The Vancouver Physician Staff Association has a new strategic plan. The plan, which has been endorsed by the board, will guide VPSA’s actions over the next three years.

“VPSA’s funding is intended to foster meaningful consultation and collaboration between its members and VCH,” said the association’s president, Dr. Alison Harris. “To that end, we have updated our strategic pillars and created a five-year vision along with the priorities we need to address between now and 2024.”

There are four priorities:

1. Increase member engagement and support, especially with under-represented departments.
2. Improve member physician engagement with Vancouver Coastal Health leadership.
3. Implement robust performance management, monitoring and evaluation systems, and succession planning throughout VPSA.
4. Develop comprehensive internal and external communications procedures.

“Each priority has a number of goals and we have also developed actions and tasks for them,” added Dr. Harris. “For instance, we’re working to achieve greater wellness and less burnout among members, and we will be creating SMART (specific; measurable; achievable; relevant; time-bound) goals, process goals, and measurable outcomes. Our committees will evaluate what’s working—and what’s not working—and develop key performance indicators for wellness and burnout. A quality improvement approach will be top of mind for this and all work.”

To increase awareness of VPSA efforts, staff will work with our health authority to ensure information is added to onboarding welcome packages and report regularly to department and division heads about opportunities offered by VPSA. We will also undertake outreach to under-represented departments and develop specific ways to engage physician members who work in Vancouver Community.

“Our long-term goal is for VPSA to be seen as a leader in its commitment to workplace, environmental, patient, and physician health and to be well known among our members as the core of physician activity within VCH,” said Dr. Harris.