Sitting down to write this update presented an opportunity to reflect on the past year. We’ve had some amazing accomplishments as well as our share of challenges. It will not come as a surprise to hear that large institutions make decisions slowly and carefully—but often with gratifying results.
A while ago, we surveyed our members to learn what your priorities for engagement were. For those who work at VGH, a central place to gather and meet was clearly what was most important. VPSA’s executive and staff took your wishes to heart and have been working towards the goal of a Physician Hub for Wellness and Engagement (or PHEW) for the past 18 months.
Why has it taken so long? First a location (the former Round Room in the cafeteria) had to be identified with input from our members and then lobbied for. We have now almost completed renovating the area to create a great space where members can get together for a coffee or lunch, take a break, and generally meet and network with your physician colleagues. At this time, we’re hoping to open the PHEW doors over the summer, with a more celebratory opening in the fall. We’re grateful to the senior leadership team at VCH for their assistance in making this space available to us and look forward to seeing you using it.
VPSA has been pleased to offer members a wide variety of events since our inception. But we also work behind the scenes with VCH senior leadership to further physician engagement. These monthly meetings are an opportunity where your medical staff association and VPSA can have a significant impact. We’re working to increase the physician voice at VCH and to embed the engagement framework into VCH’s operations. The engagement framework has a spectrum of interactions that includes physicians jointly developing and implementing programs within VCH. We’re also lobbying to ensure major undertakings such as CST work well for physicians and to assist you in making the transition to this new system as seamless as possible.
Our work doesn’t stop there. As president of both VPSA and the Vancouver Medical, Dental and Allied Staff Association, I represent you at various other committees. If you have a burning issue, let me or other members of the executive know. Express your opinions—they are kept confidential—and let us work with you to reduce your sense of burnout, improve your well-being, and most importantly to make VCH a terrific place to work.
Sincerely,
Dr. Simon W. Rabkin, President
VPSA/VMDAS