Qualitycast North

In this episode, we return to Bulkley Valley District Hospital in Smithers, Northwest BC who, by combining high-level collaboration between local physicians, front line staff and operational leaders with quality improvement methodology, have generated startling improvements in what matters to staff throughout the hospital. Today’s guest Dr. Kalah Blackstock, a local family physician and the Physician Quality Improvement Advisor for Northern Health takes us through their work building a healthier and more satisfied workforce whilst at the same time delivering a QI masterclass in multi-stakeholder collaboration and problem solving. Special shout out from Dr. Blackstock to the incredible team who made this work happen: Irindu Liyanage, Levi Giles, Ashley van der Meulen, Kate Niethammer, Darren Jakubec, Elena Raykov, Jen Comeau, Sophia Oumzil, Darcie Wadley, Cormac Hikisch, Billiejean Beaubien, and Emily Beirnes.Their collective efforts exemplify what can be achieved when people come together with shared purpose, curiosity, and care for both patients and one another.IHI Framework for Improving Joy in Work

As overfilled hospitals everywhere are struggling to cope with a busy winter of respiratory disease and influenza, many in healthcare are calling for a more “upstream” approach to preventing Emergency Department visits and hospital admissions. But intervening upstream is more difficult than it sounds. Today’s guests have done just this. Talking us through their award-winning, quality improvement work in reducing ED visits and hospital admissions for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease are Donna Jouantapp, Lina Alsakran and Dr. Zoe Pullan from Cowichan on Vancouver Island. In this interview, we learn how a well-designed project with a dedicated, inclusive and nimble team can overcome obstacles on the path to sustainable, cost effective and patient-centered care. Links: The INSPIRED COPD Outreach Program and COPD Care and Education Nova Scotia

Listeners will be familiar with the physician-led healthcare quality improvement work featured on this podcast, but they may not be familiar with how this work is formally supported at the Provincial level. In this episode, we interview Cindy Myles, the Vice President of the Specialist Services Committee, who gives us a primer on British Columbia’s unique, Joint Collaborative Committees and the importance of multipartite collaboration when addressing healthcare’s “wicked” problems. We hear how collaboration generates more sustainable change and how, during this challenging time for healthcare delivery, working together to improve the system can bring us hope for healthcare’s future.Links:SSC NewsThe Exchange, a database of quality improvement projects supported by SSC and the Shared Care Committee JCC Website

In our current technological age, the most successful information platforms are those that provide exactly the information the user needs quickly and accurately. This is the underlying premise behind British Columbia’s hugely successful medical information platform Pathways. In today’s episode we interview its two eminent founders Dr. Kathleen Ross and Dr. Tracy Monk, about its early origin story and how it developed into the universal healthcare provider directory and an amazing, multifunctional, timesaving and educational resource in its current form. We hear how their strong guiding principles drove development of Pathways’ form and function, how listening to users led to some of its best features and how quality improvement through innovation is not only rewarding but also fun.Pathways Links:To register go to www.pathwaysbc.ca and select "request access" at lower rightInfo pagehttps://pathwaysbc.ca/infoBackgrounder https://pathwaysbc.ca/ci/8684

In this gem of an interview, we chat with Christina Krause, the CEO of Health Quality BC about a whole range of topics around patient safety from the role of Provincial quality and safety organizations and the new BC Patient Safety Strategy to what’s changed in our understanding of safer patient care. Through personal stories and experiences, Christina shares valuable insights into safer care through listening to patients’ and families, the importance of psychological safety, and why everyone should just take just a little more time to understand one another’s viewpoints. Listen and let Christina’s infectious enthusiasm bring you to a new understanding of safer patient care.Links: HQBC Patient Safety StrategyHQBC “What matters to you?”

In this episode we feature another award-winning, quality improvement project this time based in Victoria, Vancouver Island. Our guests are Alanna Summers, Program Manager and a registered psychiatric nurse, Jennifer Sandburg, Team Lead occupational therapist, and Jane Dolan, MHSU Clinical recreational therapist, from the South Island Mental Health and Substance Use team. Starting with the gap in care they first identified, they take us through how they developed their cost effective and successful Bridging Care program for patients in mental health crisis. This program not only provides effective, patient-centered care but has also reduced hospital admissions and inpatient length of stay. We hear how local healthcare leadership had the foresight to support the original vision, powerful testimonials from some of the program’s patients, and how developing the program itself brought positive benefits to the provider team. Links:Counselling, Treatment & Recovery | Island HealthNewsAdults experiencing mental health challenges benefit from Island Health’s Bridging Care Program | Island Health

In this episode, we head upstream in our health system with this podcast’s first ever guests from the public health sector. Northern Health’s Medical Health Officer Dr. Diana Bark and Director of Public Health Lara Frederick take us through their QI work identifying, analyzing, and addressing a gap in dental health screening and dental caries prevention in pre-kindergarten age children in Northeast BC. We learn how QI methodology can be applied to complex problems in public health and how, through enhanced community engagement, their team provided valuable, preventative, dental care and improved health equity at the same time.Links:https://www.northernhealth.ca/services/programs/dental-health-program-for-children#baby-0-to-12-months-old

Visiting specialist clinics are a lifeline for patients with chronic disease in rural and remote communities across the North. They save patients travel time and costs and also provide care in context of their own local communities and available supports. But patient non-attendance at these clinics can negatively impact the quality of their longitudinal care leading to increased morbidity. In this episode, Dr. Angela How takes us through her quality improvement work based at her rural visiting specialist rheumatology clinic in Hazelton improving patient attendance through a culturally safe approach incorporating motivational interviewing techniques. At the same time, we hear how her 28 year commitment to her Hazelton clinic has been both personally rewarding and helped to build local trust by providing equitable patient care.

Our topic in this episode is the power and potential of good data for improving patient care. In a broad ranging interview with our guests Dr. Cole Stanley and Gayle Grout from Health Data Coalition (HDC), we hear about the origins and goals of HDC and how the aggregation of primary care electronic medical record data can provide Primary Care providers reassurance and drive improvements in care. We talk about the importance of feedback loops, the benefits and dangers of comparison and how such data can support a whole system quality approach. HDC is a great example of a how a non-profit, collaborative, physician-led and governed data coalition can drive better patient care whilst maintaining privacy.Health Data Coalition – Better Information. Better Care. Better Patient Outcomes.HDC Bright Spots: Bright Spots – Health Data CoalitionHDC MD's Corner: MD’s Corner – Health Data CoalitionLinkedIn: Health Data Coalition of BC | LinkedIn

As season 4 comes to and end and we enter our 5th year of the podcast with season 5, Shyr and Lee reflect on their favourite highlights from last season. With twice as many episodes as previous seasons, there was a lot to choose from and of course all our guests left an indelible impression. What can we look forward to in the season ahead? More great Quality Improvement projects, high profile guests and maybe even one or two surprises. Don’t want to miss an episode? Subscribe to our channel on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

From a healthcare quality perspective, you can’t get much better than the Mayo Clinic. Its global reputation for high quality patient care is unsurpassed. But what exactly makes the Mayo Clinic so good and what can other institutions learn from how the Mayo Clinic does business? To find out, the Doctors of BC recently arranged for a group of British Columbian physicians to visit the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, to hear, see and experience how they deliver care. To talk about their learnings and key takeaways from that trip are today’s guests, Dr. Kalah Blackstock a family physician in Smithers and Physician Co-chair and Advisor to Northern Health’s Physician Quality Improvement program, and Dr. John Hwang, a general surgeon at the Royal Columbian Hospital in Vancouver and the current Board Chair of The Doctors of BC. In our wide-ranging discussion, we talk about the importance of organizational vision, physician leadership, data and above all culture. Listen in and discover the Mayo’s special sauce.

Residents in British Columbia are no strangers to wildfires which have increased in number and ferocity over recent years. But when an out-of-control wildfire threatens a town, its residents and its healthcare facilities, it rapidly turns into a nightmare come true. The sudden need for healthcare facility evacuation is a recipe for potential chaos and confusion and poses increased risks for patients and care home residents. To talk about their amazing and award-winning Quality Improvement work in reducing the risks of emergency healthcare facility evacuation are today’s guests from Health Emergency Management BC (HEM BC) Gloria Hertz and John Coyne.Other abbreviations mentioned in this episode are IIHAR (Inter and Intra Health Authority Relocation), HSDA (Health Services Delivery Area), ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), BCEHS (British Columbia Emergency Health Services – formally BC Ambulance Services) and PHSA (Provincial Health Services Authority).Links:Health Emergency Management BC (including links to the IIHAR toolkit)

This week we’re returning to Northern Health’s C-Suite and interview Nicole Cross, Northern Health’s Vice President of Indigenous Health and Chief Planning and Quality Officer. In this treat of an episode, we cover a wide range of topics including her career journey from entry-level Indigenous Patient Liaison to the Northern Health’s Executive C-suite. Nicole explains her vision for engaging patients and communities in their own care and care system; how openness and transparency is the key to how the system learns and why quality should be embedded and not optional in our healthcare system, before finishing with a heart-warming account of how her early life experience in her home Nisga'a Village of Laxgalts'ap drives her motivation and work with the Executive team.

When those in short term police custody need acute medical care, getting them that care presents logistic problems often resulting in time consuming and labor-intensive visits to the local hospital emergency department with police escorts. This week’s guest is Dr. Michelle Brousson, a family physician in North Vancouver, who talks to us about her innovative solution for this complex problem providing the care these patients need without having to leave the police station, providing a win-win solution for everyone involved. During this episode Dr. Brousson provides us with a project masterclass on engaging and listening to stakeholders and delivering education in a meaningful way. This project was supported through the Shared Care Committee, a sister collaborative committee to the Specialist Services Committee. To contact someone about spreading this project to your community, access the link below.Links:Shared Care ResourcesSpecialist Services Committee - Spreading Quality Improvement

Taking on your first leadership role as a physician can be a daunting prospect. New physician leaders can feel ill-prepared and ill-equipped when thrust into these positions. But it turns out training and experience in Quality Improvement can help prepare new physician leaders as many of QI skills translate directly into leadership. Our guest today is Dr. Gurpreet Narang, a radiologist based at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia in Prince George who busts some of the myths surrounding physician leadership and tells us how to avoid that “deer in the headlights” moment commonly encountered by newbie physician leaders in the healthcare arena.

Returning to the podcast is everyone’s favourite physician QI coach and social media maven Dr. Lawrence Yang. He’s a family doc, physician wellness advocate and QI coach but is probably most well well-known for his social media presence and legions of posted selfies with fellow Quality Improvers. In this interview we go deep as Lawrence explains the importance of connection and mutual support within the QI community as well as his own personal motivation behind his networking superpower. We also talk about self-compassion, the dangers of working in silos, generational attitudes to work and identifying as ‘whole people’.Links: Kristin Neff and self-compassionSpecialist Services Committee Physician Quality Improvement Alum HubHealth Data Coalition

It’s a problem which we read and hear about in the media on an all too regular basis. But violence and mental health is not only a problem on our city streets, it’s also an issue in our hospitals. This week’s guest is Northern psychiatrist Dr. Barb Kane. In this episode we talk about why violence and mental health is such a big problem, how it came about and her proposed Northern solution.Links: Read about and sign the petition at change.org