In this episode, we talk with Phillip Cunningham, VP of Business Development at Westland MyGroup Insurance, and Jeffrey Gopal, Insurance Advisor from Doctors of BC, about insurance best practices that doctors can revisit as part of a yearly business checkup.

Brought to you by Business Pathways, a Doctors of BC initiative. 

Additional resources:

• The Insurance Checkup
• Doctors of BC Insurance
• Westland Insurance: Summary Sheet 
• Club MD preferred rates for Westland Insurance *member login required

For a detailed insurance portfolio review, please connect with one of Doctors of BC's insurance advisors at insurance@doctorsofbc.ca to book a free consultation. 

In this episode, we talk with Shaun Howe, Partner in Assurance & Accounting from MNP LLP about financial best practices that doctors can revisit as part of a yearly business checkup.

Brought to you by Business Pathways, a Doctors of BC initiative. 

Additional resources:

• The Finance Checkup
• Business Pathways - Internal Fraud and Control Checklist
• Club MD preferred rates for MNP LLP and MD Financial *member login required

Amidst disturbing allegations of anti-Indigenous racism in BC’s health care system, the government appointed Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond to independently conduct a review. The findings were clear: Indigenous people are continually subjected to widespread, systemic racism which often results in negative experiences at the point of care, inequitable medical treatment, physical harm, and even death.    In this episode of DocTalks, we will speak to Indigenous family physician, Dr Terri Aldred, and Indigenous Cultural Safety Coordinator and Consultant, Len Pierre, about how we can define and understand cultural safety and the complexities of addressing this systemic problem. What steps can doctors and health care workers take to begin or continue the journey to address racism, both on an individual level and at a system-wide level? How can we measure our progress going forward?

Resources: 

• San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training (PHSA)
• Addressing Racism: An independent investigation into Indigenous-specific discrimination in B.C. health care

In the first episode of DocTalks, a new direction for BC’s primary health care system is explored. We’ve heard the names, but what really are patient medical homes and primary care networks? Host Dr Matthew Chow, with guests Drs Brenda Hefford and Shelley Ross, take a deep dive into the current primary care landscape to unpack ideas about:

• how patient medical homes and primary care networks relate to and work with one another
• what it means to adapt to system-wide change
• the benefits of a multidisciplinary, team-based care model of care
• how UPCCs enhance PCNs and increase access

Join the conversation online through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and at doctorsofbc.ca.

In this episode, we talk with Leanne Walsh, Employment Lawyer from West Coast Workplace Law, and Jackie Connelly, People & Strategy Manager from Doctors of BC, about key aspects of HR best practices that doctors can revisit as part of a yearly business checkup.

Brought to you by Business Pathways, a Doctors of BC initiative. 

Additional resources:

• Doctors of BC: Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion resources
• WorkSafeBC: Bullying and Harassment Resource Toolkit
• Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion

In this episode of DocTalks, we speak to Dr Aseem Grover, rural family physician and the Site Medical Director of the Fraser Canyon Hospital in Hope, BC, who recalls his harrowing experiences and lessons learned in providing emergency care through wide-ranging wildfires and unprecedented flooding last year. 
With continued heatwaves and record temperatures, it’s anticipated BC will continue to experience wildfires in parts of the province again this summer. In addition to the threats these fires present to residents and their homes, they are also a major disruption for practicing physicians. While they are personally impacted by the fires, they also need to provide care for their patients. 
Dr Grover shares his experiences in navigating a wide array of successes and challenges as he and his team worked to provide continued care to patients in the community and beyond. Using this unique insight, he describes how doctors can proactively plan to safeguard their practice in an emergency. 
Listen now on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Stitcher, or your favourite podcast platform. 
 

Resources:

• Doctors of BC’s policy paper: Improving Collaboration in Times of Crisis: Integrating Physicians in Disaster Preparedness and Health Emergency Management
• Business Pathways: Contingency Planning Toolkit/Emergency Preparedness Resources
• Health Emergency Management BC (HEMBC)

In this first episode of our new DocTalks vodcast, Doctors of BC President Dr Ramneek Dosanjh hosts a roundtable discussion that gives viewers insight into Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and high-conflict separation and divorce and what doctors and lawyers need to know to best support families experiencing it. It also speaks to the cross-sectoral allyship between doctors and lawyers to raise awareness of ACEs and how they can work together to promote the well-being of their patients and clients.
Brain science tells us that ACEs are a significant public health issue because they can cause toxic stress that impacts the immediate, long-term, and intergenerational mental and physical health of children and youth. Family justice issues often involve one or more ACE. Acting collaboratively to reduce toxic stress and support families experiencing family justice issues will mitigate the negative impact and promote family well-being. 
In this episode Dr Dosanjh speaks to guests, Dr Linda Uyeda, a family doctor, Linda Hamilton QC, the President of the Law Society of BC, and Jane Morley, QC, from Access to Justice BC.
This episode is audio taken from a video recording. You can watch the episode here.
Resources:

• DocTalks podcast: How understanding ACEs can change the way you practice
• Doctors and lawyers are working together to help children and youth 
• The Health and Justice Alliance online sessions facilitate a dialogue between doctors and lawyers around high-conflict separation
• Collaborative Toolbox: ACEs Resources
• Feelings First campaign 

On the first podcast episode of DocTalks Season Two, we speak to experts Julie Jones and Carl Prophet about how doctors can optimize their physical and online safety. We’re hearing more and more reports of violent threats—either physical, verbal, or digital—directed towards physicians, triggered specifically by tension created by the COVID-19 pandemic. 
These events have incited many individuals and organizations to increase awareness, advocacy, and support for doctors in the face of this rise in violence. A statement issued from the Canadian Medical Association this past September even stated that, “It has never been more important to stand with our health care colleagues and deplore all online or in-person threats.”
The key to prevention is perception; understanding key vulnerabilities and how physical violence escalates can enhance personal safety and even deter violent threats, both in person and online.
Guests Carl Prophet and Julie Jones, who are experts in the field of personal and online security, speak to the current political climate and its effect on violence for BC doctors. They share how through prevention planning and informed response strategies, doctors can equip themselves with a plan and the tools to increase personal and cyber security. 
Carl and Julie are currently leading live webinars, hosted by Doctors of BC’s new program Business Pathways, where doctors can learn even more about this topic and participate in a live Q&A session. More webinar dates will be announced soon, but a recording of a past webinar and a downloadable tip sheet which summarizes the key takeaways are available now.

Contact information:
Julie Jones: julie@human-i.org
Carl Prophet: carl@prophetgroup.ca

Introducing a new season of DocTalks: A Doctors of BC podcast.

This season on DocTalks, we are changing it up. 
Our president, Dr Ramneek Dosanjh, be hosting video podcasts with fellow colleagues from across the province about health care topics that matter most to BC doctors, like the opioid crisis, diversity and inclusion, adverse childhood experiences, and tech and innovation. 
And we will be releasing new audio podcasts in this feed to support our doctors with practical, need-to-know information from expert guests about running a business. 
Watch for these exciting episodes coming soon. 
Subscribe to DocTalks: A Doctors of BC podcast on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With the added stressors placed on children, youth, and families by the COVID-19 pandemic, more attention has been focused on the adverse impact on the mental health and wellness of our young people. Protecting and mitigating the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has been a prime concern for many physicians.    But there’s a long way to go to educate and build skills to mitigate ACEs, and to ensure supports are implemented to prevent them from occurring in the first place. 
Dr Uyeda is a member of a Child and Youth Mental Health Community of Practice involving 270 physicians who work to improve care for BC’s children youth and families. She continues to educate parents, counsellors, teachers, and physicians with her research and findings. 
Resources:

• Feelings First campaign
• Dr Nadine Burke Harris – How Childhood Trauma affects health across a lifetime
• Dr Vincent Feletti – How childhood trauma can make you a sick adult
• Collaborative Toolbox – ACEs Resources
• Beyond the Cycle of Trauma with Dr Erika Cheng
• The Brain Story - Alberta Family Wellness
• Therapist Uncensored Podcast
  • Recommended episodes
    • Episode 5 and 6: How Attachment Impacts Adult Relationship Part 1 & 2 
    • Episode 75: Mentalizing - Critical Component for Secure Relating
    • Episode 102: Finding Neurological Safety through Relationships
    • Episode 112: The Life-Changing Science of Memory Reconsolidation with Guests Bruce Ecker & Tori Olds 
    • Episode 141: How We Become the Persons We Are with Dr Sroufe, Attachements Through the Lifespan

  Books:

• Becoming Attached by Robert Karen
• Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive by Daniel J. Siegel and Mary Hartzell
• What to Say to Kids When Nothing Seems to Work by Dr Ashley Miller and Dr Adele Lafrance
• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk
•  The Boy who was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz

As the COVID-19 vaccines roll out across BC and the rest of Canada, there are significant concerns about vaccine hesitancy. If too many people are unwilling to get the vaccine because of those concerns, everyone’s safety is compromised.    In this episode of DocTalks, we speak to vaccine safety scientist, Dr Julie Bettinger, and family doctors, Dr Birinder Narang and Dr Baldev Sanghera, about the critical role doctors play in vaccine acceptance among patients. What are the best ways to approach patients about getting their shot? What are some of the issues that influence a patient’s decision to get vaccinated or not? How does race, culture, and religion play a part in these decisions? How has media and misinformation informed people’s view of the vaccine?   Our guests delve into the complex subject of vaccine hesitancy, and share evidence-based information to help doctors feel prepared to have productive conversations with their patients. 
Interested in this interview, but don’t have time to listen to the podcast? A summary of the conversation can be found here.

Resources

• This is Our Shot Campaign: https://thisisourshot.ca/ 
• New immunization fee for vaccine advice: https://bcfamilydocs.ca/covid-19-immunization-advice-fee/
• Doctors of BC resources about vaccines:
  • Answers for patients: https://www.doctorsofbc.ca/covid-19-vaccine-answers-patients
  • Answers for doctors: https://www.doctorsofbc.ca/covid-19-vaccine-answers-doctors
  • Vaccine office toolkit: https://www.doctorsofbc.ca/covid-19-vaccine-office-toolkit
  • COVID-19 latest news from the PHO: https://www.doctorsofbc.ca/covid-19-vaccine-latest-news#tab-0-0 
• Articles about the impact of historical trauma on vaccine hesitancy:
  •  “Medical experimentation and the roots of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Indigenous Peoples in Canada.” https://www.cmaj.ca/content/193/11/E381
  • “Beyond Tuskegee — Vaccine Distrust and Everyday Racism.” https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMpv2035827

If you are a doctor who needs mental health support, you can call the Physician Health Program’s 24-hour helpline at 1-800-663-6729, or email info@physicianhealth.com.

As doctors across BC try to meet the unprecedented demands that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on them, reports of physician burnout are increasing. But what does burnout actually look like? How do you recognize the early warning signs so you can take steps to prevent it? And where do doctors go for help?   In this episode of DocTalks, psychiatrist Dr Jennifer Russel and family doctor Dr Lawrence Yang share  their perspectives about how burnout affects doctors, how to recognize it, and what steps to take to minimize the impact. From personal coping strategies, to implementing leadership and QI methodology, and advocating for system-wide enhancements, our guests share what methods they’ve adopted  – both in their personal and professional lives – to stay well, and what supports are available to doctors that can really made a difference.
Interested in this interview, but don’t have time to listen to the podcast? A summary of the conversation can be found here.

Resources:  Physician Health Program

• 24 hour confidential helpline: 1-800-663-6729

Doctors of BC Physician Burden policy paper Canadian Medical Protection Association Physician Quality Improvement Sauder School of Business: Physician Leadership Program GPSC Leadership and Management Training Practice Support Program