Posted on Mar 18, 2026
When anesthesiologist Dr Jonathan Collins joined the fledgling Perioperative Clinical Action Network (PCAN) in 2023, he hoped it would bring together diverse providers and skill sets to support surgical priorities in BC.
Less than three years later, he says he’s staggered by how quickly the initiative has grown and spread: “What was once a pretty small group of passionate individuals has grown into quite a big group of passionate individuals, representing a range of geographies and populations across the province, which is really inspiring.”
That inspiration was evident at the third annual PCAN Showcase and Summit, held last November in Vancouver. More than 170 physicians, nurses, health care administrators, allied health, and patient and system partners from across BC gathered to share knowledge and learn about perioperative projects funded by the Specialist Services Committee.
The event featured several breakout sessions and interactive presentations, including a keynote on improving the non-technical elements of medical environments and an engaging debate on whether “AI can safely replace human decision-making in surgical triage.” The summit dovetailed with the World Congress of Prehabilitation and Perioperative Medicine, with a jointly presented agenda in the afternoon. For more information, read a detailed post-event report, including participant feedback.
Addressing complex challenges
Family physician Dr Raj Bhui, who has a particular interest in patient education, is also a founding member of PCAN. Coming together annually, he says, helps bridge the fragmentation among perioperative partners who are otherwise spread across the province.
“I love the optimism that I find in this kind of gathering, because it is such a complex set of systems that have to work together,” he says. “But when you talk about it, it seems solvable, right? It seems like we just need to apply rigour and discipline and consistency. We need to analyze where the problems are, where gaps are arising, and then actually provide practical solutions.”
One solution has been to create resources for patients and physicians, such as the prehabilitation and post-surgery toolkits that Dr Bhui and a large team of experts developed and maintain. “These are digestible and practical, and they’re BC-based,” says Dr Bhui. “Clinicians are busy, so being able to have that resource from a reputable organization that you know is reliable, that's a huge load off.”
Equitable access
PCAN also supports more consistency across regions, improving equitable access to supports.
Health practitioners based in rural or remote communities can particularly benefit from PCAN’s work, Dr Bhui says. “As I see it, an initiative such as this helps overcome many of those walls that might otherwise keep clinicians separated—geographically or across disciplines—and keep them working together on a common challenge.”
Registered nurse Dawn Charlebois calls her past involvement with implementing the Surgical Patient Optimization Collaborative initiative at Langley Memorial Hospital a “career highlight,” and has attended all three PCAN Summits to date.
“There is real power behind prehabilitation now,” she says. “The prehab ‘ball’ is rolling faster, and everything is coming into alignment. This year’s summit was a true physical representation of the momentum of all the work that’s been done over the years. We are fortunate enough to witness its fruition, which is exciting.”
Patient and provider experience
Dr Heather Stuart, a first-time summit attendee and general surgeon oncologist who’s co-leading a project focused on opportunistic salpingectomy, agrees. “I was so excited to come and see what everyone is working on in this collaborative space and build on ideas that you'll have in one area to work on in the future or with new partners.”
She highlighted how PCAN is improving both the patient and the provider experience. “When you look at the patient journey from beginning to end, having everyone understand what the patient is going through is critical. So even if [a practitioner’s] not directly involved in that area of care, they can still provide counselling or information, or they can understand and support what the transition will look like.”
Ultimately, says Dr Collins, “Equitable and timely access to surgery is what we all dream of in this space. What I think we need to do next is to integrate and combine some of the problem-solving that that's happened. Take some of those creative approaches and find some way to synthesizing them into something that can be applied citywide, regionwide, province wide, you name it.
“What PCAN has illustrated for me is partly the power of collaboration. We are most definitely stronger together.”
Find out more
Become a member of PCAN.
Find out about funding opportunities.
Read the post-event report.
View the event photo gallery.
The Specialist Services Committee is one of four joint collaborative committees that are a partnership between Doctors of BC and the BC government.
