General Information

The Executive Medical Director, Quality & Safety reports to the Chief Medical Officer(s) of BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre (C&W). This role works in a dyadic relationship with the C&W Director, Quality, Patient Safety and Accreditation, and in collaboration with operational and medical leaders across PHSA.

The Executive Medical Director leads the design, implementation and evaluation of quality and safety programs that drive medical staff engagement and development, and strategies to create a culture of engaged medical staff within the organization. This role works to develop and leverage a keen understanding of physician groups including people, culture, systems, capabilities, performance, data analytics, challenges, and barriers to success. The incumbent uses this understanding to facilitate development of strategies, in conjunction with internal and external stakeholders, to positively influence medical staff engagement in decision-making related to quality and safety initiatives.

Specific Accountabilities

Administrative Leadership

Work closely and collaborate with PHSA corporate services to ensure appropriate quality assurance, risk management, and patient safety strategies are in place.
Lead activities to improve clinical quality, safety and ongoing performance, in collaboration with the Director of Quality, Patient Safety and Accreditation and the Chief Operating Officer(s).
Organize and direct quality improvement policies, procedures and guidelines. Ensure the development and management of program-based clinical quality programs.
Assesses policies from a quality, risk and safety perspective and establish management, administrative and reporting procedures for use by operational managers.
Create a culture of informed risk-taking and heightened awareness of risk management policies and structures and use of advanced practices, through educational programs, training and communication processes, and mentoring directed at management.
Clinical Practice

Support the integration of research and evaluation of clinical practice improvement initiatives to ensure consistent application of evidence-based care aligned to the research and academic mandate of the organization.
Champion the development of tools to support evidence-based practice with medical staff. Together with the Director of Quality, lead and monitor the development and deployment of quality improvement programs, continually benchmarking against best-in-class models and tools, resulting in constant improvement of PDSA cycle across CW.
Patient Safety

Oversee all aspects of Patient Safety monitoring and improvement.
Lead physician and provider engagement in accreditation activities to ensure alignment with national standards and promoting interdisciplinary ownership of quality and safety priorities.
A key responsibility includes oversight of critical patient safety event reviews, ensuring rigorous analysis, timely learning, and system level improvements.
Build positive, inclusive safety cultures, facilitating interprofessional teamwork and staff empowerment.
Reporting & Metrics

Recommend and review a balanced set of key performance and monitoring indicators for patient safety, clinical quality, infection control, ethics, patient/family experience, and staff/provider engagement for CW.
Work collaboratively with Provincial Digital Health and Information Services (PDHIS), the Associate CMIO and Clinical Informatics in the planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of digital health strategies: supporting patient care and research activities ensuring quality & safety is incorporated throughout.
Committees

Sits as a member of the BCW Best Practices Committee to inform its work.
Chair the site-specific BCCH and BCW Quality and Safety Committees, and other Quality and Safety Committees as required. Ensure there are reliable systems to monitor, review, evaluate and continually improve patient safety and quality of care, ensure compliance to regulations and standards, and manage organizational risk.
Attend the hospital MAC reporting on quality and safety as a delegated responsibility of the CMO(s).
Attend other committees related to the role, as agreed with C&W Leadership.


Qualifications

This position requires a Medical Doctor degree with current licensure or eligibility for licensure with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, and 5+ years of experience in a senior leadership role. Experience leading quality improvement and patient safety initiatives within a complex healthcare environment is required.

The successful candidate will also demonstrate a commitment to beginning and continuing their personal learning journey related to Indigenous-specific racism and dismantling systems of oppression, as well as addressing racism more broadly. Shows willingness to articulate and share their learning experiences to contribute to a culture of motivation and inspiration among peers.

As a strong asset for consideration, we are looking for our successful candidate to have: Foundational knowledge of the social, economic, and political realities of settler-colonialism and its impacts on Indigenous peoples and equity-deserving groups within social and health contexts. Understands the impact of social determinants of health-on-health outcomes. Shows a commitment to learning about and upholding legislative obligations and provincial commitments outlined in foundational documents such as the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (2015), In Plain Sight (2020), BC's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2019), United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Reclaiming Power and Place: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls Calls for Justice (2019), the Declaration Act Action Plan, Remembering Keegan: A First Nations Case Study, the BC Human Rights Code, Anti-Racism Data Act, and the Distinctions Based Approach.

Contact

Applications, accompanied by a cover letter, detailed curriculum vitae, and the name, title, rank and contact information of four references, should be directed to: HEABC

About Provincial Health Services Authority

BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre is dedicated to improving the health of women, newborns and families through a comprehensive range of services, research and education. BC Children’s Hospital provides care for the most seriously ill or injured children and youth from across British Columbia. BC Women’s Hospital and BC Children’s Hospital are both part of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA).

PHSA plans, manages and evaluates specialized health services with the BC health authorities to provide equitable and cost-effective health care for people throughout the province. Our values reflect our commitment to excellence and include: Respect people – Be compassionate – Dare to innovate – Create equity – Be courageous.


BC Women’s Hospital, BC Children’s Hospital and PHSA are committed to anti-racism and equity in our hiring and employment practices. With learning and compassion, we are addressing existing inequities and barriers throughout our systems. PHSA is seeking to create a diverse workforce and to establish an inclusive and culturally safe environment. We invite applications and enquiries from all people, particularly those belonging to the historically, systemically, and/or persistently excluded groups identified under the B.C. Human Rights Code.

One of PHSA’s North Star priorities is to eradicate Indigenous-specific racism, which includes ongoing commitments to Indigenous recruitment and employee experience as well as dismantling barriers to health care employment at every level. We welcome Indigenous individuals to apply and/or contact the Sanya’k̓ula Team (Indigenous Recruitment & Employee Experience) for support at ***@phsa.ca (🔒 Premium).

Indigenous-specific anti-racism initiatives are rooted in addressing the unique forms of discrimination, historical and ongoing injustices, and exclusion faced by Indigenous peoples. These initiatives align with an Indigenous rights-based approach, recognizing the inherent rights and title of BC First Nations and self-determination of all First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. PHSA is mandated to uphold legislative obligations and provincial commitments found in the foundational documents including the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (2015), In Plain Sight (2020), BC's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2019), United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Reclaiming Power and Place Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls Calls for Justice (2019), the Declaration Act Action Plan and Remembering Keegan: A First Nations Case Study.

Qualifications:
Current College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) License (Full); Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) (Mandatory); Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC) (Mandatory)