Earlier this month, 32 graduates celebrated completing this year’s MSPEI Leadership Development Program. Over the past eight months, these 19 physicians and 13 health administrative leaders embarked on a learning journey, as they collaborated on identifying solutions to some of our healthcare system’s most complex problems. For the first time ever, MSPEI’s leadership program cohort connected physicians and health administrative leaders.
While acquiring new skills and completing group projects were valuable, most program graduates spoke to the trust building and connections formed as key program takeaways. Stripping away titles and system hierarchies, this year’s graduates teamed up with a shared commitment to improve the healthcare delivery on PEI.
“Truly after 20 years in the healthcare system and just a few months into my first formal leadership role, I wasn’t sure how this program would progress,” said Nurse Practitioner Shannell MacKinnon, Director, Nurse Practitioner Clinical Practice and Education at Health PEI, and program graduate. “Eight months and personal growth later, I would say unequivocally that if you could recreate this course on grand scales, it could be the secret to the success of our healthcare system. The learning was phenomenal, but it was the connections and relationships built that brought it to the next level. Understanding each other and our roles is great but understanding each other as humans is what opened my mind to the possibilities of what we could do collectively.”
The intensive program focused on leading and operating in a complex environment; strengthening intra-professional culture and communication; change leadership; inclusive/trauma informed leadership; and financial acumen. Participants also had access to sessions with an executive leadership coach.
The final group projects focused on a broad range of topics including, supporting physicians who experience adverse events; the development of an onboarding process for new physicians; the creation of an early pregnancy assessment clinic; access to care for complex needs; equipping primary care to address substance use; the process from acute care to long-term care; and the development of daytime emergency surgical care.
MSPEI places high value in helping physicians be strong and effective health system leaders. Research shows that by being meaningfully engaged and influencing the system in which you work contributes to higher professional satisfaction and reduces physician burn-out.
Congratulations to the following graduates of the MSPEI Leadership Development Program:
Dr. Heather Austin; Linda Beyer; Dr. Ajoy Biswas; Dr. Spencer Brown; Terry Campbell; Dr. Martha Carmichael; Cody Clinton; Jeffery Clow; Mary Laura Coady; Julie Cole; Dr. Gina Colbourne; Dr. Ibrahim Elaraoud; Jonathan Fitzpatrick; Dr. Heather Flieger; Dr. Nicole Green; Dr. Jane Hennessey; Dr. Avron Heyman; Lorna Hutt; Dr. Sandra Jadin; Rebecca Jesseman; Lauren Kelly Weyman; Dr. Michael Kilcup; Eileen Larkin; Shannell MacKinnon; Dr. Patrick McCrea; Dr. Nichole Murphy; Dr. Laura Neumann; Dr. Javier Salabarria; Dr. Steve Scales; Dr. Mitchell Stewart; Chelsea Whitty; and Dr. Andrew Wohlgemut
Special thanks to our well-respected program faculty members: Dr. Paul Mohapel, PhD; Dr. Mamta Gautam, MD, MBA, FRCPC, CPDC, CCPE, CPE; Dr. Scott Comber, PhD; Dr. Gillian Kernaghan, MD, CCFP, FCFP, CCPE, LLD; Ms. Jodi Ploquin, MSc, Certified Workplace Traumatologist, CHE; Dr. Jennifer J. Williams, BSc, MD, FRCPC; Dr. Jeffrey Hoch, PhD; Dr. Ian McKillop, MASc, PhD, FRSPH; Mr. Phil Cady, CD, BSW, MA (Leadership), DSocSci; and Dr. Johny Van Aerde, MD, MA, PhD, FRCPC; and Faculty Lead Dr. Michael Gardam, MD, CM, MSc, FRCPC, CHE. Thank you as well to Ms. Lindsay MacPhee-Currie from CMA.
This program was made possible in part from a multi-year Affinity Fund provided by CMA, MD Management, and Scotiabank in conjunction with Master Agreement Article D4 Healthy Physician Workforce funding