Cardiac arrhythmias (e.g., atrial fibrillation) are major contributors to stroke, hospitalization, disability, and mortality among older adults in British Columbia. Effective diagnosis often depends on access to extended ambulatory ECG monitoring, particularly for intermittent arrhythmias that may not be detected through conventional short-duration monitoring. Emerging evidence suggests that extended ECG patch monitoring (e.g., 7-day wear) may improve arrhythmia detection while reducing geographic and mobility-related barriers to care.
Despite these advances, access to ambulatory cardiac monitoring in BC remains inconsistent. Monitoring pathways rely heavily on traditional Holter-based systems, with substantial variation across regions in referral processes, access to extended monitoring, interpretation workflows, and follow-up care. These gaps disproportionately affect older adults, rural and remote communities, and underserved populations who already face barriers to accessing specialist cardiovascular services. Currently, there are limited opportunities to bring together patients, clinicians, researchers, and health system leaders to collectively identify shared priorities and implementation challenges related to equitable access to remote cardiac monitoring.
This engagement activity will address this gap through a one-day hybrid workshop hosted at Tech Collide BC in Vancouver, with virtual participation available to support involvement from participants across BC, including rural and remote communities. The workshop will include facilitated discussions, stakeholder panels, and collaborative priority-setting activities focused on identifying barriers, opportunities, and future directions related to remote cardiac monitoring and healthy aging.
Participants will include people with lived experience of arrhythmias or barriers to accessing cardiac monitoring; older adults and caregivers; cardiac ICU, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure nurses; cardiologists and stroke specialists; health authority representatives involved in digital health and care delivery; and researchers.
The anticipated outcomes of this activity include: 1) improved understanding of the social, structural, and health system barriers affecting equitable access to remote cardiac monitoring in BC; 2) identification of shared research and implementation priorities across stakeholder groups; and 3) development of an interdisciplinary network to support future collaboration.
Additional team members and participating organizations:
Harroop Sharda; Research Capacity Lead BSN Program; British Columbia Institute of Technology