Funding

Thanks to Facility Engagement funding, the South Island MSA offers multiple ways for physicians to transform their grassroots ideas into reality.

If you have an idea, but don’t know how to best make it happen in Island Health, plan a Walk a Doc with a member of the Administrative team.
To work with physician colleagues in a different division or department on ways to improve your shared work, plan an Interdepartmental Meetup.
When you feel ready to dive in to a topic, put in an application for an Engagement Project.

Walk a Doc

What is it?

Sometimes the best ideas need some one-on-one time to talk them through and set them up for success. With Walk a Doc, we help you find the right person in Island Health to chat with, buy you each a coffee, and pay you for your one-hour walk and talk. We even have maps of good walks!

What could it look like?

  • A physician has an idea for a new service or clinic that would improve patient care and optimize clinical teams.
  • An Island Health leader has been told that funding has been made available for a specific patient population, but doesn’t know the best way to use it.
  • A physician would like to understand why a particular Island Health process has been designed.

How does it work?

Send us an email outlining your idea and who, if anyone, you think might be a good connection. We’ll connect the two of you so you can set up the best time to talk. After your Walk a Doc, complete a short evaluation to let us know how it went, and send us your coffee receipt. We’ll take care of the rest!

Interdepartmental Meetups

What is it?

Meetings between groups of doctors from different departments can provide different perspectives on shared issues, and can form new and stronger connections among the medical staff. We want to support these conversations to improve the care of shared patients, define best practices, revisit protocols, streamline workflows, and create efficiencies.

  • Two departments who work closely together have noticed challenges due to recent protocol changes. They meet to discuss how to better adapt their shared work to the mandate.
  • A particular patient brings together physicians from 5 different divisions, exposing challenges in providing coordinated care to this patient. They meet to determine how to better streamline their teams’ workflows next time.
  • A division anticipates needing to work more closely with another because of a new procedure. Representatives from each team meet to determine what that could look like.

How does it work?

Step 1: Think about a team who you want to be able to work more collaboratively with, or about a problem that needs to be solved that requires more than just your department. Discuss within both teams who should be at the table for these discussions.

Step 2: Contact us to see if your proposed meeting fits what we’re able to fund. While a formal proposal isn’t required, knowing the number of people involved and the goals of the conversation will help us ensure we meet the FE guidelines (we cannot fund gatherings that are primarily social).

Step 3: If your meeting is accepted, we will work with you to ensure a productive meeting. Options include using our Discussion Guide or having one of our Project Managers support your conversation. Please note that we cannot fund external facilitators.

Step 4: Once you’ve completed a short evaluation of the meeting, we will submit the paperwork for 1 hour sessional for participants, and up to $35 per person for meals (excluding alcohol).

Step 5: We’ll share a brief summary of the meeting on our website, to inspire other teams and to ensure transparency.

Engagement Projects

What is it?

The South Island MSA has focused its Facility Engagement funding towards grassroots physician-led engagement and quality improvement projects.  Since 2017, hundreds of projects have been launched by South Island physicians looking to improve their workplace, relationships, and patient care.  By offering $10,000 micro-grants with a one-year time limit, the South Island MSA/FEI Society is able to support physician-led improvement across the region, sometimes supporting work that also fits within Health System Redesign, Physician Quality Improvement, or other funding streams.

What could it look like?

How does it work?

  • South Island MSA physicians submit engagement project proposals here.
  • These are reviewed by our Project Managers, who set the work up for success: Seeking guidance from Island Health, making administrative connections, and ensuring evaluation is built into each project.
  • Proposals are put forward to members of the Working Group for approval at the quarterly meetings.
  • Once the funding is granted, physicians have one year to complete their project, submitting quarterly reports  to keep the Working Group up to date on their progress and to flag issues that our Project Managers can help navigate.
  • Physician time is billed through the Facility Engagement Management System, with payment directly to
  • At the end of the project, physicians complete a final report and a Success Story is written to capture successes, challenges, and outcomes.

To submit a proposal, click here.

To read some of our Success Stories, click here.

To hear some of our Success Stories, click here.

A comprehensive listing of our Engagement Projects can be found here.