VMDAS/VPSA board and staff meet regularly with VCH senior leaders to develop a collaborative relationship between medical staff and the health authority. The November meeting included a debrief of the September medical staff orientation event as well as discussion of several related items: the Facility Engagement review process, the agenda development process for the senior leadership team (SLT) meetings, and a review of the SLT meeting group’s terms of reference.

Medical staff orientation event

This past September’s orientation event attracted 50 attendees from Vancouver Acute and Vancouver Community including physicians and nurse practitioners. This was a 40 per cent increase over the 2024 event. VCH Manager, Provider Strategic Initiatives & Experience, Vancouver Acute Laura Mc Evoy was one of the event organizers. She provided feedback from attendees, noting that 93 per cent of survey respondents had high expectations for the event and that these were met. This compares with 100 per cent of the 2024 survey respondents who reported having low expectations that were exceeded. Ninety-seven per cent of 2025 survey respondents said they would recommend the event to new staff. Ms. Mc Evoy also reached out to people who had registered for the orientation but did not end up attending. Forty-five per cent of the respondents noted they were working clinically and a further 27 per cent had a non-clinical scheduling conflict. She contacted a further 370 medical staff to determine their reasons for not attending. Seventy people responded, with 19 per cent citing their need to work clinically.

The group discussed some of the takeaways including the possibility of adding CPD/CME credits for participating. VPSA Project Manager Annapurna Chavali will work with Ms. Mc Evoy on the application for credits and the VPSA board will be asked to consider paying the costs. The idea of holding an evening event with a social component was raised as was the challenge of finding more ways to include Vancouver Community medical staff. Interest in future orientation events is growing; Ms. McEvoy noted that presenters and staff are proactively reaching out. Thought was also given to the suggestion of recording summaries of the presentations so that they can be viewed on demand. These would be helpful to all medical staff regardless of their years of service.

Focus for future meetings

Doctors of BC Engagement Partner Rafal Grzyb raised the need for an upcoming meeting to address the Facility Engagement annual review process. This is an opportunity to discuss progress made on collaboration between VCH and VPSA as well as to brainstorm ideas on what we can do to improve outcomes.

This dovetails with the group’s desire to update the process by which agendas for these meetings are developed as well as to review the meetings’ terms of reference. The goal is to create a strategic vision with collaboration at its centre.

Mr. Grzyb, Ms. Chavali, Ms. Mc Evoy, and VCH Director, Strategy Development, Lori Benning will plan a special meeting to discuss these related issues.

Next meeting

Meeting summaries are now reviewed prior to the group’s next meetings and are posted thereafter. This summary was approved following the January 8, 2026 meeting. The group will next meet on March 12, at which time the January summary will be reviewed and posted.

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