Physicians can apply for up to $20,000 in project funding as part of VPSA’s Engagement Accelerator initiative. Projects must provide opportunities to build relationships and effective communication across the physician community. Ideas for projects must address at least one of VPSA’s priorities by promoting physician engagement and/or improvement of patients’ and providers’ experience of care. The deadline for applications is November 25, 2019.
“We are pleased to be funding four physician-led projects from last year’s call for submissions and are looking forward to seeing the ideas put forward this time,” said VPSA President Dr. Simon Rabkin. “In addition to the funding, these projects offer physicians opportunities to build relationships and improve collaboration and communication across the health care community.”
Examples of projects funded following the 2018 call for submissions
Business Transformation Project for General Surgery
General surgery has traditionally been organized by surgical sub-specialty—a categorization that has not kept pace with modern movements of surgery toward complex, multidisciplinary interventions. With its Engagement Accelerator funding, physician leads Dr. Morad Hameed and Dr. Andrea MacNeill are working with a team to re-imagine the structure of general surgery into integrated practice units to correspond more closely with the problems and experiences of our patients and to empower surgeon-led, multidisciplinary, and holistic approaches to patient care.
UIHHC Inter-Professional Team Development – Nurturing Collaboration Between Indigenous Elders & Primary Care Providers
This project aims to bring the Urban Indigenous Health and Healing Cooperative (UIHHC) primary care physicians, associated specialist physicians, Indigenous Elders and allied staff together for a series of team-building workshops. The primary objective is to co-create and enact a shared organizational model of care adapted to the care of Indigenous peoples. Additional objectives are to develop the knowledge, skills and relationships necessary to create a highly collaborative and effective primary care team linked to specialist support.
Interactive Webinars for Women in Medicine
This project will design and deliver six online workshop webinars where women from diverse areas of medicine will meet virtually to discuss relevant topics. The goal is to provide support and education for women physicians that enhance skills essential for success in an academic environment and that foster leadership. By building women’s skills and self-confidence, this initiative will enhance physician engagement by addressing some of the causes of disengagement as well as by promoting wellness and career satisfaction, and by encouraging women to take on leadership positions.
Emergency Department Consultation Guideline Initiative
This project aims to work with an established group of committed stakeholders from consultant groups to optimize the consultation interface in VGH’s Emergency Department. The group is identifying systems and program gaps, inefficiencies, and redundancies, and developing quality improvement strategies/processes for consultation on ED patients. The initiative will improve patient care and workplace health by fostering collaboration and effective communication between the ED and consultant services.
Small Steps, Big Idea
VPSA also provides between $1,000 and $5,000 in funding to develop concepts that match its criteria. Small Steps, Big Idea funding covers physician time and other meeting costs to engage and collaborate with physician colleagues, nursing and allied health staff. Proposals are reviewed as they are received, and funding is awarded on an ongoing basis. Decisions are made approximately six weeks following submission. More information is available on VPSA’s website.