Six VCH staff to present at WEDOC on April 16-17

The 5th Annual Western Emergency Department Operations Conference (WEDOC) is being held on April 16 and 17, 2015 at the Morris J. Wosk Centre in Vancouver with the theme, “Ahead of the Crowd”. Six VCH staff will be presenting this year, including Vancouver Acute COO Vivian Eliopoulos.

The goal of the conference this year is to bring local, national and international experts together to address one of the most important health care issues facing Canadians in the 21st century: system-wide overcrowding.

“WEDOC is one of the only conferences in Canada that focuses on ED process improvements and efficiencies,” says Cynthia Startup, Director of Regional Clinical Services Planning/Strategic Development Emergency/Trauma and one of this year’s presenters. “The conference is in Vancouver this year and, as the topics are relevant to ED, Access, Primary, Community and Mental Health staff, we’d like to see VCH folks come out and participate.”

The conference is a collaborative effort between four western provinces and five major western universities. No other similar event in Canada brings together patients, healthcare providers, managers, decision and policy makers to create a common understanding and awareness of the biggest Emergency Department issues.

Highlighted speakers include:

• Vivian Eliopoulos, RN, Chief Operating Officer, Vancouver Acute, Vancouver Coastal Health
• Cynthia Startup, RN, Director, Emergency Regional Services Planning, Vancouver Coastal Health
• Eric Grafstein, MD, FRCPC, Regional Head, Emergency Medicine, Vancouver Coastal Health (Co-Chair)
• Sherry Stackhouse, RN, Emergency Nurse Clinician & Educator, Emergency Department, Lions Gate Hospital, North Vancouver BC
• Julian Marsden, MD, FCFP (EM), Physician Operations Lead; Emergency Department, St Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver BC (Co-Chair)
• Craig Mitton, PhD, Director, UBC Master of Health Administration & Senior Scientist, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation
• Alecs Chochinov, MD, FRCPC, Head, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB
• Matthew Cooke, MD, Professor of Clinical Systems Design, Warwick Medical School; Deputy Medical Director Strategy and Transformation) Heart of England, NHS
• Marko Duic, MD CCFP (EM) Chief, Dept of Emergency Medicine, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Newmarket Ontario
• Drew Digney MD, CCFP(EM), Island Health Executive Medical Director – Access and Care Transition, Nanaimo BC 
• Brian H. Rowe, MD, MSc, CCFP(EM), FCCP; Professor, Department of Emergency, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
• James Stempien, MD, FCFP (EM), Head, Emergency Medicine, Saskatoon Health Region, Saskatoon, SK

For more information on the conference or to register, please visit: http://ubccpd.ca/course/wedoc-2015