April 2026 This month’s newsletter is packed with great reads and even better opportunities to get involved! We’re excited to spotlight our “Good Call” Action Series - a fun, practical way to dive into some QI‑lite action planning with your local team. What better place to start than taking a closer look at how calls are made and received? You’ll also find a special request from our PQI Central team, who are eager to hear from PQI Alum about the long‑term impact PQI has had on your work. Your insights matter - details are below. And of course, we’ve rounded things out with plenty of shout‑outs, opportunities, and ways to connect across our community. | If you are involved in making, receiving, or responding to calls about patient care this is for you! The Good Call Action Series was created locally by physicians, nurses, clerks, allied health and other support staff as an opportunity to help teams test ideas to improve their call experience. Learn tools and techniques you can use right away and apply to other problems in the future. Each area has unique challenges and the best people to identify opportunities for improvement are the ones who are doing the work. Action Series highlights: - Flexible time commitment, up to 6 hours spread over 5 months. Approximately 10-20 minutes of videos and 45 minutes of team activities per month. Videos and activities can be done in as little as 5-10 minute segments. (Up to 6 hours of sessional payments at the JCC rate is available for physicians completing activities outside of clinical hours).
- Learn tools and techniques your team can try right away for grassroots level change to improve the experience of the people making, receiving and responding to calls about patient care in your area.
- Participate in teams of 3-7 – must include at least two different roles (e.g. physicians, nurses, unit clerks, allied health, etc.); can be between physician groups or interdisciplinary teams.
- The Good Call Action Series is now running year-round, so teams can register at a time that works for them.
Interested in getting more details? Visit the Good Call Action Series webpage or watch the Orientation Video (4:57 mins), which includes information on how Good Call was created, as well as details on how the action series works and how to fit the activities into already busy days. One Pager FAQs Pitch Package | PQI Alum: Please Share Your Impact The Specialist Services Committee (SSC) is gathering PQI alum perspectives for an Impact Summary of the PQI Program (2015–2025) and they want to hear how PQI training has influenced your practice and your ability to remain in clinical care. Please complete a short survey to share your experience. Participants may enter a draw for a $500 prepaid VISA gift card and can opt to be interviewed about how PQI has made a difference (sessional funding available). The survey is open until May 8, 2026. Have your voice heard! Complete the Survey | | PQI Project Recognized at National Awards Congratulations to Dr. Vamshi Kotha (Cohort 9) and the FLEX student who supported his PQI Project, Justin Blackman. Justin recently attended the Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR) Annual Scientific Meeting in Montreal and their QI project Reducing Wait Times for Outpatient Liver Biopsy in a Regional Health Authority in Canada won Bronze at the CAR Awards! | | Dr. Vamshi Kotha, Medical Director, Innovation Speaking of Vamshi....Dr. Vamshi Kotha (Cohort 9) has stepped down as our Physician Lead of the Alum Program, but has stepped up into a new Medical Director role for Innovation. We are excited to see him grow in this role, and how QI and Innovation can collaborate! | | Dr. Al Hayashi features in video highlighting Ovarian Cancer Prevention Dr. Al Hayashi (Cohort 9) was recently featured in an educational video on opportunistic salpingectomy, a procedure that can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by up to 80%. The project and video are supported by the Victoria Hospitals Foundation. To learn more about the procedure and watch the video, please click here. | | Innovative 3D printed design allows pediatricians to practice lifesaving procedure Speaking of innovation....The Island Health Innovation Team recently paired up with pediatrician, Dr. Jeff Bishop (current Cohort 10) and colleagues to develop a new tool for a pediatric tracheostomy, an uncommon but potentially lifesaving procedure on infants. A 3D-printed model of a pediatric trachea and larynx was created which can now be used to practise pediatric tracheostomy procedures and support pediatric teams to develop this lifesaving competency. Learn more here. | | PQI Alum, Dr. Joanna Cheek, a published author! Dr. Joanna Cheek (Cohort 3) recently published a book It's Not You, It's The World. In the book, Dr. Cheek offers a survival guide of mental health tools to care for both ourselves and our collectives and helps us to understand and befriend our alarms so we can come together to solve the shared problems they’re signaling. You can listen to a podcast with Dr. Cheek on Spotify, by clicking here. | | Dr. Alex Hoechsmann - PQI Alumni Webinar Series (PAWS) - Thursday April 23, 5:00 - 6:00pm Our very own Alex Hoechsmann (PQI Physician Advisor) will be presenting at PAWS this week in collaboration with Dr. Navpreet Sidhu: Everything is Better with Mayo! What we saw at the Mayo Clinic: Lessons from a Living QI Culture. Thursday April 23, 5:00 - 6:00pm Register here. | | Applications Open! Clinician Fellowship in Healthcare Quality The Clinician Fellowship in Health Care Quality program supports the development of clinician leaders to build capability and expertise for patient safety and quality within BC’s health-care system. It develops the leadership skills required to improve the quality of care while fostering a growing network of leaders to further promote a culture of improvement throughout the system. Previously, PQI Alums Valerie Ehasoo (Cohort 5) and Val Stoynova (Cohort 8) have participated in this program and it comes highly recommended! Registration open until May 7: Learn more here. | | Medical Leadership Opportunities at Island Health Island Health's new leadership structure launched on March 1. Explore current leadership roles supporting high-quality care and clinical excellence across Vancouver Island. Positions are updated regularly as opportunities become available. Learn more here. | | Research Funding and Supports for Rural Physicians The Rural Physician Research Grant Program empowers rural physician researchers - especially new aspiring researchers - to pursue innovative rural research projects that advance rural health in British Columbia. Through this program, rural physician researchers will be able to apply for research grants of up to $10,000 to support rural health research. The program is funded by the Rural Coordination Centre of BC. Learn more here. | | Are you planning on attending an upcoming conference where you will be presenting or displaying a poster? Did you know our Alum team can support you with your preparation for the event - posters, presentation support or anything else you might need, please reach out. | | Are you interested in connecting with Alums around the province through social media? The SynergyHub WhatsApp group is described as “a fun BC originated group of passionate health system improvers guided by QI science and interested in collaborating and bridging silos in our system”. You can scan the QR code to join the group. | | If more of a local flavour is your preference, we also have a WhatsApp group called QuPID created by our own South Island Alum, Alicia Power (Cohort 4). Click here to join the Alum group | | Do you have something you'd like to share? We are always interested in hearing about the work you're doing and what we can share with our community. If you have a shoutout, story, opportunity, or any comments you'd like to share with the PQI community, please email us at pqi@islandhealth.ca. | | | | | |
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