October

In 2020, WorkSafeBC’s Hand Therapy Program treated 4630 injured workers, slightly fewer than the 4841 treated in 2019. The goal: to provide timely, specialized treatment to help injured workers get back on the job as soon as it is safe to do so. The program is delivered through our contracted network of 46 hand therapy clinics around the province. These clinics, staffed by certified hand therapists, provide services to workers who have sustained injuries to the upper extremity, below shoulder level.

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Doctors of BC published a policy paper on integrating physicians in disaster preparedness and health emergency management back in 2018.[1] The current pandemic has again put a spotlight on this important discussion. As we plan for the postpandemic world, we need to increase disaster preparedness and health emergency management awareness, not only among physicians, but also among medical students and residents.

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Surgical patient optimization is a multidisciplinary, structured, and personalized prehabilitation program designed to assist patients in preparing for surgery. Prehabilitation before major surgery can lead to a faster recovery, better patient experiences and outcomes, and savings for the health care system. Best practices for surgical prehabilitation focus on both mental and physical aspects of surgery by decreasing presurgical risk factors and increasing a patient’s functional capacity.

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When working in their community offices, specialists can access free spoken language interpreting services as part of a 1-year pilot project, funded by the Specialist Services Committee (SSC)—a partnership of Doctors of BC and the BC government.

SSC is providing $50 000 for this pilot project in response to physicians’ feedback about supporting the delivery of safe and equitable patient care to diverse populations. Previously, this service was available to specialists who chose to pay privately or who work within the boundaries of health authority sites.

Researchers at UBC have found a way to reduce organ rejection following a transplant by using a polymer to coat blood vessels on the organ to be transplanted. The polymer substantially diminished rejection of transplants in mice when tested by collaborators at SFU and Northwestern University.