VPSA board and staff meet monthly with VCH senior leaders. With just over three weeks before CST deployment, the October 13th meeting focused on Cerner implementation as well as updates on the VCH Medical Staff Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and the Engaging Physicians in Indigenous Cultural (EPIC) Safety Task Group.
CST update
CST launches at VGH on Saturday, November 5. Dr. Vinay Dhingra reported that diversion and scaling down activities are now complete, and a memo will be sent next week regarding external communication with the goal of reducing problems with other care centres. We are in the heart of training; the most challenging aspect has been in-person sessions. As of October 7, 497 physicians have received in-person training and only 13 more residents require this level. Agreements are in place for additional staff during deployment.
Teams are ready for the ambulatory cutover, and this has begun or is about to begin in most affected areas. There has been a large outpouring of support from residents. There are three stages to in-patient cutover including chart clean up, translating orders onto a template, and converting these to Cerner.
There will be over 500 additional people on site for go-live support. Those wearing red shirts are from sites where CST has already been deployed; they can offer clinical support. Blue shirts indicate Cerner personnel; they can also give clinical support. People with green shirts can provide technical support.
Dr. Dhingra encourages providers to do the personalization training/set up before deployment. He reminds everyone to be patient, considerate, and compassionate with one another as everyone will be struggling.
Dr. Raheem Kherani represented the CST Task Group at the meeting. He updated attendees on the group’s current and future activities including leveraging the monthly physician lunches at VGH, coordinating site visits to locations already using Cerner, and providing catering during required training sessions. Of particular interest are the weekly 30-second pulse surveys to measure physician confidence about CST. Survey respondents have raised concerns about training that Dr. Kherani and others are working with the VCH CST team to address.
VCH Medical Staff DEI Committee update
Regional Medical Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dr. Joy Masuhara and Susanna Tam, VCH’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion gave an overview of upcoming committee activities.
The group will be doing strategic planning with a pre-planning session scheduled for early December and a half-day facilitated planning session planned for early 2023 with the committee’s steering group members and other stakeholders.
The committee will be launching new groups early in the new year. The Women Medical Staff Discussion Group, which has been meeting for about two years, is ongoing. A Men’s DEI Discussion Group will be created to address allyship and other issues. An IBPOC Women Medical Staff Discussion Group is planned as is a Medical Staff DEI Learning Club, and a 2SLGBTQ+ Affinity Group in collaboration with Prism and the VCH DEI team. Physician leads have been identified for all these groups and they will receive inclusive facilitation training beginning in December.
The committee is planning several activities regarding disability. A survey and focus group are planned to obtain more qualitative information that will inform the development of a position statement and policy. The group is also looking at developing a lactation policy and will research and advocate for infrastructure options.
DEI best practices for medical leaders are being developed including a user guide for standard operating procedures. The second phase of a DEI mentorship program will run next year. Other events planned for early 2023 include one on Black History Month in February and International Women’s Day in March.
The 2020 Medical Staff Diversity Survey Report is complete and ready to share. Preliminary results from the 2022 Self ID and Workplace Experience Survey have been received; the committee hopes to present the report to the VCH Board soon, after which it will be available. The 2SLGBTQ+ Survey and Focus Groups Report is now being finalized.
EPIC Task Group update
Dr. Kendall Ho presented the update on behalf of the task group. He reminded attendees of the group’s purpose: to prioritize and advance Indigenous cultural safety in health-care settings, guided by meaningful partnerships. There are three goals for the coming year: continue the iCON-VCH Indigenous Health Rounds and increase physician participation; create further educational resources; and take part in VCH Indigenous Health patient experience think tanks.
The task group has two new physician members: Dr. Shannon Turvey and Dr. Anis Lakha.
The next iCON-VCH Indigenous Health Round (IHR) is October 28 and will focus on Indigenous patient experience in health care. Registration opened recently and has already had good response. VPSA members interested in attending can sign up here. These rounds now qualify for UBC Continuing Professional Development credits.
The task group has co-developed educational resources from past IHR sessions as well as an accessible repository of past IHR recordings. It has also supported the development of an emergency department-specific Indigenous cultural safety educational online course.
The first VCH Indigenous Health Patient Experience Think Tank took place October 12 and explored humanizing care as a step towards reconciliation and bringing minds together to transform health systems at the point of care.
Dr. Ho and his task group colleagues Lori Quinn and Anne-Marie Jamin gave a presentation on their group at a recent Doctors of BC Peer-to-Peer Learning session on cultural safety and humility. Dr. Ho commented that they heard about other exciting activities going on around the province.