Director, Medical Staff Development Initiatives, Provincial Health Services Authority; Canada

Bethina has worked in the area of healthcare redesign and quality improvement, with a special focus on physician engagement for over fifteen years. She began her career leading regional-wide quality collaboratives, modelled on the IHI Breakthrough Series framework. Her initial focus was on primary care and improving proactive access and management for patients with chronic diseases. She then supported the Shared Care Committee of BC, bringing family physicians and specialists together to improve access to specialty care and transitions in care for patients. Her projects there ran the gamut from working on the delivery of a new regional orthopaedic care model to supporting communities to set up local action teams focused on child and youth mental health. Currently, Bethina oversees the Quality Improvement programs under Medical Affairs at the Provincial Health Services Authority (through partnerships with the Specialist Services Committee). Her work has included co-developing and teaching a quality improvement curriculum for medical staff, co-developing a coaching consultation approach for QI, and providing QI expertise and leadership on province wide and regional quality improvement initiatives with a particular focus on specialized healthcare services including cancer care, mental health, women’s healthcare, and paediatric services. From a systems approach, she is working with her colleagues to build structured networks that can sustain improvement gains and leverage the expertise of QI trained providers and leaders. She is also an IHI Improvement Advisor.