General physician Stacey Kirkman has added a new handle.
And, as the newly appointed chief of medical staff at Shuswap Lake General Hospital, he takes on a large administrative portfolio.
Providing health care, including obstetrics, from the Montebello Medical Clinic since 2004, Kirkman says he needed to challenge himself and contribute more to the community.
As chief of medical staff, Kirkman will liaise between doctors and Interior Health, report on the medical advisory committee to regional committee, vet the doctors for hospital, making sure they are who they say and deal with complaints from doctors and patients.
Kirkman laughingly notes that one of the doctors, dubbed him a VIMP – very important meeting person.
“It will be my responsibility is to attend a fair amount of meetings,” he says, noting that while he will be involved in quality assurance, radiologist and former chief of staff John Wickert will continue to chair the committee. “John has really fine-tuned it… he wants to continue being involved because he made a difference there.”
Appointment to the chief of staff position is usually by acclamation and the fact two doctors were interested speaks very well of the hospital, Kirkman says.
“There’s a pretty good spirit and good collegiality; people step forward when needed and I think our medical staff is supportive and interested,” he says. “I think we’re a happy hospital and it blows me out of the water how much people are willing to give. That’s testament to a small town.”
It is this aspect that appealed to Kirkman when the South African doctor was deciding on where to locate permanently.
“You could potentially do obstetrics and surgery,” he says, pointing out that technological advancements are making this more difficult. “GPs were able to run the show for the most part and be professionally satisfied.”
Kirkman applauds a maternity program that involved educating staff and doctors in all hospital departments to work as part of a team.
“It’s all about quality improvement and getting rid of the hierarchy,” he says.
Kirkman says that while he’s glad SLGH is now able to accommodate some specialists, he’d like to see the addition of others in order to provide the Shuswap’s growing population with more closer-to-home care options.
However, Kirkman says he does not see any big changes taking place in the near future.
“I think it’s just about working on continuing and improving what we’ve got…” I would like to see some of the services expand so we could do more things with cardiology and internal medicine.”
Thanks to the addition of tools such as the CT scanner, the hospital is now being served by four internists, four surgeons and provides “limited” orthopaedics.
Kirkman would like to see the addition of a perhaps a part-time or retired obstetrician – a specialist that would available to provide advice and support to the seven local GPs who provide maternity care.
“Our population is growing and we do get younger people coming into town,” he says.