VMDAS/VPSA board and staff meet regularly with VCH senior leaders to develop a collaborative relationship between medical staff and the health authority. The December meeting included follow ups on items from November’s meeting as well as the launch of the Doctors of BC Facility Engagement annual review. Two concerns raised by members were also addressed.

Complex Pain and Addiction Services patient initiative

VA Vice President Michelle de Moor followed up on the request for entertainment options to be made available for CPAS patients. She reported that there is agreement among clinical managers and directors that this would be great to do if there was an easy way to waive the associated fees. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this currently. Access to TV requires a credit card, which means every affected unit would need one. VP de Moor is looking into whether care-management teams have such access.

VCH is looking to change how it provides entertainment options to patients and other tools such as tablets are being considered. VP de Moor is meeting with the contracts leader working on this to lay out some of the requirements that she foresees will be needed. She will continue to advocate for options that allow vulnerable populations to have easier access to hospital entertainment systems.

UBC Hospital Hub for Engagement and Wellness

VP de Moor visited a space at UBCH on the second floor near the offices that is set aside for medical staff. She felt the existing space is quite good and that perhaps it is not well known among physicians.

VPSA Operations Director Andrew Pinfold agreed that this space is good, but, for it to be like the VGH hub, it would be great if a sink could be added. This would also allow for a coffee machine. VCH is open to making improvements; Mr. Pinfold will contact UBCH Operations Director Tracey Taulu to see how to move this initiative forward.

Doctors of BC Facility Engagement annual review

Doctors of BC Engagement Partner Russell Stead kicked off the discussion about the review process, with Mr. Pinfold and VPSA Project Manager Annapurna Chavali also making presentations.

The monthly meetings between VPSA and VA/VC leadership, Mr. Pinfold noted, have evolved over the last year from a show-and-tell format to greater engagement that leverages the skills and connections present at the meetings. VCH leaders now offer advice and provide direction to help VPSA committees overcome roadblocks. These groups are encouraged to present challenges or areas that would benefit from feedback of the senior leaders. Additionally, the meeting agendas are now less structured, and input is sought further in advance from both the VPSA and VCH representatives. VPSA now also actively solicits concerns and feedback from its members and brings these forward as appropriate (see below for two examples).

VPSA’s Small Steps, Big Idea initiative supports physician-led projects. One SSBI project was presented at a recent VPSA Lunch and Learn session and was well received. The Projects Committee hopes to make more such presentations and to invite the health authority sponsors to attend as a way to increase their engagement. SSBI changed its application process (it now begins with a letter of intent), which has increased communication between the project manager and the physician lead. This helps with early troubleshooting and identifying support structures required. Administrative support for projects remains challenging.

VPSA is also changing the way it engages with medical advisory committees. The association’s president sits on both the Vancouver Medical Advisory Committee and the Health Authority Medical Advisory Committee and shares updates on its activities. There is now a more proactive approach to improving engagement by soliciting input from medical leaders to inform and influence VPSA initiatives and decisions. For instance, VPSA is now leveraging VMAC meetings to reach out to department and division leaders about funding it can now offer for recruitment and retention. Engagement with VMAC has led to deployment of R&R funding support to two groups thus far and created a census of current supports across departments and divisions.

Doctors of BC recommends three steps for VPSA and VCH partners to further improve engagement:

1. To facilitate a stronger understanding and better “line of sight” amongst MSA members and VCH leaders regarding VPSA activities and outcomes, continue to identify and implement a wide variety of communication tactics and strategies.
2. To grow engagement within VPSA’s large membership, work intentionally with the distributed networks of committee members and champions. Further, consider pairing with other initiatives such as PQI to grow and optimize the spread of engagement and improvement work.
3. To optimize an incubator role whereby VPSA initiates activities, but then is able to transfer some degree of resource allocation to VCH, work collaboratively with other VCH MSAs on regional initiatives and forge strong partnerships across sites and communities of care.

There was some initial brainstorming around these suggestions, and they will be the focus of further discussion in January.

Member concerns

Two concerns raised by VPSA members were brought to the meeting: unhoused people sleeping in VGH overnight, and smoking outside the main entrance.

VPSA Vice President Dr. Michael Nimmo enquired about VCH guidelines and policy enforcements regarding these matters. VP de Moor responded that people are not allowed to sleep in VGH’s pubic areas and if someone comes upon a person doing this, they should contact Security. She noted that there has been an increase in complaints regarding smoking outside the front entrance and Security has been asked to increase its patrols of this area and to redirect people to the sidewalk. This can be challenging for some of our patients who are often fragile or have mobility issues. VCH is considering increasing smoking cessation support for patients during their stays.

Next meeting

The group next meets on January 16. If you have an item you wish to be brought forward at these meetings, please contact VPSA Operations Director Andrew Pinfold.