Strategic Pillar Updates

Strategic Pillars: What's Happening?

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The Strategic Pillars represent medical staff in Providence Health Care's Strategic Plan. Physician leaders and 20 to 25 medical staff advisors are paired with senior organizational leaders in Pillar Advisory Committees (PACs) to collaborate on activities relating to patient care and our workplace.

New opportunities for PHC-PASS Strategic Pillar teams: 

Physician Consultant Lead: Inspiring People and Teams

Medical Staff Advisor Vacancies:

Strategic Pillars: Your questions answered

What are the Strategic Pillars?

  • Physician leaders are paired with senior health authority leaders and 20 to 25 medical staff advisors (Advisory Committees).
  • They cover 4 key strategic themes: Quality, Learning, People and Partnerships. (Mission:Forward)
  • They support additional priorities including Planetary Health and Environmental Sustainability Stewardship.
  • They integrate with the work of NSPH redevelopment and its physician leaders.
  • Physicians are paid for Pillar work with funding from PHC-PASS / SSC Facility Engagement.

Why were the Pillars created?

  • The Pillars provide an organized structure that represents the collective voice of medical staff in our health authority’s organizational priorities, activities, and decisions affecting patient care and our workplace.
  • By aligning medical staff and health authority priorities, we can increase our impact and influence at Providence.
  • This is change from the past when there was no mechanism through which to communicate or collaborate with our health authority’s leaders on our shared priorities.

What do the Pillars do on behalf of Medical Staff?

  • Build relationships and communicate regularly with PHC senior leaders.
  • Consult on PHC’s organizational key deliverables each year, and activities and decisions.
  • Initiate practical work in each priority area that is relevant to medical staff.
  • Work across pillars on universal topics such as Indigenous wellness and culturally safe care.
  • Curate an online medical staff resource directory to support medical staff to move ideas into action.

Pillar Activities: What's Happening

Quality, Safety & Value

Value-based Health Care: Continued awareness and education for medical staff. Building teams, tools, training, and a five-year road map​.  Watch Value Based Health Care Update - Dr. Shannon Jackson 

Schwartz Rounds: Successful advocacy for the introduction of Schwartz Rounds to support provider wellness and compassionate care. A pilot is proceeding with medical staff on the leadership and planning committees. Watch for more events in 2024!

Showcasing Quality Improvement:  Annual showcase featuring PHC patient quality and safety projects. See last year's showcase.


Sourcing Quality Improvement resources or advancing ideas: Exploration and clarification of resources, funding and access to data available to medical staff.

Questions or ideas? Contact the Quality Pillar Team

Discover, Learn & Innovate for Impact

A Signal Chat group for medical staff discussions and opportunites to advance ideas: Request an invitation to join from pass@providencehealth.bc.ca

Identifying barriers to advancing innovation through medical staff consultation.

Collaboration with PHC to develop Ideas: Forward and Innovarium 360°  A front door for medical staff to engage in innovation, access support and guidance for a new ideas. Watch Innovarium 360° Update - Dr. Amin Sajan

Questions or ideas? Contact the Learning Pillar Team

Inspiring People & Teams

Medical Staff Wellness Strategy: A first of its kind plan: advocated for and collaborating on a strategy and plans to address medical staff wellness and burnout. Watch: Medical Staff Wellness Plan Update: Dr Vishal Varshney

Wellness Rooms: Consultation on options for private spaces for medical staff is underway.

Special events for medical staff: "My Farewell to Emergency Medicine" held in March 2023  focused on wellness, gratitude and identity, and a fall 2023 event on Demystifying Stress Leave for Medical Staff focused on support for medical staff to take stress leave.

Questions or ideas? Contact the People Pillar Team

Partner to Transform Health Care

Department and Division Connections: In 2024, organizing small group connections for medical staff who want to engage around similar patient care priorities.

Digital Health: Secured a standing invitation to monthly Digital Health provider intake and prioritization meetings – an avenue to help to prioritize clinical informatics tasks based on providers' perspectives.

Medical Staff Site Visit to Holy Family Hospital was held on Thursday, May 18, 2023 for medical staff whose patients interface with rehab and residential care services. More info here.

Indigenous Wellness and Reconciliation (IWR): Informed scheduling of Grand Rounds across medical departments to showcase IWR patient journey mapping findings: 4 are completed and 2 are booked  (Partnerships + Learning Pillar).

 Visit to Kílala Lelum community clinic site held in Spring 2022 provided medical staff with an opportunity to learn about the clinic's care model, and explore ways to improve patient experience and care transitions.

Exploring a formal partnership with Kílala Lelum to reduce barriers to specialist care (currently seeking funding).

Questions or ideas? Contact the Partnerships Pillar

Strategic Pillars: Our Impact

"Senior Leaders are accessible to us in a way that they were not in the past. They are very receptive to medical staff input." - Dr. Adrienne Melck, Quality

"The process is more transparent... We can reach out to senior leaders, and they get value when they know how to connect with a medical staff representative as well." - Dr. Amin Sajan, Learning

"In these big decisions that affect our work, we need to be involved from inception. Through our pillar roles, we are seeing our involvement increase earlier and in the planning stages." -  Dr. Grace Li, Partnerships

"We can be stewards for how the organization is meeting metrics laid out in strategic plan in relation to medical staff priorities." - Dr. Vishal Varshney, People