Pictured above (right to left): Shirley, medical office assistant (MOA); Dr Michelle Yuen, family physician; Melody, MOA; Dr Janice Wong, family physician and clinic health and safety representative.
Dr Janice Wong is committed to ensuring health and safety in her clinic.
A family physician at Vancouver’s Woodland Family Practice, she received help through the Community Physician Health and Safety Program, a new initiative funded in partnership between Doctors of BC and the Ministry of Health and managed by SWITCH BC, which stands for Safety, Wellbeing, Innovation, Training and Collaboration in Healthcare.
“We welcomed the onsite clinic assessment to help identify the necessary steps to improve our clinic’s workplace health and safety,” says Dr Wong, the safety lead for her clinic, which is part of the Vancouver Division of Family Practice.
The program is overseen by a committee that includes physicians, along with Doctors of BC and Ministry of Health representatives. It aims to reduce physician burdens by consolidating WorkSafeBC Occupational Health and Safety regulations, government legislation, and health and safety best practices in one place.
Physicians can access the full spectrum of occupational health and safety responsibilities for physicians as owners, employers, supervisors, and workers through the program’s Community Physician Health and Safety Guide. Psychological and physical health and safety tools and resources are available via the web portal, an interactive site with accessible checklists. The assessment typically takes about two hours and produces a comprehensive report with recommendations.
“I was surprised to learn we need a health and safety representative within the clinic, as well as specific policies and procedures for such things as emergencies, bullying and harassment in the workplace, ergonomics— all of these different things need to be formally addressed.”
Although Dr Wong and her clinic partners knew what was required to become compliant when they opened the clinic, they didn’t realize the policies must be updated annually. She credits SWITCH BC and the program for providing the necessary information and next steps in a simple and clear way.
“If SWITCH BC hadn’t shone a light on that I probably wouldn’t have taken the steps to do something about it,” she says. “At the end of the day, we must make the decisions. I’ve nothing but good things to say about SWITCH BC. It was a relief that I didn’t have to search it myself.”
SWITCH BC focuses on supporting province-wide innovation, prevention and training, and enhancing the culture of safety in all healthcare workplaces in BC. The Community Physician Health and Safety Program was established under Doctors of BC’s Physician Health and Safety Agreement as part of the Physician Master Agreement.
SWITCH BC CEO Victoria Schmid says the program was launched to address physician concerns through the 2022 Physician Master Agreement.
“We know time is a huge burden, community physicians have high demands—and patient care is their priority. Workplace health and safety often takes a back seat. We want to support physicians, give them easy to access resources, and take the guesswork out of creating customized health and safety programs for all clinics in B.C.”
SWITCH BC has already visited 34 clinics in the province, including those as far north as Fort St. John. SWITCH BC is rolling out the program to more communities this year as clinics seek support with patient de-escalation, ergonomics, emergency preparedness, and bullying and harassment.
Schmid notes that representatives from the Central Okanagan, Mission, and East Kootenay Divisions of Family Practice recently shared how they are working with SWITCH BC to bring needed workplace safety supports to their local members.
“There’s so much information out there and sifting through it all can be burdensome to physicians. We’re trying to consolidate it into one place to best support them, and so far, the feedback has been positive,” Schmid says. “They say they feel really supported.”
Dr. Wong is using the information provided through the assessment to ensure her clinic is compliant and clearly understands the policies.
To make the work more manageable, she is completing each policy regulation module as a Quality Improvement project, working closely with coaches in FPSC’s Practice Support Program (PSP). She finished updating the first aid policy in January and started working on bullying and harassment the following month.
The clinic also delegated a medical office assistant as the health safety officer, Dr. Wong says.
“Thanks to the clinic assessment, the work we put in now will help ensure that updating the policies next year will take less time.”