Scholarship Recipients 2016
Attending international conferences:
Melissa Wan - Attending the 27th Annual IHI National Forum, Florida
Elisabeth Pharo - Attending the 17th Annual Summit on Improving Patient Care in the Practice & the Community, Florida
Melissa Wan - Attending the 27th Annual IHI National Forum, Florida
Elisabeth Pharo - Attending the 17th Annual Summit on Improving Patient Care in the Practice & the Community, Florida
Attending the Vancouver Quality Forum:
Grace Chan
Kan Cheung
Sandra Kim
Meagan McKeen
Lisa Yin
Javiera Pumarino
Alis Xu
Grace Chan
Kan Cheung
Sandra Kim
Meagan McKeen
Lisa Yin
Javiera Pumarino
Alis Xu
Blog posts from 2016 scholarship recipients
Elisabeth Pharo
A major theme of this year’s IHI 17th Annual Summit was Finding Joy in Work. As a medical student, this came as rather a surprise… and was a tad daunting. Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, I was listening to the first Keynote speakers give the staggering statistics on how many people in the profession I am about to enter have dull eyes, flat tails, and no longer find joy in their work. This isn’t the first time, however, that the issue of provider burnout has been brought up: it’s in the media, it’s in our courses, and it’s in our lived reality. This issue is rampant and it’s salient. Still, why would the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, an institute focused on Quality Improvement, dedicate an entire conference to it?
Because healthcare providers that work in a system that prevents them from providing quality care are getting burnt out, and burnt out healthcare providers aren’t providing quality care. We need to break this cycle. No one gets in to medical school with the hopes of providing mediocre care. Each of us aspires to be the best we can be, and in an environment where we can’t achieve this standard, we start to lose sight of why we are here in the first place.
Through each session I attended, I heard of many strategies to prevent burnout. I learned how team-based care using “warm hand-offs” can decrease workload for each team member as well as improve patient outcomes and satisfaction; engaging students in QI early on can help empower future providers to create change; prioritizing provider wellness, talking about burnout, and recognizing the symptoms of burnout within the workplace can create a culture in which providers feel safe to seek help before it’s too late; and partnering with patients on advisory committees and in project focus groups allows a new perspective that provides insight to existing gaps or barriers that, when addressed, lead to better patient outcomes and higher quality care. Each of these workshops was led by people who were able to attest to the success of each strategy through personal experience. These things work.
I have experienced this first hand: I have spent the past year working on a Quality Improvement project within Island health to bring The Patient’s View, a patient-centred adverse event reporting tool, to Victoria General Hospital. The process from the initial idea to implementation took a large team, many meetings, and copious emails, and yet has been the most engaging and empowering experience I have had thus far. Throughout this process, I have felt what it is like to take an idea and see it through to actual change, and it feels amazing. I hope to encourage other healthcare students to seek opportunities to become involved in creating change early on, and stay involved throughout their careers. Maybe together we can drive down those statistics on provider burnout.
A major theme of this year’s IHI 17th Annual Summit was Finding Joy in Work. As a medical student, this came as rather a surprise… and was a tad daunting. Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, I was listening to the first Keynote speakers give the staggering statistics on how many people in the profession I am about to enter have dull eyes, flat tails, and no longer find joy in their work. This isn’t the first time, however, that the issue of provider burnout has been brought up: it’s in the media, it’s in our courses, and it’s in our lived reality. This issue is rampant and it’s salient. Still, why would the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, an institute focused on Quality Improvement, dedicate an entire conference to it?
Because healthcare providers that work in a system that prevents them from providing quality care are getting burnt out, and burnt out healthcare providers aren’t providing quality care. We need to break this cycle. No one gets in to medical school with the hopes of providing mediocre care. Each of us aspires to be the best we can be, and in an environment where we can’t achieve this standard, we start to lose sight of why we are here in the first place.
Through each session I attended, I heard of many strategies to prevent burnout. I learned how team-based care using “warm hand-offs” can decrease workload for each team member as well as improve patient outcomes and satisfaction; engaging students in QI early on can help empower future providers to create change; prioritizing provider wellness, talking about burnout, and recognizing the symptoms of burnout within the workplace can create a culture in which providers feel safe to seek help before it’s too late; and partnering with patients on advisory committees and in project focus groups allows a new perspective that provides insight to existing gaps or barriers that, when addressed, lead to better patient outcomes and higher quality care. Each of these workshops was led by people who were able to attest to the success of each strategy through personal experience. These things work.
I have experienced this first hand: I have spent the past year working on a Quality Improvement project within Island health to bring The Patient’s View, a patient-centred adverse event reporting tool, to Victoria General Hospital. The process from the initial idea to implementation took a large team, many meetings, and copious emails, and yet has been the most engaging and empowering experience I have had thus far. Throughout this process, I have felt what it is like to take an idea and see it through to actual change, and it feels amazing. I hope to encourage other healthcare students to seek opportunities to become involved in creating change early on, and stay involved throughout their careers. Maybe together we can drive down those statistics on provider burnout.
Meagan McKeen
Quality Improvement (QI) is not one of the 1,000,000+ terms that you learn in medical school, at least not yet. So as a medical student working on a QI project, I was excited to attend the 2016 Quality Forum in Vancouver last month, even though I was skeptical about its relevance for a medical trainee. I was pleasantly surprised. Dr. Lakshman Swamy, an Internal Medicine resident at Boston Medical Centre called on medical students to be leaders in QI and for good reason.
In his keynote address, Swamy tackled an immensely challenging phenomenon in the health care system: provider burnout. Not only does burnout provide a fertile ground for error, it tromps on providers and ultimately, the patient bears the cost. Unlike QI, burnout is something that we are continuously being warned of in medical school. We are taught strategies for reflection, self-care and even meditation. Swamy suggested that we not merely manage the symptoms of burnout, but prevent it occurring in the first place. He suggested that there should be a prevention strategy to engage medical students and trainees in QI early in their education. Swamy envisions a world where, in the face of health care systems failures, we have empowered providers to make change, not to fizzle and burn out. It is the equivalent of teaching adolescents to exercise and eat well to prevent heart disease, instead of prescribing an antihypertensive after the high blood pressure shows up.
I’ve been on the QI train since before medical school. While volunteering at BC Children’s Hospital, I was recruited to a project called The Patient’s View. The aim was to engage patients and families in making health care safer by asking for their experience and feedback in areas such as medication, equipment, and communication. An early study of the survey tool used to capture these discussions showed promising results: families closely observe the care their children receive and are able to identify unreported and legitimate safety concerns (1). But it wasn’t the study findings that convinced me of the value of QI, it was listening to patients tell their stories and realizing what insightful ideas they brought to the table. To me this is the crux of being an effective health care provider: we need to be partnering with patients to improve the whole health care system.
Now in partnership with Island Health, The Patient’s View is coming to the pediatric ward at Victoria General Hospital. This endeavour has already allowed me to hear the voices of many astute and concerned patients in Victoria. Equally, it has shown me the receptiveness of the local provider teams and the health care system to make change. Before I have even stepped on the pediatric ward as a provider, I feel like part of a team that truly believes in delivery of safe, effective, patient-centered care.
So here is my first prescription: Medical students — get involved in some form of QI. Find some aspect of health care delivery that needs work and become part of the solution. Learning how to make change is part of building a dynamic system that meets the ever-changing population needs. “Every system is perfectly designed to deliver the result it delivers.” (Dr. Martin Wale, Acting Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Island Health Authority). So change the system.
(1) Daniels, J. P., Hunc, K., Cochrane, D. D., Carr, R., Shaw, N. T., Taylor, A. Ansermino, J. M. (2012). Identification by families of pediatric adverse events and near misses overlooked by health care providers. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal 184(1), 29-34. doi:10.1503/cmaj.110393
Quality Improvement (QI) is not one of the 1,000,000+ terms that you learn in medical school, at least not yet. So as a medical student working on a QI project, I was excited to attend the 2016 Quality Forum in Vancouver last month, even though I was skeptical about its relevance for a medical trainee. I was pleasantly surprised. Dr. Lakshman Swamy, an Internal Medicine resident at Boston Medical Centre called on medical students to be leaders in QI and for good reason.
In his keynote address, Swamy tackled an immensely challenging phenomenon in the health care system: provider burnout. Not only does burnout provide a fertile ground for error, it tromps on providers and ultimately, the patient bears the cost. Unlike QI, burnout is something that we are continuously being warned of in medical school. We are taught strategies for reflection, self-care and even meditation. Swamy suggested that we not merely manage the symptoms of burnout, but prevent it occurring in the first place. He suggested that there should be a prevention strategy to engage medical students and trainees in QI early in their education. Swamy envisions a world where, in the face of health care systems failures, we have empowered providers to make change, not to fizzle and burn out. It is the equivalent of teaching adolescents to exercise and eat well to prevent heart disease, instead of prescribing an antihypertensive after the high blood pressure shows up.
I’ve been on the QI train since before medical school. While volunteering at BC Children’s Hospital, I was recruited to a project called The Patient’s View. The aim was to engage patients and families in making health care safer by asking for their experience and feedback in areas such as medication, equipment, and communication. An early study of the survey tool used to capture these discussions showed promising results: families closely observe the care their children receive and are able to identify unreported and legitimate safety concerns (1). But it wasn’t the study findings that convinced me of the value of QI, it was listening to patients tell their stories and realizing what insightful ideas they brought to the table. To me this is the crux of being an effective health care provider: we need to be partnering with patients to improve the whole health care system.
Now in partnership with Island Health, The Patient’s View is coming to the pediatric ward at Victoria General Hospital. This endeavour has already allowed me to hear the voices of many astute and concerned patients in Victoria. Equally, it has shown me the receptiveness of the local provider teams and the health care system to make change. Before I have even stepped on the pediatric ward as a provider, I feel like part of a team that truly believes in delivery of safe, effective, patient-centered care.
So here is my first prescription: Medical students — get involved in some form of QI. Find some aspect of health care delivery that needs work and become part of the solution. Learning how to make change is part of building a dynamic system that meets the ever-changing population needs. “Every system is perfectly designed to deliver the result it delivers.” (Dr. Martin Wale, Acting Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Island Health Authority). So change the system.
(1) Daniels, J. P., Hunc, K., Cochrane, D. D., Carr, R., Shaw, N. T., Taylor, A. Ansermino, J. M. (2012). Identification by families of pediatric adverse events and near misses overlooked by health care providers. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal 184(1), 29-34. doi:10.1503/cmaj.110393
Alis Xu
Attending the 2016 BC Quality Forum was one of the most spectacular social and networking experiences for me. Walking into the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Downtown Vancouver, I was surrounded by hundreds of healthcare professionals ranging from doctors, nurses, social workers to students. Posters of current healthcare improvement plans sparked intriguing ideas, such as plans improving hospital environments in order to improve patient healthcare. Presentations from people with different perspectives opened new possibilities on the holistic approach to patient care. One of the most impressing talks involved surgeons and nurses concerned with collaboration within the medical team and its impact on patients' post operational recovery. Discussions of details such as phone call feedback and communication between staff showed the multidisciplinary requirements for good patient care. I clearly remember the inspiring conversation with an education professional after the presentations, in which she said, "It's the details that makes the difference". I was fortunate to meet other excellent student leaders and talk about our passions. Throughout the conference, I found myself exploring the multifaceted approaches to improving healthcare. The Quality Forum undoubtedly widened my view on the healthcare professions and inspired me to become an integral part of the field in the future. In my future endeavor of becoming a physician, I will remember the interconnectedness in healthcare I saw in the Quality Forum. I will acknowledge the importance of cooperation between different healthcare professionals and prioritize communication with the team in order to provide excellent care for the patients in BC as well as from different parts of the world. The 2016 BC Quality Forum served as the starting point of my dedication to interactive healthcare and improvements in the quality of patient care.
Attending the 2016 BC Quality Forum was one of the most spectacular social and networking experiences for me. Walking into the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Downtown Vancouver, I was surrounded by hundreds of healthcare professionals ranging from doctors, nurses, social workers to students. Posters of current healthcare improvement plans sparked intriguing ideas, such as plans improving hospital environments in order to improve patient healthcare. Presentations from people with different perspectives opened new possibilities on the holistic approach to patient care. One of the most impressing talks involved surgeons and nurses concerned with collaboration within the medical team and its impact on patients' post operational recovery. Discussions of details such as phone call feedback and communication between staff showed the multidisciplinary requirements for good patient care. I clearly remember the inspiring conversation with an education professional after the presentations, in which she said, "It's the details that makes the difference". I was fortunate to meet other excellent student leaders and talk about our passions. Throughout the conference, I found myself exploring the multifaceted approaches to improving healthcare. The Quality Forum undoubtedly widened my view on the healthcare professions and inspired me to become an integral part of the field in the future. In my future endeavor of becoming a physician, I will remember the interconnectedness in healthcare I saw in the Quality Forum. I will acknowledge the importance of cooperation between different healthcare professionals and prioritize communication with the team in order to provide excellent care for the patients in BC as well as from different parts of the world. The 2016 BC Quality Forum served as the starting point of my dedication to interactive healthcare and improvements in the quality of patient care.
Sandra Kim
To become an active contributor to the health care community, identifying and being informed about current studies, issues, and initiatives within the community is imperative. The opportunity to attend the Quality Forum 2016 with the help of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement at UBC helped me to get a jump start in learning about the health care concerns that are afflicting different patient populations across the province.
I was most excited to attend the Health Talks on the first day of the Quality Forum where different speakers throughout the community talked to us about their hopes for health care within BC. The talks did not disappoint and far exceeded my expectations.Within a short time frame, I was taken on a whirlwind tour of learning about different small community initiatives within Vancouver, such as an initiative to help girls and women from low income families to increase their self-confidence through makeovers, to hearing about the difficulties of providing timely access to urgent medical care with extremely sparse resources in Northern British Columbia.
Throughout the Quality Forum, I listen to a lot of different speakers who all talked about their studies and their areas of interest, and what they thought was important in improving the safety, or efficacy of health care in BC. What I was most surprised by, and will take away from the Qualify Forum is that our health care still has much room for improvement. Hearing from not only doctors but other health care professionals (such as nurses and community workers) reminded me that working in this field is an interprofessional effort that requires input from various different disciplines. Furthermore, I was happy to see the wide variety and scope of the research being presented, from clinical research, quality assessment, to employment of administrative policies
In my future practice, I hope to be involved in the process of improving the current health care practice within BC and more. The Quality Forum taught me that this does not necessarily have to be in the form of Clinical research, but could also be through community initiatives that I could take on, or support others with. The Quality Forum not only gave me a current understanding of the diverse range of ways that health care could be improved, but also how I must work closely with other health care professions to improve the quality of health care for all.
To become an active contributor to the health care community, identifying and being informed about current studies, issues, and initiatives within the community is imperative. The opportunity to attend the Quality Forum 2016 with the help of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement at UBC helped me to get a jump start in learning about the health care concerns that are afflicting different patient populations across the province.
I was most excited to attend the Health Talks on the first day of the Quality Forum where different speakers throughout the community talked to us about their hopes for health care within BC. The talks did not disappoint and far exceeded my expectations.Within a short time frame, I was taken on a whirlwind tour of learning about different small community initiatives within Vancouver, such as an initiative to help girls and women from low income families to increase their self-confidence through makeovers, to hearing about the difficulties of providing timely access to urgent medical care with extremely sparse resources in Northern British Columbia.
Throughout the Quality Forum, I listen to a lot of different speakers who all talked about their studies and their areas of interest, and what they thought was important in improving the safety, or efficacy of health care in BC. What I was most surprised by, and will take away from the Qualify Forum is that our health care still has much room for improvement. Hearing from not only doctors but other health care professionals (such as nurses and community workers) reminded me that working in this field is an interprofessional effort that requires input from various different disciplines. Furthermore, I was happy to see the wide variety and scope of the research being presented, from clinical research, quality assessment, to employment of administrative policies
In my future practice, I hope to be involved in the process of improving the current health care practice within BC and more. The Quality Forum taught me that this does not necessarily have to be in the form of Clinical research, but could also be through community initiatives that I could take on, or support others with. The Quality Forum not only gave me a current understanding of the diverse range of ways that health care could be improved, but also how I must work closely with other health care professions to improve the quality of health care for all.
