Specialist Services Committee

Dr Carol Ward

Dr Carol Ward – Geriatric psychiatry and the power of stories

August 12, 2020

As a first year medical student at Queen’s University, Dr Carol Ward’s interaction with an elderly patient named Anna shaped the way she practices geriatric psychiatry.

“I have a very visual memory,” Dr Ward said, thinking back to that day more than 30 years ago when she went on her first...
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Geriatrics, Specialist Services Committee
Dr Matthew Kwok

Dr Matthew Kwok – helping health care providers and patients use the same language in the ER

May 29, 2020

For most people, a visit to the Emergency Room is stressful. Imagine how much more stress you would feel if you don’t speak the language of your health care providers. That is the ongoing challenge at Richmond Hospital’s ER, where over 50% of patients speak mainly Mandarin or Cantonese and...
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Physician Quality Improvement (PQI), Specialist Services Committee

Specialist Services Committee: Patient input crucial to improve quality of care

November 29, 2019

Wendy Alston believes her mother died prematurely as a result of severe delirium. Alston remains convinced that despite the health care team’s best intentions, her active 90-year-old mother’s death was hastened by a misdiagnosis of her original symptoms, the lack of baseline information, and...
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Specialist Services Committee, Physician Quality Improvement
Dr Chris Taylor

Victoria plastic surgeon develops innovative referral service to help patients get faster access to care

October 22, 2019

A new centralized referral service in Victoria funded through the Specialist Services Committee (SSC) is helping patients with skin lesions get quicker access to specialist consultants and allows specialists to better manage their waitlists.

It started in 2015, when plastic surgeon Dr...
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Specialist Services Committee

Facility Engagement: Experiences point to positive change

October 10, 2018

Results of the provincial Facility Engagement Initiative are popping up across the province. Initiated as part of the Physician Master Agreement and administered by the Specialist Services Committee (SSC), it aims to strengthen communication and relationships between hospital-based physicians...
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Specialist Services Committee, facility engagement