For community-based physicians, ensuring their offices are healthy and safe workplaces is a key priority. The Community Physician Health and Safety Program (CPHS), created in partnership between Doctors of BC and the Ministry of Health, supports doctors in community offices with this important work by providing tools to enhance business efficiency, streamline workplace health and safety, and achieve compliance with WorkSafeBC and BC’s Occupational Health and Safety regulations—all in a helpful, non-regulatory approach that sets doctors and their teams up for success.
Free clinic health and safety assessments—here to help you
Managed by SWITCH BC, one of the program’s key supports is a free health and safety assessment for community clinics throughout BC. For Dr Karin Kausky, a family physician working in the community-led non-profit clinic Whistler 360 Health, a recent assessment provided peace of mind for her and her team. Dr Kausky is one of nine family physicians working with three nurse practitioners and one long-term locum.
Through the assessment, Dr Kausky and her staff learned how to fine-tune their existing health and safety policies, from best practices regarding storing hazardous materials to labelling and organizing their medical supplies. She said she and her team “really felt that SWITCH BC was there to help and support us. It wasn't intimidating at all.”
The on-site assessment involves touring the clinic space and answering questions about clinical processes with a SWITCH BC health and safety advisor—no pre-work is required. “It was a great experience, and all of us would be happy for SWITCH BC to come back and do an ongoing assessment,” said Dr Kausky, noting that the tools shared by SWITCH BC made the process simple and approachable.
Empowering teams through prioritizing safety
The clinic assessment aims to support doctors in feeling confident about their workplace compliance and identifying strategies to help streamline administrative work for them and their teams. Dr Kausky summed up the experience: “At the end of the day, it gives you a practice setting that complies with regulations and your team will feel much more empowered and confident that they are doing things correctly.”
Carol Leacy, Chair of Whistler 360 Health, echoed the same sentiment, noting that the SWITCH BC team also helped prioritize where the clinic could focus its efforts. “The best part was that they gave us many good tools and tips for implementing changes, so we weren’t starting from scratch. I really don’t see a downside.” Carol added that booking the initial appointment was straightforward and that the SWITCH BC team offered options to fit the clinic’s schedule.
If you are a community-based family physician or specialist who would like to schedule a free Clinic Health and Safety Assessment, book an initial phone or virtual meeting with the CPHS program team. Learn more about the CPHS program and what it has to offer on the SWITCH BC website.
