How to use CAMS: For Staff

The following are instructions for staff invited to participate in CAMS surveys.

If you have set up an account in the previous version of CAMS, you do not need to create a new one. Your account and facility/unit’s data has been brought over to the current version.

See a preview of the survey questions used here (PDF).

If you have any questions, please email cams@aphasia.ca

— Navigating the site —

Click a topic to view:

— Glossary —


A. Setting up your account

1. Find survey invitation in your email

Once a manager from your organization has invited you to participate in a CAMS survey, you will receive an email from cams@aphasia.ca with the subject “CAMS: Survey Invitation”.

Click [Continue by setting a password for your account]. The link is only valid for 48 hours. If it has expired, you can still request a password reset using the link provided in the same email.

If the invitation is missing from your inbox, please check your spam folders and ask your CAMS manager send a survey reminder email. Add cams@aphasia.ca to your email contacts to ensure you receive future emails.

2. Set your password

You will use your email address and this password to log into your CAMS account in the future.

3. Complete your registration

Fill the registration form and review the Terms & Conditions.

4. Accessing your Dashboard

Now that you have completed your registration, you will see all the active survey rounds you have been invited to on your dashboard.

Click [View] to see survey round details, including notes provided by your manager

Click on the survey to complete the surveys you have been invited to.

B. Completing a CAMS1 – Administrator or CAMS2 – Staff survey

1. Select the survey you wish to complete from the Dashboard

If you have been asked to complete the CAMS1 – Administrator survey, you will be asked questions regarding the organizational/system-level policies relating to communicative access at your facility/unit.

If you have been asked to complete the CAMS2 – Staff survey, you will be asked questions regarding your practice and perspectives on working with people who experience communication barriers.

CAMS1 or CAMS2 take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.

For information, on the CAMS3 survey, see C. Facilitating a CAMS3 - Patient Satisfaction Survey with patients.

2. Review Terms & Conditions and provide informed consent.

Before you can complete a survey, you will need to review and accept the outlined consent form and linked Terms and Conditions.

3. Complete the survey

Click [Proceed to survey] on the first page of the survey.

At the bottom of the survey, you can [Submit] your responses, [Save as draft] if you are not ready to submit your responses, or [Cancel] you chose to not complete the survey.

If you save your responses as draft, you can return any time before the end of the survey round. Once you submit your responses, you will not be able to change them.

C. Facilitating a CAMS3 – Patient Satisfaction Survey with patients

1. Select CAMS3 from the Dashboard.

From CAMS3, staff will use the provided pictographic survey and script to collect patient responses.

CAMS3 will take approximately 5 minutes to transfer survey responses from paper to online afterwards.

2. Download, review, and print survey documents

These materials are designed to help you facilitate surveys with people with communication difficulties.

This package includes:

i. A staff guide (includes link to demonstration videos)

ii. A survey planner to track the steps taken with participating patients

iii. A pictographic informed consent form

iv. A script to facilitate the consent

v. A script to facilitate the survey

vi. A pictographic survey (print in colour)

vii. A scale for survey questions (print in colour)

3. Obtained informed consent with patients

Use the pictographic consent form and script from your downloaded package.

It is up to your facility/unit to keep signed informed consent forms on file, according to your internal policies.

4. Facilitate the survey with each patient.

Use the pictographic survey and script from your downloaded package.

We suggest you record their answers on the hard copy to enter the responses online afterwards. You may want to use your unique IDs to keep track of the surveys used with each patient. There is a spot on the survey front cover to do so. Do not put any identifying patient information on survey materials.

5. Enter patient’s responses from paper to CAMS website

Select CAMS3 from the Dashboard.

Note: CAMS3 will take approximately 5 minutes to transfer survey responses from paper to online.

a) If it is a new patient (patient who hasn’t completed a CAMS3 survey before):

i. Click [+Create Patient]

You will be assigning a unique identifier for each new patient. The identifier will help keep track of patients and their responses.

The system will keep record of the identifier and you will be able to use it to complete repeat surveys for the associated patient in future rounds.

ii. Enter a unique identifier

This unique identifier should not include any personally identifying information (e.g. full names, initials, health card numbers). You should maintain a secure, internal record of these identifiers. A template is provided in the Survey Documents package.

It is up to the facility to determine how they will assign unique identifiers.

OR

b) If it is an existing patient (patient who has previously completed a CAMS3 survey)

Select an unique identifier from the list

If you are transferring responses for a patient who has completed a survey in a previous survey round, select their unique identifier from the list.

6. Review Terms & Conditions and provide informed consent.

Before you can complete a survey, you will need to read and accept the outlined the consent form and linked terms and conditions. In accepting, you are verifying that informed consent was obtained from the patient before the survey was facilitated with them.

7. Complete the survey

Review the information on the survey landing page, then proceed to the survey by clicking [Proceed to survey].

At the bottom of the survey, you can [Submit] your responses, [Save as draft] if you are not ready to submit your responses, or [Cancel] you chose to not complete the survey.

If you save your responses as draft, you can return any time before the end of the survey round. Once you submit your responses, you will not be able to change them.

Glossary

Facility/Unit: The area of the Institution (or overarching organization) for which CAMS data is being collected (e.g., stroke or rehab unit at a hospital, a long term care facility, a retirement home, etc.) The CAMS website collects survey responses and generates reports on the level of facilities/units. The facility/unit type will determine how your facility/unit’s data will be grouped with others when shown in the anonymized, aggregated data reports

Institution: The overarching organization that facilities/units are part of. If your facility is not part of larger institution, you can enter your facility as the institution when creating the facility in the CAMS system- it will not change how your facility/unit's survey responses are collected or reported.

Roles: On the CAMS website, users assume the role of either Manager or Staff for the facilities/unit they are a part of. A user can be a Manager for one facility and Staff for another - roles are tied to the facility/unit.

Managers: Individuals overseeing a unit or facility’s use of CAMS. The CAMS Manager is often a unit manager or director, or their representative like an administrative assistant or research coordinator. They are responsible for registering their facility/unit, sending survey invites, and accessing reports of aggregated survey responses. They can also complete surveys that may pertain to them. First time Managers create their accounts on the CAMS website using the Create an Account function. Users can also be invited by other Managers to be Managers for facilities/units.

Staff: Members of a facility/ unit invited by Managers to complete CAMS surveys. Staff can only complete the surveys they are invited to and are unable to generate reports.

Individuals invited to complete surveys, whether as Manager or Staff, will receive an invitation email containing a link to complete the survey. If they don’t already have a CAMS account tied to their email, an account will automatically be created and they will be asked to finalize their account (i.e. fill registration information, set a password) before accessing the surveys.

Survey round: A period of time for invited individuals to complete CAMS surveys for a facility/unit. Managers create survey rounds and invite staff to complete surveys. Survey round length can be a minimum of 1 day to a maximum of 6 weeks. Only one survey round can be active at a time for each facility/unit.

Reports: Once a survey round ends, Managers will be able to generate reports of the responses. Responses are reported in an anonymized and aggregated fashion for each question. Data for some questions may be withheld if not enough data is available to meet privacy requirements.