I have very much enjoyed this course (MHST 601). I enjoyed diving into all the aspects of health from considering the definition of health, to thinking about what determines and influences health and then our work on vulnerable populations. It was very eye opening to me to think about health being part of a larger system comprised of patients, their support systems, the community they live in and so on. It made me realize that we really do have a lot of work to do to advocate for more connectivity and collaborative planning as a local community and province. The topic that was my “a ha” moment and left me wanting to learn more was the vulnerable populations work. Firstly, I did not realize just how many people groups are consider vulnerable in British Columbia. Secondly, this really had me reconsidering some of our approaches to discharge especially when working with individuals who are homeless. Working in acute care, we often need to discharge patients to the streets or shelters once their medical needs have been met to make room for the next patient. Although we assess risk as a team prior to discharge, I had not considered the impact this may have on a person’s recovery. We do see some of these patients represent to hospital and labeled as “not compliant” without considering if they had the means to be compliant or if finding shelter became a larger priority than following the discharge instructions. Several articles that I read also noted how often those that are homeless use the ER as their only health care contact and are unattached to a primary care of family physician. We do a lot of work advertising alternatives to admission with our ER team to reduce ER and hospital crowding. All of this has me thinking about resisting the pressure of push through the system and how to get involved with developing means to connect those that are homeless with a primary care physician. I have already been speaking with colleagues about building our relationship with local shelters and community housing teams since becoming more aware because of this course.
This is my first course in twenty plus years. I definitely had some rust to shake off and found being a student and working tough. I am sure the work demands of the Pandemic also did not help as I have been working additional hours to support my teams and site. At first, I was intimidated and held back from posting in the discussion forums. As I became more familiar with an online learning environment, I started to step out of my comfort zone and contribute. I found my classmates to be intelligent and supportive individuals. I loved connecting with other students in other Provinces and comparing my Province to theirs. I learned that British Columbia is a leader in several areas with Indigenous healthcare being one.
As the first course draws to an end this week I am reminded of all I have achieved in the past few months. Not only did I learn more about the fundamentals of health and healthcare in BC and Canada, I learned how to be a student again. I love that I can apply new knowledge right away in my job and stretch my thinking to be a better healthcare leader.
Thank you MHST 601!
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