Rural Surgical & Obstetrics Networks (RSON)

The Rural Surgical and Obstetrics Networks (RSON) stabilizes, supports and enhances the delivery of quality healthcare to vulnerable rural populations in British Columbia, including Indigenous populations.

Group Photo of OR Crew for Pediatric Dental Journey Video at West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni.
Back Row: Dallas Dalziel, Glenda Bertolucci, Laurel Dunkley, Marla Jaeger, Andrea Massop, Danielle Eely, Rebecca Manuel.

“Loved this interactive session, we will definitely be doing this at our site.”

Participant feedback from the 2024 Quality Forum interactive workshop

Achievements

Surgical and Obstetrics Networks Stabilizing Rural Services

Surgical and obstetrics teams at 10 sites pursued a variety of activities to enhance the quality and sustainability of care in their communities. These activities included:

Peer coaching
Coaching opportunities in higher volume sites
Developing relationships and connections with referral centres
Continuous quality improvement (CQI) projects
Team learning through simulations, team building, skill drills and workshops

Continuous Quality Improvement

RSON teams have continued to use CQI tools, including a maternity tracker, nurse skills surveys and patient experience surveys. These surveys provide real-time data to the local teams to inform CQI projects, planning of local services, and the development of learning and coaching opportunities. The CQI tools support autonomous decision making that aligns with the contextual circumstances of each community. Communities are further enabled to create initiatives that support individual and team priorities relating to the provision of high quality care close to home.

Knowledge Exchange

Through presentations, posters, and workshops teams shared ideas, wise practices, and successful initiatives with other teams, both rural and beyond. During 2024, teams participating in RSON engaged in activities including:

Poster presentations
Speaking at the 2024 Quality Forum hosted by Health Quality BC
A presentation by members of the RSON team at the 2024 Society of Rural Physicians Canada conference on local quality initiatives and the safety net of collaborative maternity tables
Monthly Local Network Coordinator connections to share community activities and support the spread of rural initiatives provincially
Additionally, CQI Nurses presented to the network through CQI Dialogues to promote and discuss rural CQI work

Explore the numbers

10 Communities

During 2024, 10 communities participated in RSON.

8 Presentations & Posters

In 2024, teams created 8 presentations and posters highlighting the work of RSON teams.

100% Positive participant feedback

In a survey following Port Alberni's Escape Room presentation at the 2024 Quality Forum, 100% of responses said they would recommend the session to their colleagues.

89% inspired participants

In a survey following Port Alberni's Escape Room presentation at the 2024 Quality Forum, 89% of responses strongly agreed that they learned new ideas they will be able to apply to their work.

Making a Difference

Three members of the Port Alberni team (Glenda Bertolucci, Danielle Eely and Rebecca Manuel) ran an interactive workshop at Quality Forum in 2024, demonstrating escape rooms as a strategy for team learning and strengthening team relationships, function, and morale. In the workshop they shared the experience of their team in running a postpartum hemorrhage escape room and then ran a participatory live demo for the workshop attendees.

Approximately 80 participants registered for this session at Quality Forum and with such strong positive feedback afterwards, Quality Forum has invited the team back to run the session again in 2025. The escape room concept has also spread through the rural maternity networks and other sites have run their own postpartum escape rooms, adapting the Port Alberni approach. Work is also underway to use the escape room strategy for other topics, including a neonatal stabilization session being developed by the Port Alberni team.

Comments from the 2024 Quality Forum survey for the session included:

“Creative way to consolidate learning and enable team building.”

Participant feedback – 2024 Quality Forum

“Best session at [the] forum!! Super creative.”

Participant feedback – 2024 Quality Forum

Published Research

A mixed-methods descriptive study on the role of CQI in rural surgical and obstetrical stability

Rural patients’ experiences with anesthesia and surgical consultations in BC

Plans for the Future

The RSON and ROAM (Rural Obstetrical & Maternity Sustainability Program) programs will be gradually merged into a single program in spring of 2025. With these changes, we will be continuing to strengthen the provincial network of maternity providers, fostering greater relationships, knowledge exchange, and increased opportunities for collaboration.