Physician wellness
Peer Support
Peer support is confidential, short-term, non-clinical emotional support for physicians facing personal or professional challenges such as an adverse clinical event, college complaint, life or work transition, or burnout. It is not therapy, clinical advice or mentorship, just supportive conversations with a peer.
Learn more here.
Mentorship
Mentorship is a vital part of a physician’s journey, offering guidance, support and shared wisdom through lived experience. In the Cowichan Valley, doctors find strength in community—learning from one another, fostering professional growth, and creating connections.
CVDFP offers a unique mentorship program, run in conjunction with UBC CAMP (Coaching and Mentoring Program), in the areas of inpatient care and long-term care, for physicians willing to commit to at least a year of facility-based work. Stipends are paid to both mentor and mentee physician participants.
Learn more here.
Practice Supports
CVDFP offers a range of direct practice supports include in-clinic IT/EMR (Med Access) supports; subsidies for HR and Business solutions through established providers; recruitment related expense reimbursement; subsidized Indigenous Cultural Safety program (San’yas); discounted rate with TaliAI; and a range of educational offerings. Please reach out to the CVDFP team to learn more.
Physician engagement
- Monthly pub nights – held the final Thursday of most months, at the Craig Street Brew Pub. Casual drop in gathering starting at 6 pm open to family physicians and specialists alike. CVDFP pays for all food and non-alcoholic beverages. Watch for monthly email reminders!
- Meet the Specialist events – The Cowichan Division of Family Practice, in partnership with our colleagues at the Cowichan District Medical Society (CDMS), are pleased to offer two “Meet the Specialist” educational evenings per year, leveraging local experts to provide informative talks to our medical community. Not accredited but dinner and sessionals are provided.
- Family events – Recognizing the importance of including family, CVDFP and CDMS alternate hosting 2 to 3 family-friendly social events per year. These usually include a family fun day barbecue, a Christmas celebration and summer bike ride.
- New physician liaisons – Through our peer support team and our IMG liaison, CVDFP endeavours to connect with family physicians new to the area to help you navigate your new community and have a point of contact to reach out to with questions that may arise as you settle in.
Watch for announcements and be sure to check out the event calendar for event dates and details.
Long-term Care
Developed in 2015, the FPSC’s Long-term Care Initiative provides funding through Divisions to support LTC in their communities. Such funds support after-hours call, including the formalized LTC call group in central Duncan, plus some quality improvement funding, which CVDFP uses in a variety of ways, including sessional payments for attending education events, for time spent learning the LTC-specific EMR, for hosting open houses/networking events at LTC facilities, and more.
To benefit from LTCI incentives, physicians are expected to adhere to a set of best practice expectations, established by FPSC. Review the Best Practice Expectations and System-Level Outcomes of the LTC initiative on the FPSC’s website, here.
After-hours call: Duncan call-group – In the central Duncan area, all four long-term care facilities are covered by an after-hours call group. Coverage runs from 6:30 pm to 7:00 am on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends and stat holidays. Physicians are assumed to be signing out to the call group, unless they specifically request to do their own call coverage.
Interesting in working call shifts? Click here for more details (document pending)
Call coverage in adjacent communities are coordinated directly through the family practice clinics providing care. These include Ladysmith, Chemainus and Mill Bay.
NOTE: There will be more content and resources to add for LTC, but this hopefully gets the page started
Inpatient Care
Inpatient care in Cowichan District Hospital is supported by a hospitalist contract for the care of unassigned/unattached patients. Providers caring for their own (assigned) inpatients, bill through either Fee for Service or the Longitudinal Family Practice payment models, supplemented with added incentives provided by the Family Practice Services Committee.
A focused inpatient care mentorship program is available through the Division of Family Practice to support those taking on hospital work. Click here to learn more or reach out to the CVDFP team.
Interested in learning more about shift availability and remuneration? Contact CDH Medical Workforce Manager Ali Richardson at Alexandra.Richardson@islandhealth.ca
Cowichan Primary Care Network
Learn more about Cowichan Primary Care Network here.