FP-Enhanced Surgical Skills & OSS

Rural communities benefit when rural providers are trained in Obstetrical Surgical Skills (OSS) and Family Physician Enhanced Surgical Skills (ESS). These two programs support health equity by allowing rural community members to access care, including maternity services, closer to home.

Obstetrical Skills Bootcamp at BC Women’s Hospital Simulation Centre

“I was so honoured to have joined and this workshop has made me so, so excited to begin practice with such a strong group of inspiring physicians and advocates guiding me!”

Bootcamp participant

Achievements

Obstetrical Skills Bootcamp

In April, we hosted the first Obstetrical Skills Bootcamp at BC Women’s Hospital Simulation Centre. Originally planned as a pilot in spring 2020 and put on hold due to COVID, this two-day workshop hosted nine participants (three recent OSS residents, three current OSS/ESS residents and three incoming OSS residents) with representation from each of the national programs. There were numerous skills stations, didactic presentations, and simulations for the team to take part in – along with great networking opportunities for the group.  

Collaboration

To collaborate across the national OSS/ESS programs, leads from each of the programs (UBC, NOSM, USask, UoM) came together in the fall to debrief on the bootcamp, identify further priorities for the online curriculum, and brainstorm future presentation topics of the ongoing OSS Virtual Rounds (to be rebranded as Rural Surgery Rounds) sessions. 

Growth

The Rural Surgery and Obstetrics mailing group continues to grow, with an increase of 10% in 2023, and new faces consistently joining the ongoing Virtual Rounds. This emerging community of practice has allowed relationships between OSS/ESS providers across provinces to develop, as well as continued to create opportunities for networking between in-practice FP-ESS/OSS providers, rural specialists, and new OSS/ESS residents.

Explore the numbers

8 Sessions

8 OSS Virtual Rounds sessions

55 Real time attendees

55 people attended real time sessions, plus 141 views of recorded sessions

100% satisfaction

100% of bootcamp attendees said it should be offered again

10 locum opportunities

10 OSS locum opportunities were distributed through the mailing list

Partnership Work

The recruitment of speakers for the Virtual Rounds has been a joint effort between the national programs, OSS/ESS providers across provinces, and more recently, the UBC Global Surgery Lab.  

In collaboration with the BC Rural Locums program, the OSS/ESS mailing group has promoted the pilot Rural Enhanced Surgical Skills OB (RESSO) locum program. 

Plans for the Future

As we collaborate more closely with the UBC Global Surgery Lab, Alberta’s RSONA program, and other initiatives supporting family physicians with enhanced skills, the OSS-online.ca site will be rebranded to Rural-Surgery.ca with the virtual rounds becoming Rural Surgery Virtual Rounds. 

This will be paired with the development and release of more ESS-focused surgical modules in collaboration with the Global Surgery Lab, while including new general surgical topics to the virtual rounds in collaboration with the RSONA team. 

The team will continue planning for a future obstetrical skills bootcamp, as well as exploring other workshop opportunities including a possible FP-Colposcopy workshop. 