Provincial Laboratory Medicine Services and Perinatal Services BC worked together to implement new newborn screening protocols for three additional treatable conditions under accelerated timelines and an expanded testing program. Since this new protocol was introduced, 16 infants have been identified and received a clinical intervention because of these additional screening tests.
Fraser Health’s Frail Elderly-Older Adult Network recognized a proactive, community-based change was required to meet the needs of the aging population. They partnered with care providers, patient partners, their families and the community to develop and roll out the Regional Delirium Strategy. By June 2022, a pilot was rolled out across all 12 medicine units in Surrey Memorial Hospital and has since evolved into what is now known as the Regional Delirium Strategy for Fraser Health.
An improvement initiative to find alternative solutions for localizing breast cancers and breast lesions in need of surgical removal has led to the use of a radioactive seeds as a new technique. This has not only increased patient safety and satisfaction but has also resulted in time and cost savings at Fraser Health. The seeds, which are no larger than a grain of rice, are used as an alternative to fine wire localization, and are now the standard across Fraser Health hospitals where breast cancer surgery is performed.
Parkinson Disease (PD) is a progressive and long-term disorder with no known cure. It is the fastest-growing neurological disease in the world, with approximately 15,000 people in BC living with PD – a number that is projected to double by 2040. Almost all of those in the Parkinson’s community are seniors, and half of all…
The Northern Health Palliative Care Consultation Team supports people in both palliative and end-of-life care. The team aims to make palliative care more consistent, accessible and equitable, filling gaps that previously existed. They value community-based care and, by engaging with primary care providers, their efforts prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. This innovative approach, rooted in collaboration and quality, has set a pioneering standard, prompting other health authorities to follow suit.
To build on the work already underway to make the health care system safer for Indigenous Peoples, Interior Health (IH) hired two Indigenous Patient Care Quality & Safety Consultants as part of the IH Patient Care Quality Office (PCQO). With support from the IH Indigenous Partnerships team and the First Nations Health Authority, the Indigenous consultants began ongoing engagement with the with Indigenous Peoples in the region to build awareness of the PCQO and to invite collaboration and input into the design of the IH Indigenous PCQO process.
Cynthia is the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM), the regulator for the province’s 67,000 nurses and midwives. She was instrumental in bringing the province’s nursing colleges together as a single regulator for all nursing designations in 2018, and then a further amalgamation in 2020 with the provincial midwifery regulator. Now known as the BCCNM, it is the largest regulator in Western Canada.
John Hwang’s impact at Fraser Health extends much further than the operating rooms at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. The general surgeon is a long-time champion of quality improvement (QI), and he’s become an inspiration for both leaders and frontline staff to make QI a part of their everyday work.
Vivian Tsang began her journey in health care as a soft-spoken 16-year-old, participating as a patient partner in a research study at BC Children’s Hospital. A decade later, and now a physician, she’s making her voice heard as an advocate for youth advisory voices in research.
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We would like to acknowledge that we are living and working with humility and respect on the traditional territories of the First Nations peoples of British Columbia.
We specifically acknowledge and express our gratitude to the keepers of the lands of the ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, where our main office is located.
We also recognize Métis people and Métis Chartered Communities, as well as the Inuit and urban Indigenous peoples living across the province on various traditional territories.