of UBC Health, providing patients' perspectives and advice to the UBC Health Council and its subcommittees in the areas of teaching, assessment and curriculum design for integrated learning. Members represent different patient populations and bring expertise from the patient and community side of health care.

A key focus of the committee is to help develop a patient engagement framework for UBC. The framework will provide best practice guidelines to help programs decide when and how to engage patients to maximize student learning. The initiative recognizes that patients and community have an important role in preparing health care professionals to better meet the changing needs of society.

The creation of PAC was informed by the work of Patient & Community Partnership for Education (PCPE), a unit within the Office of UBC Health that has been bringing the voices of patients and community members into the education of health professional students at UBC for over 10 years, and Patients in Education (PIE), an emerging organization of local non-profits and patients interested in increasing the involvement of patient and community voices in health professional education. Collectively, they recruit and help to select PAC members and support the committee’s work.