Island Health has an exciting Medical Leadership opportunity in the Department of Midwifery. This position encompasses two roles: Division Head and Medical Lead position Geography 1.  There is an expectation of continued clinical practice as a component of this position.

Reporting to and working collaboratively with the Department Head Midwifery, the Division Head works to achieve the highest possible quality of midwifery care at the sites, within the scope of the division’s clinical services and in context of existing teams and resources. 

Main responsibilities of this position:

1. Midwifery workforce planning: Collaboratively monitors and anticipates division workforce needs, and works with the Department Head and Medical Affairs to lead recruitments to address identified needs.
2. Practice standards: Leads development and routine monitoring of midwifery practice standards.
3. Research and education: Supports division members to conduct research and to provide midwifery education.
4. Individual practitioner quality (IPQ): Facilitates continuous improvement of IPQ by leading effective:
   1. Credentialing and privileging activities, including in-depth reviews
   2. Continuing professional development (CPD) activities, including implementing the annual Departmental CPD plan for division members
   3. Practitioner performance enhancement activities, in collaboration with Enhanced Medical Staff Support (EMSS) team
5. Division meetings: Chairs four Geography Midwifery Division meetings with focus on clinical practice and facilities based team building

Reporting to and working collaboratively with the Medical Director for Midwifery, the Medical Lead role works in co-leadership with operational decision makers, to optimize the quality and operations of the midwifery service.  In collaborative partnerships, the Medical Lead works proactively with others to enhance teamwork and to facilitate continuous quality improvement of Midwifery services with in the Geography.  

Main responsibilities of this position:

1. Leadership: Co-leads activities to ensure strong inter-disciplinary collaboration to enable quality team based care in our facilities. Links work with appropriate Division Heads and local and regional perinatal care leaders.

2. Operations & Quality: Implements processes and structures to engage midwives and teams in continuous quality improvement of service delivery. Participation in investigations of team-related PSLS and PCQO events and in local and regional perinatal quality improvement. Co-leads oversight of the Home Birth Supplies program for midwives and sites. 

3. Change Management: Acts as change management ‘champion’ to engage and support midwives  and teams through changes to role, scope and function of midwives to develop, diversify and optimize role of midwives in perinatal care team.

4. Informatics: Leads team activities that advance technology and data use to improve service delivery using the electronic health records (EHR) in collaboration with the Quality Systems team.

5. Planning: Assesses, monitors and anticipates team resource needs and works with medical leaders and administrative leaders to prioritize these needs within available resources.

6. Community: Connects and collaborates with community partners, such as First Nations and the Primary Care Networks, to develop midwifery service plans that are responsive to community needs.