"What is changing? Being able to be transparent with each other from a health administration as well as a physician perspective; knowing each other’s priorities and goals and looking at how we can help each other out; and having great communication in a respectful environment.” – Dr. Aryn Khan, Vanderhoof
"You don't engage facilities, you engage people, and in order to engage people you need to see the world through the complexity of what they deal with. We’re on a journey together. This is an exercise in relationships – setting a foundation that allows us to grow as an organization, as people, as a team, as partners in care." - Dr. Harsh Hundall, Executive Medical Director for Interior Health Physician Engagement
“People love their colleagues, and genuinely enjoy what they do to help people and patients and to contribute to society, but they often feel helpless about things that feel out of their control in their environment, the hospital and health system. If Facility Engagement can be pared down to one thing, it is giving people the tools and bringing people together to overcome this feeling of helplessness. By doing this work, we are seeing that we can make a difference.” - Dr. Matthew Chow, President, Doctors of BC, outgoing chair, SSC Facility Engagement Working Group
HEARD AROUND THE PROVINCE
"Our interactions with administration now are no longer an ‘us vs them’ mentality. It is a ‘let’s get together and tackle the problem." – Burnaby Hospital
"The realization that we no longer need to have separate conversations is a great lead into the future." – Interior Health West
“Facility Engagement created a culture where we could meet to discuss solutions to the problem and subsequently meet with administration to put those ideas into action.” — Island Health
“I feel so much pride when I see all the leaders who are here today and know we can work together with our physicians to make our organization even stronger. The VPSA group is also amazing; these conversations wouldn’t be happening without them.” - Vivian Eliopoulos, VP, Vancouver-Richmond, Acute
REGIONAL CHANGE EXAMPLE
- How did Interior Health increase a key engagement indicator from 28% to 51% from in just two years? Through relationship-building and lot of hard work; experiences that MSAs and health authorities shared at their recent fall regional event>. They also shared learnings and successes through project posters and recognition awards for FE excellence>.
LOCAL CHANGE EXAMPLES
Widespread engagement in Cranbrook jump starts over-capacity solutions
- Most hospitals in BC experience over-capacity and access and flow challenges to varying degrees but can’t always get solutions off the ground. The engagement team at East Kootenay Regional Hospital has set out the change that. MORE (WITH VIDEOS)>
Providence Health Care: Taking engagement and leadership to the next level
- Through FE, six physician leads are representing the voice of medical staff and working alongside senior health authority executives to carry out the organization’s new, seven-year strategic priorities and clinical and master planning. MORE>
Terrace: Improvements to hospital procedure helps the whole community
- Ophthalmology and surgical teams are streamlining the pathway for cataract lens replacements to reduce the number of visits patients need with a family doctor to prepare for surgery. In doing so, they are freeing up appointment time for other patients. MORE>
Vancouver Island physicians "Where I work, live and care" video
- Physicians from the South Island Medical Staff Association have launched "We Are Island Health" - an inside look at what matters to medical professionals from Victoria to Tofino and Port Hardy, and what makes their work special. VIEW>
Burnaby Hospital physicians connect with community colleagues
- Among its many projects, Burnaby Hospital specialists have organized physician education events for community doctors, who in the past had little knowledge about services and resources at the hospital for their patients, and referral processes to speciality clinics. MORE>
Vancouver partners explore a more diverse, equitable physician leadership
- The Vancouver Physician Staff Association is working with Vancouver Coastal Health to look into the disproportionate number of men to women in medical leadership roles within VCH. Through an Appreciative Inquiry process, they have come up with an action plan. MORE>
Trail: Courage and community join together to improve surgical safety and quality
- A physician-led effort engaged the entire hospital—from specialists to administrators to cleaners—in an extraordinary effort that reduced surgical site infections to well below the national average, and the overall hospital infection rate by 50%. MORE>
Surrey Memorial Hospital to start emergency physician residency program
- Dr. Sally Barrio, an emergency physician, has helped champion new ER physician training at the Surrey Hospital, reportedly the busiest ER in Canada with over 450 patients a day. It has been a dream for a some time at Surrey Memorial. MORE>
See many more examples of change at www.facilityengagement.ca/stories