FE Activities (Current)

The Facility Engagement Initiative is intended to strengthen the relationships and engagement between VJH medical staff and Interior Health Authority leadership.

To support this, the VJH Physician Society was created in 2016. Its Executive and VJHPS Working Group are tasked with finding ways to:

• Improve communication and relationships among the medical staff, so their views are more effectively represented.
• Prioritize issues that significantly affect physicians and patient care.
• Support medical staff contributions to the development and achievement of health authority plans and initiatives that directly affect physicians.
• Have meaningful interactions between the medical staff and health authority leaders, including physicians in formal HA medical leadership roles.  

With these goals in mind, the following activities have been created and VJH medical staff are encouraged to participate where they have an interest or area of expertise.

Please contact the VJHPS Project Manager to discuss your interest in any of the activities listed below.

To view Facility Engagement activities happening across BC, click to access the searchable online SEAT (Site Engagement Activity Tracker) Database.

To review the current FE funding guidelines click here.

Compensation for meeting attendance:
a. With approval from the MSA working group, FE funds can pay for MSA members’ participation at meetings, or a portion thereof, with MSA members and/or health authority partners that are not associated with:

1. quality assurance investigations, activities associated with members’ practice reviews, or standard department/division or facility quality assurance activities (e.g., morbidity and mortality rounds, case reviews);
2. attendance at department/division meetings* or MSA meetings as required by the medical staff rules; and,
3. quality assurance committees associated or reporting to the Medical Advisory Committee at any level.

b. FE funds can pay for MSA members’ attendance at Medical Advisory Committee meetings at the health authority-wide, regional and local levels.

c. Physicians who attend meetings as part of their contract deliverables with the health authority, and health authority operational leaders are not eligible for FE funding.

d. FE funds cannot be used to purchase non-cash gifts for meeting attendees who are receiving sessional payment.

* Matters discussed at department/division meetings include: call schedules, recruitment, resource allocation, equipment and space requests if applicable, issues or complaints about or raised by other departments, and
assigning or dividing up attendance for other meetings and committees. For facilities that do not have department meetings, FE funds cannot be used to cover physicians’ time discussing matters typically discussed at department
meetings.

Allied Health Education		All Departments	To engage and reimburse medical staff (physicians, midwives and nurse practitioners) in teacher roles, and to provide education for allied health professionals and physicians where no funding for such activity currently exists. Sessional time may be reimbursed up to a maximum of 20 hours for preparation of educational material/instruction for COVID or NON-COVID-19 (includes preparation time.) Completion of the Allied Health Education form is required.
Centralized Booking for General Surgery (Hernia and Gallbladder) and Rapid Access General Surgery OR Time (RAG Time)		Surgery	Pilot study to reduce wait times for inguinal and umbilical hernia and gallbladder surgery by booking patients on O.R. slate to first available surgeon AFTER consultation. This is an alternative to “centralized referral” processes. Activity expanded to include gallbladder surgery as of February 2020.  November 2020: Activity expanded to include Rapid Access General Surgery OR Time (RAG Time). Purpose is to prioritize urgent General Surgery patients and patients over wait time targets for Tuesday and Thursday mornings. This additional pilot project to start January 2021 and complete in June 2021.
Daycare vs Inpatient Breast Surgery		Surgery	The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of same day discharge surgery. Breast surgery, particularly mastectomy, has been slow to adopt same day discharge but recent papers have suggested this should be the standard of care (J Am Coll Surg 2021;232:35e44). Project examines factors influencing decision to perform daycare vs inpatient mastectomy and estimates the potential reduction in bed utilization thereby improving daycare surgery rates.
Departmental/Interdepartmental Enrichment Meetings		All Departments	Reimbursement for attending meetings intended to build relationships within and between departments, for the purposes of planning, reviewing, prioritizing, and improving patient and family-centered care and the physicians’ work environment. Click here for eligibility criteria and the DIEM online form .  Meeting Lead must complete the online form prior to participants submitting claims for the meeting.
Inter-Society Facility Engagement Sessional Reimbursement		All Departments	Reimbursing VJH physicians to attend other engagement Societies’ activities to build relationships, enhance learning, and improve patient care.
Internal Medicine Perioperative Optimization Clinic		Internal Medicine	Interdisciplinary development of a clinic that formalizes an ad hoc referral pathway to access Internal Medicine assessment, risk reduction, and optimization for complex surgical patients (parallel clinic accompanying the existing Pre-Anesthetic Assessment Clinic conducted by the Department of Anesthesia at VJH).
M & M Catering Reimbursement		All Departments	Reimbursement for catering during M&M Committee meetings. Max $30/person. Expense receipt must be submitted along with record of attendance. Physicians cannot be reimbursed for attendance as M&M rounds are a requirement to maintain hospital privileges.
Physician Common Area Refurbishment		All Departments	Financial support for improving physician areas within the VJH to improve the physicians’ working environment.
Physician Recruitment		All Departments	Reimbursement for recruitment activities that support engagement with prospective candidates, in the form of site visits, facility tours, community tours and social engagement. A maximum of 8 hours of physician sessional time per candidate visit is reimbursable. Expenses not already paid or reimbursed by IH may be claimed up to a maximum of $1000 per candidate site visit (receipts required).
Physician Wellness Co-sponsored Division of FP Events		All Departments	Physician wellness has been a priority for the VJHPS.  Collaborating with the SNO Division of Family Practice, the VJHPS shares resources and co-sponsors wellness events throughout the year. Click to access our Physician Wellness Resource page.
Reducing Redundant Lab testing		All Departments	To investigate through data collection if there is evidence to suggest whether redundant laboratory testing is a significant problem.
Resuscitation & Simulations (SIMS)		All Departments	VJHPS supports the regular practice of communication, knowledge and skills involved in resuscitation for those who would encounter emergency/resuscitation as part of their scope of practice: improved uptake of Resuscitation Simulations (SIMS) participation for physicians; engagement of physician leads to create and run regular SIMS for colleague physicians and allied health staff; and improved communication between physicians and allied health staff Click here for eligibility criteria and SIMS online form.  Leads must complete the online form prior to participants submitting claims for the meeting.
Strategic Planning – Depts of Family  and Hospitalist Medicine		Family Practice & Hospitalists	To facilitate the development of Strategic Plans for these two key departments at VJH, by engaging as many members as possible in an interactive process. These plans are meant to guide future operational discussions with the administration over the next 3-5 years and provide a focused direction for how the departments will respond to the evolving nature of our community as it grows.
Uncharted / Missed Documents from VJH to Community MDs Review		All Departments	Research to determine the extent of VJH electronic and paper format documents (labs, X-rays, reports) being lost or sent in error to community MDs or in some cases to the wrong MDs, and/or wrong locations.
Uncompensated Committee Work		All Departments	Providing medical staff with an opportunity to engage and be compensated for providing their expertise at facility related meetings is a priority for VJHPS. The Uncompensated Committee Work Activity is to reimburse sessional time for physician attendance at such meetings. Click to read full guidelines.