President’s Message
JAMES CHEN, MSACW PRESIDENT
One of the purposes of the Medical Staff Association is to give a voice to the clinicians at C&W Hospital, one that would be heard by the hospital and PHSA leadership. Back in 2021, when I stepped into Linda Casey’s shoes as MSACW President, I wanted to meet with each department and get a sense of what issues were most important to everyone. I managed to meet with a few departments back when COVID temporarily left some of us with fewer clinical demands and more administrative time. However, since then, we’ve been going full bore in BCCH’s operating rooms, and like everyone else, we’re short-staffed. It’s been difficult for me to set aside protected time out of the OR to attend department meetings during work hours.
As an MSA and a campus, we lack a venue or forum where shared concerns can be raised and discussed on a regular basis between colleagues. And since a large part of our job as the MSA Executive is to represent your concerns to hospital leadership, it’s important that we have mechanisms for frontline clinicians to reach out to us, the MSACW Executive Board members, and express concerns they may have. We may not be able to offer satisfactory responses (see CST), but at least we can communicate the concerns to the appropriate people in our organization. For instance, see the article on Food Services in this issue.
Of course, for many issues, you can seek help through your department and division heads, who report to the hospital administration via the CMO, Dr. Jana Davidson. These might be concerns of an academic or clinical nature, and the department/division heads will often have access to resources that the MSA Executive lacks via the dyad partnerships with management. But for concerns outside of the traditional purview of academia, MSA can help.
In addition, the various MSA committees (Leadership, Wellness, Projects, and Global Health) provide opportunities for you to bring up issues for attention; we’d love to get them more regularly scheduled and for more people to attend and get involved.
In the meantime, please know that you can email me or any of the MSA Executive members anytime, and we’ll do our best to get back to you with a response. Sometimes, it takes a while or a second email as I do get overwhelmed easily; I apologize in advance for that. But please do continue to raise issues, as occasionally we can offer insight or a solution!
If you have questions, I’m always happy to chat. Email me at jchen2@cw.bc.ca anytime.
New MSACW Executive Board Member
SERENA KASSAM, MSACW SECRETARY
Originally from Vancouver, BC, I completed my B.A/D.M.D at Tufts University in Boston, MA and a Pediatric Dental Residency through Lutheran Medical Center at St Joseph’s Hospital in Providence, RI. I next began a research fellowship at New York University Langone Medical Center, Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, in Craniofacial Pediatric Dentistry and Nasoalveolar Molding (NAM).
I’ve worked as a clinical attending with St Joseph’s Hospital (through Lutheran Medical Center) in Rhode Island and as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. I’ve served as the Team pediatric dentist with the Rhode Island Cleft Team and the Tufts Cleft and Craniofacial Team in Boston, MA, and established NasoAlveolar Molding (NAM) clinics at both sites. I’ve also worked in private practice in Massachusetts and New York.
I then joined the New York University College of Dentistry as Director of Pre-Doctoral Pediatric Dentistry and assistant clinical professor, where I am still an adjunct associate clinical professor.
I have a leadership role there as a Board Member and as the Dental and Pre-Surgical Director, and I have been an active volunteer since 2010. As co-founder of the Global Fellowship in Craniofacial Pediatric Dentistry, in partnership with the GSF, I established a clinic in Ecuador with yearly follow-up and offered advanced training to dental providers from around the world. In addition, there is now a comprehensive cleft center that runs year-round.
In 2017, I became a founding member of the World Cleft Coalition, an alliance of NGOs that include the American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association, European Cleft Organization, Global Smile Foundation, Operation Smile, Smile Train, and Transforming Faces, all of whom works in the area of cleft lip and palate. The World Cleft Coalition works to encourage international collaboration on best practices for safe and comprehensive cleft care globally.
I was recently appointed to the Education Committee for the America Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association (ACPA), and in 2021, I was honoured to be awarded the YWCA Woman of Distinction for Health and Wellness.
In my new role with MSACW, I hope to continue building and expanding the inclusive community at BCCH and enhancing its camaraderie.
REMINDER
MSA Membership Means Paying Your Dues
Dues for 2024 are now due!
Upcoming Events
MSACW Monthly Engagement Lunch
Thursday, February 22
Invited Guests: Dr. Quynh Doan, Senior Executive Director BCCHRI and Vicki Chiu, Executive Director BCCHRI
On behalf of Dr. Quynh Doan, Senior Executive Director, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute:
As many of you will know, the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute’s current strategic plan lapsed in 2021. We launched the new strategic planning process in the fall of last year, and in the past several months, we have done much consultation with key partners, funders, and governing entities. As we continue towards the creation of an exciting 5-year strategic plan, I invite you to join Vicki Chiu, Executive Director BCCHR, and I at the upcoming Medical Staff Association lunch on February 22. We hope to connect with you to discuss the draft strategic priorities and receive your feedback.
Once the strategic plan has been finalized, sometime in April/May, the next step will be to create an implementation plan to execute the strategies that we have set. We will engage with you again at that time and hope that you will join our various working groups to formulate plans to operationalize our strategy over the next several years.
I value and appreciate your feedback and insights, and I know that together, we will set a course for the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute that will take us to new heights in pursuit of healthier children and families.
MSACW New Year Awards & Social Event
Thursday, February 29
Investigative Report
What’s Going on with Food Services on Campus?
JAMES CHEN, MSACW PRESIDENT
Hello, it’s me again. Yes, your MSA President also doubles as an investigative reporter! This past week, I received some feedback from MSA members about a perceived decrease in the quality of food on campus, specifically about the former locations for Second Cup and Tim Horton’s. I promised to look into it and met with Ruth Appanah, the relatively new Executive Director of Intercampus Operations, whose portfolio covers food services. As an aside, this is one of the benefits of being involved in the MSA—you get to know who does what on campus and can reach out to have questions answered quickly.
Ruth scheduled our meeting for the very next day after I emailed her, and she was very forthright and transparent, acknowledging that the repatriation of food services to PHSA last fall has not been seamless by a long shot. However, there is a desire and plan to improve the quality of food offerings on campus, which was was part of the rationale for repatriating services in the first place, along with ensuring our food service workers were paid a fair wage. The vision is to bring in a greater variety of food options and more vendors from the community instead of relying on a single supplier—the current state at entrance 93 is simply a stopgap measure. There are also plans afoot to do a visual refresh of the main cafeteria space within the next few months. An announcement should come through the usual hospital channels soon; check your inbox if you’re intrigued.
As to the timeframe of the food service changes, the planning isn’t firm enough to give out an estimate yet. One of their current priorities is to hire into a large number of vacancies while ensuring that inpatient food services are uninterrupted. But Ruth hopes to present some of the planning at the next hospital Open Forum, so attend if you’re interested!
We’ll have an update as more details become available. If you’d like to chat about the history or future of food services on campus, shoot me an email!
Committee Updates
MSACW members can participate in a number of exciting committees that cover a variety of topics. Learn more about our committees or email engagement@msacw.ca to join.
Leadership Committee
Advancing Female Physicians as Leaders Evening
KATEY ARMSTRONG
On the evening of February 6, 2024, enthusiastic women from all areas across the Children’s and Women’s campus got together at Seasons in the Park restaurant in Queen Elizabeth Park. This was the fourth gathering of this group supported by the Medical Allied Staff Engagement Society (MASES) facilitation.
The focus of the evening was to get together to chat about the work that has been done to date, what direction the membership felt this group should take, how to recruit more female physicians across the campus and what kind of events we should plan moving forward.
The evening was facilitated by Tara Van Zuiden, who generously gave her time to bring the following themes and questions to the group:
What support do you believe is needed to help this group be successful?
The group would like to see sponsorship and mentorship, as well as financial and administrative support.
How would you define success for this group moving forward?
Comments from the group included attendance, collaboration, and appreciation, as well as supporting more women in leadership roles across the campus.
What do you appreciate most about the work of this group so far?
Overwhelmingly, the response was a connection with other females across the campus.
What ensued was a great evening of conversation and discussion among all those in attendance. At the end of the evening, the sense of camaraderie and enthusiasm for this work across the campus was palpable.
One final question needs to be answered—we need a much snappier name/acronym for the group! All suggestions are welcomed to kathryn.armstrong@cw.bc.ca by February 29th, 2024. There will be a prize for the most popular choice!
Wellness Committee
MSACW New Year Awards & Social Event
LI WANG
Happy New Year, everyone! We’re thrilled to announce an upcoming MSACW New Year Awards & Social Event scheduled from 6-10 pm on February 29, 2024 at the Marine Drive Golf Club.
We cordially invite you and your immediate family members to join us for an evening of relaxation, delicious food, entertainment, and socializing as we kick off the year of the dragon! We’ll have a magician, photo booth, and caricaturist present to help entertain kids of all ages.
During the event at 7:30 pm, we’ll also be recognizing outstanding achievements with six awards:
1. Patient champion
2. Quality, Safety, Values Initiative (QSVI) champion
3. New faculty of the year
4. Educator of the year
5. Leadership Recognition Award
6. Indigenous health and outreach advocate
Please join us as we celebrate your hard work over the past year and congratulate the deserving awardees!
The event will be a casual “drop in and socialize” evening, with light snacks provided and a cash bar available.
Though our RSVP date has come and gone, if you have a last minute change in plans and are available to attend, please do consider stopping by to socialize and engage. RSVP anyways, so if there’s a flood of last minute attendees, we can prepare.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Something to ponder for the next MSA meeting: should the MSA stock the Resident Lounge with food supplies?
The Resident Lounge, adjacent to the MSA Lounge, is open to all UBC medical students and residents. It is currently provided with coffee by UBC funding, but it’s been suggested we could contribute some food supplies as well. Obviously, there will be a cost, but it might lead to more food being available in the MSA Lounge if residents have their own supply… thoughts?
Guest Columnist
Information of potential interest to the membership
New Incident and Injury Self-Reporting Tool for Contact Medical Staff
PHSA
The Medical Staff Incident Self-Reporting Tool was recently launched for contract medical staff (i.e. non-salaried) to report various incidents experienced at any PHSA workplace. Incidents include things such as communicable disease exposures, injuries, physical and psychological harm, and near misses.
PHSA supports all medical staff (contract or salaried) to report workplace incidents.
- Contract medical staff can access the new tool, support resources and a FAQ at incident.healthcarebc.ca. The PHSA Health and Safety Team will follow up with you.
- Salaried medical staff should continue to report incidents to their manager and the Provincial Workplace Health Contact Centre (PWHCC) at 1-866-922-9464 (whcallcentre.ca).
Regardless of the method, a report triggers prompt follow-up to offer support resources and to determine contributing factors and assess opportunities for improvement with the intention to reduce incidents of that type over time.
The Medical Staff Incident Self-Reporting Tool is the first of its kind for contract medical staff in BC. It was developed by PHSA Provincial Occupational Health and Safety Solutions in partnership with Fraser Health and Doctors of BC.
For more information, visit phsa.ca/medical-staff/your-development/safety-wellness/report-an-incident-or-injury or email medstaff.safety@phsa.ca.
Guest Columnist
Drug Diversion Resources for Medical Staff
PHSA
In almost all cases, people involved in drug diversion struggle with substance use issues. According to Statistics Canada, 18 to 21 percent of the population will meet the criteria for a substance use disorder at least once during their lifetime.
Healthcare workers are at a higher risk for using and diverting drugs because of their stressful work environment, injuries and/or pain and the availability of controlled substances at their workplace.
To mitigate this risk, we have implemented a Drug Diversion of Controlled Substances Policy (on PHSA POD) that outlines the rules and principles that guide our approach to drug diversion of controlled substances. In addition, a Drug Diversion of Controlled Substances Protocol (on PHSA POD) outlines the process that we follow when signs of drug diversion are observed.
All medical staff must report all signs of drug diversion to their supervisor or to the PHSA Safe Reporting Line at 604-829-2650 or 1-855-529-7233 (SAFE) or safereporting@phsa.ca. Reporting signs of drug diversion keeps patients safe and supports medical staff to get the help they need when they need it.
Additional Resources
- Doctors of BC Physician Health and Safety Program
- Health & Wellness POD page
- PHSA Medical Staff-specific mental health resources, including the BC Physician Health Program, Dentists Wellness Program and the Midwives Association of BC Wellness Program.
- Contact the Psychological Health & Safety team directly at psychhealthsafety@phsa.ca.
JOKE OF THE DAY
Dad: Knock Knock
Child: Who’s there?
Dad: Hike
Child: Hike who?
Dad: Unsuspecting child
Dad waiting with bated breath
Sets the perfect trap