About Primary Care:
The Department of Primary Care works with and supports family physicians so they can do their best work within Island Health-owned, operated and affiliated sites.
Led by Department Head Dr. William Cunningham, the Department of Primary care monitors the quality of medical care provided to patients by department members at all Island Health sites. The department establishes policies and procedures in consultation with the department's members/division heads and reports regularly on the activities of the department to the Health Authority Medical Advisory Committee and to the Island Health Board.
The Department of Primary Care is responsible for:
- Quality assurance
- credentialing and privileging, performance reviews, professional behaviour, standards of care
- Quality improvement
- Teaching/Continuing Professional Development
- Research
- Human resource planning
Department Head, Dr. William Cunningham can be reached at: William.cunningham@islandhealth.ca
You might also be interested in:
Welcome to Primary Care:
If you have suggestions for improvement of our website please reach out to me at William.cunningham@islandhealth.ca. Please look at the four attached documents that let you look at the work we do and where and how.
What you need to practice in the Department of Primary Care:
- Primary Care - Report to the Health Authority Medical Advisory Committee (HAMAC), April 2021
- Primary Care Credentialing Guideline PC-001
- Unique Value of FPs
- Indigenous1 cultural safety, cultural humility, and anti-racism (Courses and Videos):
- SELF-REFLECTIVE PRACTICE (IT STARTS WITH ME)
- BUILDING KNOWLEDGE THROUGH EDUCATION
- ANTI-RACIST PRACTICE (TAKING ACTION)
- CREATING SAFE HEALTH CARE EXPERIENCES
- PERSON-LED CARE (RELATIONAL CARE)
- STRENGTHS-BASED AND TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICE (LOOKING BELOW THE SURFACE)
Clinical Resources
BC Guidelines are clinical practice guidelines and protocols that provide recommendations to B.C. practitioners on delivering high quality, appropriate care to patients with specific clinical conditions or diseases.
Island Health Clinical Order Sets are available on the intranet.
Choosing Wisely Canada is the national voice for reducing unnecessary tests and treatments in health care.
The Therapeutics Initiative was established in 1994 by the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in cooperation with the Department of Family Practice at The University of British Columbia with its mission to provide physicians and pharmacists with up-to-date, evidence-based, practical information on prescription drug therapy.
UpToDate is a clinical decision support resource.
Spectrum is a mobile app that is customized to deliver local antimicrobial stewardship guidelines, resistance data and dosing information.
Do Bugs Need Drugs? is a community program for wise use of antibiotics.
The BC Emergency Medicine Network connects BC emergency practitioners with each other and with current, practical resources via four core programs: Clinical Resources (includes procedural videos), Innovation, Continuing Professional Development, and Real-Time Support – all integrated under one roof.