As part of their work on the Residential Care Initiative, South Okanagan Similkameen Division doctors began undertaking meaningful medication reviews in local facilities. The resulting changes to patients’ prescriptions caused an increase in the number of medications being returned to pharmacies for disposal—an issue physicians soon realized could be solved by a simple policy change impacting how medications are ordered during the prescribing process.

Doctors of BC is pleased that the Premier’s promise during the election last fall to eliminate routine sick notes is coming into fruition—an issue that Doctors of BC has spent more than ten years advocating for. Not only is writing thousands of sick notes to service employer absenteeism policy not a productive use of doctors’ limited time, but it places an unnecessary burden on an already overburdened healthcare system.

Dr James Card believes that if you train medical residents in rural communities, they will stay.

That’s the premise of the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Rural Immersion Program, which started July 1, 2024, and offers a different twist to a traditional residency. Rather than placing learners in large referral centres with some rotation in a smaller community, residents learn in a smaller community and visit specialists in larger hubs when needed.

Dr Baldev Sanghera and Dr Evan Adams were both recognized for outstanding service by receiving King Charles III’s Coronation Medal.

Primary care nurse practitioners in BC are eligible for compensation for time spent attending primary care meetings and activities hosted by divisions of family practice. The funding comes from the Nurse and Nurse Practitioners of BC’s (NNPBC) NP Provincial Initiatives Program (NP-PIP) and there are two funding streams:

A member of the East Kootenay Division of Family Practice, Dr Greg Andreas is a family doctor who practices in Cranbrook. His journey through medicine is a story of compassion, growth, and a deep-seated commitment to understanding what truly matters to his patients.

FPSC is accepting applications for medical office staff to take the Panel Management for Family Practice program through the University of Fraser Valley.

The program consists of five modules with a final quality improvement project implemented in-practice. It offers practical, skills-based training designed to meet the competencies of a panel manager, including basics of the patient medical home and primary care network, empanelment, registry-based care, and proactive and preventative care.

FPSC has announced important updates about supports for inpatient care. These updates are a follow-up to the information communicated in the June 7 FPSC Special Update.

• Read more: Update on FPSC Transition Funding and On-Call/ Availability Funding for Inpatient Care.