HEALTH CARE
Other Saskatchewan physicians also participated in Change
Day. For example, Dr. Werner Oberholzer pledged to have
breakfast with long-term care home residents on his designated round days, while Dr. Kishore Visvanathan pledged
to take two deep breaths when he is about to interrupt a
patient.
The Professional Association of Internes and Residents of
Saskatchewan (PAIRS) voted to formally support Change
Day. PAIRS president Dr. Lei Xia pledged “to stop and ask an-
“...the small actions we take and the
things we say every day also matter.
Combined, those small actions can
make a big difference.”
other physician, health care worker, patient, family member
or resident how their day is going.” Meanwhile, the Student
Medical Society of Saskatchewan (SMSS) made an organizational pledge “to enhance student wellness and aid in building a happy and healthy College of Medicine.” As well, Dr.
Preston Smith, dean of the College of Medicine at the Uni-
versity of Saskatchewan, pledged to “connect with one new
student and one new faculty member each day.”
Shaw is pleased with the participation in the first Saskatchewan Change Day, which resulted in 1,397 pledges that were
posted on the Change Day website at www.skchangeday.
com.
“While health system transformation requires large improvement initiatives, the small actions we take and the
things we say every day also matter. Combined, those small
actions can make a big difference,” she said.
(Shannon Boklaschuk is a communications consultant at the
Health Quality Council. HQC is an independent agency that
measures and reports on the quality of care in Saskatchewan,
promotes improvement and engages its partners in building a
better, safer health system for patients.)
Our New Zealand
COUNTERPARTS
Last February, Dr. Hein Stander, President of the Association of
Salaried Medical Specialists of New Zealand (ASMS) visited the
SMA as a guest of his old friend and colleague SMA President
Dalibor Slavik.
Impressed upon learning that the SMA has a chain of office for
the president, he returned home joking to his colleagues at the
ASMS that the SMA knows how to treat its presidents.
Shortly thereafter his good natured colleagues surprised him
with his own honourary chain of office featuring photos of their
past-