REGINA — An external review of Regina’s hospital physician culture has laid out key issues for workers and a path forward for improvements.
The review was handled by “two highly respected medical leaders” from Nova Scotia and Ontario, said the government.
The report initially mentions a recurring theme of progressive disengagement of physicians.
“Physician disengagement is a serious issue that can have profound effects on individual physicians, their patients, healthcare teams, and the broader healthcare system,” per the report.
Dr. Pamela Arnold, president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA), said many physicians felt disengaged by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).
However, Arnold believes many physicians do feel valued in the system, and there’s always room for improvement.
A different issue noted in the report is a historic tolerance for aberrant practices and disruptive behaviour.
“We were aware that there were concerns that there were issues that challenged the culture amongst physicians in Regina,” said SHA CEO Andrew Will.
The report mentions that addressing these issues can help recruitment and retention of physicians and health care staff, but also in the well-小蓝视频 of the team providing patient care.
Saskatchewan, like many provinces, has struggled to attract healthcare workers, preventing Regina's UCC from expanding to 24/7 operations, and leading Saskatoon City Hospital's ER department to shorten hours for months.
Another part of the report mentions that physicians in Regina have mostly held themselves apart from the values, missions, and goals of the SHA since its inception in 2017.
A sudden change of governance models and inequities between Regina and Saskatoon led to “physicians conveying a sense of distrust of administration and leadership,” per the report.
SHA chief medical officer, Dr. Jordan Wingate, said building trust starts from the ground up and working together.
“It's going to take all of us working together to repair not only Regina but what's been happening since the pandemic to our physician workforce.”
Recently, the SHA axed 26 senior leadership workers to prioritize positions on the front lines.
Will mentioned the health region is creating six new medical officers “designed to strengthen local physician leadership, increase integration with operational decision-making, and improve role clarity and accountability across the province.”
He also said the SHA is targeting to find one of the six medical officers specifically for Regina for the middle of July.
As for a solution, the report outlined 14 recommendations for the SHA, SMA, Ministry of Health, and the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, which include:
- Finalize and implement bylaws and rules.
- Manage issues of physician practice, performance and quality promptly and decisively.
- Enhance understanding of perceived and actual conflict of interest for medical leaders and physicians relative to commitments and endeavours outside the hospital.
- Build on the SHA culture of belonging.
- Create a medical human resource plan based on data.
- Adopt or enhance three key areas of data management: the electronic health record (currently hybrid in hospitals), a physician information database and an electronic application and reappointment system.
- Continue and enhance the involvement of patient and family advisors in the reform process.
- Select physicians and medical leaders using existing recruitment processes in a standardized and transparent way.
- Use periodic physician engagement surveys more effectively to inform action plans to improve engagement.
- Review the entire SHA medical leadership structure for efficacy, role clarity and accountability.
- Implement a comprehensive suite of supports for medical leaders to include training, mentorship, feedback, administrative support and benchmarked compensation models.
- Apply various models of physician compensation to optimize access to care, performance and outcomes.
- Ensure that all contracts, alternative funding plans, academic payment plans, etc., are reviewed, updated and renewed annually and when material changes are required to support patient care.
- Use medical trainee and postgraduate resident feedback to learn more about the impact of the culture on learners.
Actions to address these recommendations will take place over the next six to 12 months.
The full report
