Creating Space for Doctors to Be Doctors: A Cumulative Impact Lens on Physician Demands

December 2022
Professional Satisfaction | Policy Paper
PDF icon Link (1.15 MB)

Doctors of BC Position: Physicians are faced with a growing number of demands that can lead to unmanageable time constraints, and expectations to deliver beyond what can be reasonably expected in a single day. Many of these demands, such as paperwork, charting, and EMR management, do not allow physicians time to provide the best possible patient care, and can negatively affect physician wellbeing. Doctors of BC calls on all health care stakeholders to carefully consider how any new ask or proposed change may affect the wider health care system’s accessibility and quality. Health care stakeholders are encouraged to use the Burdens Solutions Tool, a new framework for assessing new, existing, and potential demands on physician time.

Addressing Challenges to Surgical Care

November 2022
Access to Care | Policy Statement
PDF icon Link (542.89 KB)

Doctors of BC Position: Doctors of BC recognizes the surgical care challenges in BC, including growing wait lists, surgical wait-times, and the shortage of health care staff and the additional burdens on surgeons, anesthesiologists, and other health care providers. To address these concerns, Doctors of BC calls on the BC Ministry of Health and health authorities to meaningfully engage and collaborate with physicians at various levels to ensure surgical plans are appropriate; implement strategies to recruit and retain health care staff; provide physicians with the necessary resources and infrastructure to deliver quality patient care; and, increase transparency related to wait-list data.

Physician Burdens

February 2021
Professional Satisfaction | Policy Statement
PDF icon Link (663.53 KB)

Doctors of BC Position: Physicians are faced with a growing number of demands that can lead to unmanageable time constraints and expectations to deliver beyond what can be reasonably expected in a single day. Doctors of BC encourages all health care stakeholders to carefully consider how any new ask or proposed change may ripple through the health care system to impact quality and accessibility of care and physician workflow using a ‘cumulative impact lens’ prior to implementation.

Wait Times and Patient Care Guarantees

February 2012
Access to Care | Policy Statement
PDF icon Link (152.68 KB)

Doctors of BC Position: Wait times continue to be an issue of significant concern in the BC health system. In order to guarantee patient care, Doctors of BC supports treating patients within established wait time benchmarks for key services and/or procedures, and this should be supported by the option to use another public or private facility if needed to meet the benchmark.

Emergency Department Overcrowding Policy Statement

July 2011
Access to Care | Policy Statement
PDF icon Link (167.94 KB)

Doctors of BC Position: Doctors of BC encourages the provincial government to mitigate emergency department wait times and overcrowding, by considering measures such as establishing maximum length of stay benchmarks, overcapacity protocols, bed optimization strategies, and expanding availability of functional acute care beds.

Improving Access to Acute Care Services

July 2011
Access to Care | Policy Statement
PDF icon Link (208.81 KB)

Doctors of BC Position: Due to an aging population and increasing case complexity, there is a growing need for access to acute care services. Doctors of BC calls on the provincial government to establish modeling for the supply of functional acute care beds, account for increased need for acute care beds, and provide the necessary infrastructure and resources to ensure patients timely access of acute care beds.

Improving Access to Acute Care Services

August 2008
Access to Care | Policy Paper
PDF icon Link (249.26 KB)

Doctors of BC Position: Doctors of BC supports a number of recommendations on improving acute care services in BC. Efforts to improve access to acute care must focus on establishing wait time benchmarks for acute care, increasing supply of acute care beds, managing beds effectively, investing in community-based care, and improving government accountability. To better predict areas of need and to better allocate acute care resources, additional data collection and modelling is needed that is based on the realities of the practice setting and should be developed in collaboration with practicing physicians.