Engagement in Medical Staff Practice Enhancement

RCCbc Engagement in Medical Staff Practice Enhancement

Patient safety and quality of care are optimized when medical staff are embedded in a culture of continuous learning and practice improvement. Recognizing this, BC health authorities are working toward a harmonized system of feedback and supports, called the Medical Staff Practice Enhancement (MSPE) program. MSPE aims to eventually achieve regular evidence-informed practice reviews with facilitated feedback from a peer mentor for all physicians, nurse practitioners, midwives, and dentists in the health authority system. The Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc) is contributing the “rural perspective” to ongoing discussions on MSPE as a member of the MSPE Advisory Committee. This input, led by Dr. Dietrich Furstenburg, will ensure that rural practitioners’ perspectives and interests are well represented in the rollout of the MSPE program.

Achievements & Impact

Advocated on behalf of rural practitioners at MSPE Advisory Group meetings, focusing on rural generalism, team functioning, representation, and more in the implementation of MSPE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking ahead

Engagement in Medical Staff Practice Enhancement Overview

RCCbc, represented by Dr. Dietrich Furstenburg, attended several MSPE Advisory Committee meetings in 2020–2021. The fact that all medical staff members in the province (full- and part-time staff, and locums), irrespective of their location of practice, will be required to participate in the MSPE initiative, makes advocating their perspectives and interests critically important.

Dr. Furstenburg therefore promoted the following matters during MSPE Advisory Group meetings throughout the year:

  • Rural practitioners, including specialist providers, are almost always generalists.
  • Rural generalist practice models are vastly different to urban specialty and family practice models.
  • Rural team functioning is likely of much greater value than attempting to focus on a small subset of a rural generalist’s clinical practice (e.g., emergency medicine).
  • Rural generalism should be recognized as a discipline and as a defined MSPE group, rather than requesting all rural generalists to engage in various disciplines of MSPE work (e.g., obstetrics, emergency, and family practice office-based work).
  • A Rural Panel of Advisors with medical practitioner representation from each of the rural health authorities should be established.
  • Rural representation at all levels of the MSPE governance model is necessary.
  • The “rural lens” must be applied to all aspects of the MSPE program.
  • MSPE Practice Evaluation Providers/Teams should have appropriate rural practice backgrounds and thorough understanding of the rural practice context and environment.
  • Rural practitioners should have the ability to choose from a pool of Rural Practice Evaluation Providers.

In the coming year, Dr. Furstenburg will step back from his MSPE representation role and transition into a clinical training position. He will work with RCCbc to ensure that its important representation work continues.

How have we shown or built resilience in BC during a challenging year?

“The importance of supporting and enhancing rural generalist practice cannot be overstated. Our rural providers have continued to show incredible dedication to their communities during the pandemic, and any additional work may be perceived as an additional load, which we will struggle to bear. I am hopeful that we will be able to engage and advocate for an approach within MSPE that enhances rural practice, rather than detracting from our social, clinical, and community commitments.”

Dr. Dietrich Furstenburg
Medical Lead, RCCbc Engagement in Medical Staff Practice Enhancement, RCCbc

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Models of Health Service Delivery​