VPSA board and staff meet monthly with VCH senior leaders. The focus of the April meeting was our common interests of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as the implementation of CST.
DEI update
Regional Medical Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Dr. Joy Masuhara and Director, DEI, Susanna Tam provided an overview of the program and its latest goals. The VCH board has endorsed the strategies the committee needs to develop and implement to move VCH from being a reactive to a proactive organization in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The focus of the VCH DEI Committee continues to be on awareness building and information gathering. It has qualitative data from various surveys and focus groups and the upcoming self-identification and workplace experience survey will provide important information. That survey is the committee’s main initiative this year. It will launch in May.
Current VCH data on gender, age, ethnicity, Indigenous identity, and languages is inconsistent and incomplete. The new survey will set a baseline understanding of the workforce diversity and the workplace experience. It will enable VCH to establish goals and strategies to better represent the communities we serve and to promote an inclusive workplace.
“This is potentially ground-breaking work that can result in important changes,” commented VPSA President Dr. Alison Harris. “We know the survey will be completely anonymous and as short as possible. All the questions will inform action. I encourage members to participate so that areas of need can advocate for more resources.”
CST update
Vancouver Acute Senior Medical Director Dr. Vinay Dhingra and VGH CST Implementation Project Manager Laura Mc Evoy were next on the agenda. Joining them was Dr. Fahreen Dossa, representing the VPSA-CST Implementation Task Group.
The current information system is on its last legs, and it is imperative that VCH acts before it negatively impacts patient care. After delays caused by the pandemic, VCH expects to implement CST in November at VGH.
The implementation team is in its design and validation phase and has identified 54 champions in 60 specialties. June will be a challenging month as the group works to schedule—and reschedule when necessary—training for up to 1,900 physicians. Training is expected to begin in August.
Users are being encouraged to personalize the system to make it as efficient as possible and to understand ways it will make life easier. Demos are currently being rolled out to various specialties led by peers who are already using the system at Lions Gate and St. Paul’s hospitals.
VPSA members are encouraged to attend the demos that VPSA is presenting. Also, take advantage of the anonymous feedback form where you can register any concerns you have that we can take to senior leadership.
Next Meeting
The next meeting of the VPSA-SLT will take place on May 12. One of the expected items to be discussed is the collaborative efforts of VCH and the VPSA to help improve physician well-being.