HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE LTCI!

Whichever holiday you celebrated, we hope that you had a relaxing and enjoyable season with your friends and family, and are looking forward to an exciting new year in 2023!

LTCI TOWN HALL- CALLING ALL LTC PHYSICIANS!

We wanted to send a brief update and request your presence at a Long-term Care Town Hall event in the New Year to discuss the below.

Current state:

We have 7 physicians who have left or have indicated they intend to leave LTC sites this year, to date we have not found replacements. This represents coverage for 365 residents across 18 LTC homes.

Next steps:

We are organizing a LTC Physician Town Hall, January 10th at 5:30pm. Please join us for a meal and a facilitated problem-solving session.

What can you do?

RSVP via email to attend our Town Hall and please encourage any interested physician colleagues to do the same. You can also view any information that comes available on our website’s event page.

We're lucky to be a part of a dedicated, passionate, group of care providers. Let’s work together to ensure a robust LTC physician workforce, represented by a variety of practice styles, that can meet the needs of residents who need LTC

We hope to see you soon!

On Behalf of Vic- SI LTCI Co-Chairs; Dr. Margaret Manville & Dr. Mike Miles

PHYSICIAN WORKFORCE & PRACTICE PLANNING COMMITTEE

The Physician Workforce & Practice Planning Committee recently met for the second time to discuss recruitment strategies and to begin planning for a recruitment event in February. This will be an important focus for the LTCI this year, as some key long-term care physicians will be retiring in the coming months. As friends and colleagues of the LTCI, we would appreciate everyone’s assistance in getting the word out to physicians that LTC is a rewarding area of practice. We boast team-based care, a well-organized and robust call group, cross coverage, a locum matching program, consolidated panels, and competitive remuneration. Additionally, we strongly suggest that all current CORE and TORCH teams discuss contingency planning, such as what would happen in the event of a physician being unable to work due to illness or accident, or difficulty recruiting a replacement.

HOLIDAY COVERAGE NEEDED!

Locum needed! From January 23 to February 17, Bridge View Unit, at the Gorge Road Hospital. Perfect for an LTCI provider. Interesting work, great team. Day time work at “hospitalist pay rate”. No after-hours calls.

Interested? Please call or email Dr Katharine McKeen

WE ARE NOW ON FACEBOOK!

The LTCI has expanded their online presence to Facebook. You can now find our information through our Facebook page where we will be posting about upcoming events, like the learning series, as well as other long-term care related topics. Check out our new page here and feel free to follow along!

CHANGES TO THE PAYMENT MODEL

Recently, Doctors of BC announced there would be adjustments made to the family physician payment model and the Physician Master Agreement. Set to launch in February 2023, the new payment model hopes to address some of the challenges in family practice, and to make it a more sustainable and rewarding career. We at the LTCI hope that the next iteration of the payment model will more explicitly mention long-term care specifically. Read the announcement and find links to more detailed information here.

LTCI IN YOUR COMMUNITY

With Covid restrictions easing, the LTCI was able to host our first, in person Leadership Dinner since 2019. It was a great success and provided insight into barriers to job satisfaction and overall happiness of long-term care home teams. We look forward to using this information to better support the LTC community in Victoria & South Island. Read all about it here.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

Doctors of BC and the Joint Collaborative Committees recently hosted a Truth and Reconciliation ceremony to honour our commitment to walking with Indigenous, Metis, and Inuit peoples on our collective journey to ensure Indigenous patients have access to culturally safe health care. The two organizations engaged with the artist sɬə́məxʷ (Rain Pierre), to create an art print for BC physicians to display in their offices. A video discussing the significance of the imagery can be viewed here, and another video on the ceremony itself can be viewed here. Prints are available to all BC doctors for display in their offices here.

CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES IN LONG-TERM CARE

The Heights at Mount View, a 260 bed Island Health-affiliated LTC home located in Saanich, is actively seeking a dedicated, hard-working physician interested in working in a collaborative interdisciplinary team. It operates with a TORCH medical practice model with 8 dedicated MRPs attending weekly and providing cross-coverage. Reach out to an LTCI coordinator today to see if this is the right fit for you. You can read more details on the full job posting here.

The Priory Long-Term Care Home (Hiscock and Heritage Woods) in Colwood is currently seeking 1-2 physicians for coverage of a panel of 20-30 residents. If you are a family physician who enjoys working in team-based environments, this may be right for you! Please reach out to an LTCI coordinator to hear details on this opportunity and the supports we provide. To read the full job posting, visit our website here.

Gorge Road Hospital is seeking physicians to join a new exciting service and be part of a multidisciplinary team in providing MRP care to patients admitted to one of two units: a Low Intensity Inpatient Rehabilitation Care Unit for patients returning home after prolonged hospitalization, and an Alternate Level of Care Unit (ALC) for patients awaiting placement in LTC. For more information, view the job posting here.

Do you know any family physicians looking to wind down their practices within the community but aren’t quite ready to retire? Or do you know any recently graduated family physicians looking to gain experience? Please spread the word about the rewarding experience that long-term care can provide and have them reach out to the LTCI at victoriasouthisland.ltci@victoriadivision.ca for more information!

MISSED IT?

Have you missed any of our virtual learning series events? Recordings and notes on our most recent Learning Series Event, “Management of Skin and Wounds” with Island Health Representative, Erin Ballard, BScN, NSWOC, WOC(C) on November 28^th can be found on our and other past events on our website.

RESOURCES

IHI has published an updated version of the ‘Age-Friendly Health Systems: Guide to Care of Older Adults in Nursing Homes.’ You can find the guide here, and the accompanying workbook here.

The most recent Primary Care Update from Island Health can be found here.

The AHA Centre for Health Innovation has resources and webinars available on how to make healthcare more ‘age friendly’ here.

The Island Health Medical Staff Bulletin from December 14, 2022 can be found here.

The BCCDC releases a weekly Long-Term Care, Assisted Living & Independent Living Report outlining current cases of Covid-19 in care homes. The most recent report can be found linked here.

The Divisions Dispatch from The Divisions of Family Practice from Dec 13, 2022 can be found here.

The South Island Division of Family Practice’s E-Bulletin from Dec 15, 2022 is available here.

The BC Support Unit monthly bulletin for December can be found here.

Find information about the BC Centre for Palliative Care, and the supports and resources they provide, here.

The Pain Foundations for Primary Care Providers Course is a free, online, and self-paced (12-15 hrs) pain science and chronic pain management course for doctors and other health professionals offered by Pain BC. Find more details and course registration info here.

A 2 hour, three-module, eLearning course on Culturally Safe Advance Care Planning is available here.

Find the link for each region’s After-Hours Call Group poster and the most recent after-hours SBAR on our website here.

The team at I-CAARE has been developing culturally safe practice tools in partnership with Northeast Behavioural Supports Ontario. Find them here.

EVENTS

Jan 10, 2023: @5:30pm PST, please join us for the LTCI physician townhall for dinner and a facilitated problem-solving session. This will be held in Begbie Hall at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. Register in advance via email. See more information on our events page.

Jan 12, 2023: The JCC is hosting the third webinar in a 5-part series from 5-6:30 PST. This session in the Indigenous Cultural Safety Webinar Series is called Elements of Indigenous Health and Healing. To register, or view recordings of previous sessions, visit their page here.

Jan 31, 2023: @5:00 PM PST LTCI Learning Series- Dementia: how does society, policy and our own behavior add to the suffering of persons with dementia? Presented by Dr. Romayne Gallagher, this virtual event is worth 1.5 Group Learning Mainpro+ credits. Head here to register, or to our events page for more information.

Feb 2-4, 2023: The UBC Care of the Elderly Intensive Review Course is happening in person this year at UBC Robson Square in Vancouver, BC. Virtual opportunities available for those unable to attend in person. Click here to register.

Feb 9, 2023: @7:00 PM PST Long-Term Care Virtual Information Event. Join a group of Long-term Care physicians with a variety of practice types as they describe why they love working in Long Term Care and answer any questions you may have. Open to physicians and nurse practitioners. Register here.

LOCAL CULTURAL EVENTS

Jan 6, 2023: The final evening of Magic of Christmas light display at Butchart Gardens is happening this friday. Head here for more information and to purchase tickets.

Jan-Feb, 2023: Dates have yet to be released, but the very popuar Dine Around Victoria returned from hiatus in 2022, and is expected to reoccur in January to February of 2023. Be a tourist in your own town, experience some new local spots, and support our Victoria businesses in their off-season. See more information on the 2022 line up here and stay tuned for dates for 2023!