September 2024

The monthly E-News shares provincial program information and updates about the Facility Engagement program. This information will be of interest to Medical Staff Association (MSA) support teams, but please feel free to forward the newsletter to your MSA executives as well. 

NEW: Tips for SEAT Updates – Quality Improvement

The SEAT database continues to grow and now includes over 2,800 Facility Engagement activities you can review for ideas, information and activities to leverage in your site. Along with other Joint Clinical Committee activities, Quality Improvement (QI) activities have also been added to the Specialist Services Committee’s (SSC) Exchange database. 

TIP: When entering your SEAT activities into FEMS, be sure to tag ‘Quality Improvement’ as the activity type for activities related to improving patient care: delivery, quality, safety, access or effectiveness. The QI activity type selection helps highlight your site’s commitment to excellence, helping readers recognize and adopt strategies that enhance their own site processes or services.

Here are a few QI examples in the SEAT database:

•  Rapid access in-patient oncology: Using skills and resources in a multi-professional QI team, the project goal is to try and reduce median wait time for in-patients by 10% from referral to oncology consultation (Abbotsford). 
• Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) for surgical patients: implementing PCEA on the Med-Surg floor. PCEA for post-operative analgesia, particularly Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) patients, is considered the gold standard for care (Terrace).
• Opioid use disorder project: improving care by connecting patients to community resources within a goal of 72 hours, initiating Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) in the Emergency Department (ED), and improving service training for the ED physician and nurses (Williams Lake).
• Pre-term birth pathway: aiming to reduce in-utero and ex-utero transfers to HLOC and thereby reduce disruption to families and cost to families. Pre-term birth pathway stakeholders include Lab, Medical Imaging Services, Specialists, Family Physicians providing obstetric care, Midwives and Nurse Practitioners, (Campbell River).
• Greener Inhaler Project: This project aims to reduce the inhaler-related carbon footprint of the JPOC Lung Health clinic by 25% by January 1, 2024 (Surrey).

A friendly reminder that October 15 is the next SEAT submission deadline for Quarters 1 and 2. Please update your SEAT-designated engagement activities in FEMS with any significant milestones over the last six months by the deadline. Please also review your non-SEAT designated activities in FEMS and move the SEAT toggle to YES if the activity builds engagement and communication with medical staff colleagues and/or your hospital or health authority when editing the Engagement Activity. To check which activities are not SEAT-designated, select the ‘N/A’ option from the SEAT Status Filter in the Activities tab.

If you have any questions, please contact seatsupport@doctorsofbc.ca.

NEW: Rural Voices Gathering: November 20-27

The Rural Voices Gathering, co-hosted by the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc), First Nations Health Authority, and Health Quality BC, takes place November 20-27. The province-wide event brings together and amplifies the voices of rural, remote, First Nations, and Métis communities in British Columbia relative to: 

• The Rural and Remote Health Strategy being developed by the BC Ministry of Health.
• Transportation for health services.
• Education and training for health care providers in rural communities.
• Hybrid health care including peer-to-peer virtual support, in-person, and virtual patient consultations.

Session details and registration are located on the RCCbc website.

If you have any questions, please contact engagement@doctorsofbc.ca.

FYI: Shared Care Call for Proposals: Cancer Care Projects

Cancer care is complex and requires the full health system to support action—primary care providers, specialists, imaging and laboratory professionals, as well as cancer experts all have a role to play.  

The Shared Care Committee, a Joint Clinical Committee representing a partnership between Doctors of BC and the Ministry of Health, is excited to launch a call for proposals whereby interested physicians can submit an expression of interest (EOI) outlining your innovative project idea to improve cancer care in your practice, community or facility.  

As a physician who provides cancer care, you can apply for up to $25,000 in EOI funding to develop a full project proposal to help advance BC’s 10-Year Cancer Action Plan. Applications are due by October 4, 2024, and will be reviewed by a panel of medical and quality improvement experts.  

The priorities outlined in the Call for Proposals were co-developed by physicians and staff from the Shared Care Committee, PHSA, and BC Cancer, with endorsement from the Ministry of Health.   

Visit the Call for Proposals webpage for more information and consider sharing this opportunity with your network. 

If you have any questions, please contact shared_care@doctorsofbc.ca.

Knowledge Sharing Alert - Recognizing National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

• Join the Joint Collaborative Committees (JCCs) webinar with Harley Eagle on Indigenous Cultural Safety: The BC Cultural Safety Standard and Unconscious Bias in Practice – September 18, 2024, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Registration and details.
   
• See a previous knowledge sharing peer-to-peering learning recording with Haida Gwaii, Vancouver Acute/Community, and Ridge Meadows MSAs sharing their activities to build toward culturally safe care.

If you have any questions, please contact engagement@doctorsofbc.ca.

FYI: Lunch and Learns Return 

The monthly MSA Lunch and Learns have now returned, with calendar invitations for the remainder of 2024 now in your inboxes for October 8th and December 10th.  Stay tuned for the November session information, and we look forward to seeing you there.

If you have any questions, please contact engagement@doctorsofbc.ca.

TIP: FEMS Tip of the Month

As a follow up to last month's post on meal receipt changes in FEMS, the interface is now live, with two options available for physician meal claims.

As of September 1st, if a physician is claiming a meal as part of a JCC-based event in FEMS, receipts are longer required. The system has been updated to a per diem option, and physicians will be requested to choose which of the meals they are claiming. The change is effective based on meeting date (i.e. if a meeting was held August 1st, but the claim is entered September 18th, that will still require receipts.) 

When claiming the meal in FEMS, there will be two choices (see screenshots below):

1. Meals - MSA Related.  For example, if a physician has purchased food or catering themselves for an MSA meeting and needs to be reimbursed for the expense. This method still requires receipts to be attached.
2. Meals - Travel Related. For example, if a physician is travelling to another city to attend a meeting held by a JCC, such as the SSC Symposium, JCC Pre-Forum, or FE Summit, and purchases dinner at the airport.  This method would use the per diem option.

If you have any questions, please contact femssupport@doctorsofbc.ca.

TIP: PM Helpdesk Lunch and Learn Library

The FE provincial office, in conjunction with the PM Helpdesk Consultant, Erica Kjekstad, have created a library document of all of the past MSA Lunch and Learn sessions from 2022 and 2023.

The 2024 library document is now live and will continue to be updated each month with current information.  

If you have any questions, please contact engagement@doctorsofbc.ca.