Posted on Mar 9, 2018
The BC health care system has many valuable and sometimes competing priorities – so it’s always a good sign when one priority – in this case surgical improvement - gets the focused attention of many diverse health care providers.
The BC Summit on Surgical Improvement attracted over 200 specialists, GPs and surgical team members, operational leaders, policy makers and surgical quality improvement experts, as well as patient representatives.
The one-day summit was created by the Specialist Services Committee, along with the Shared Care Committee and GP Services Committee (partnerships of Doctors of BC and the BC government) and the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council. The purpose – to learn about, discuss and expand on surgical improvement relative to BC’s surgical services strategy.
Surgeon Dr. Tom Wallace noted, “When I first started as a surgeon my work flow was more isolated and now I see my involvement more as part of a team, and recognize the importance of the various team members including the patient.”
It was a platform to come together and learn about the great work happening across BC and in Canada, and to strategize how to expand this work further throughout the province.
Family Physician Dr. Willem Prinsloo “By being so involved in the process – we find the patient satisfaction as well as the outcome after a surgical procedure is just so much more robust.”
The summit focused on two topics: Pre-Surgical Optimization and building on the highly successful work of Enhanced Recovery. The full day included presentations, many networking and learning opportunities and ended with brainstorming with a panel of experts on how to ensure the great work continues and is supported to spread across the province. Evaluation of the event rated scores of Excellent to Above Average for meeting the stated objectives and information needs.
Anesthesiologist Dr. Karen Wong “It’s been very valuable to learn from all the other disciplines because we are all very good at what we do, but we haven’t yet developed perspective for each other’s work and how we can all fit together.”
Surgical improvement strategies have many moving and integral parts, but their aim is simple: make it easier for patients who have to undergo surgery to recover as quickly as possible through safe, efficient and effective pre-op, operative and post-operative processes. Learn what some participants had to say by viewing a short video. https://youtu.be/rYf7I96badQ or see presentations and learn more about the event.
