VFMP Hospital Sites Senior Program Assistant

Job Summary

Our Vision: Transforming Health for Everyone.

Ranked among the world’s top medical schools with the fifth-largest MD enrollment in North America, the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a leader in both the science and the practice of medicine. Across British Columbia, more than 12,000 faculty and staff are training the next generation of doctors and health care professionals, making remarkable discoveries, and helping to create the pathways to better health for our communities at home and around the world.

Faculty, staff and trainees are located at university campuses, clinical academic campuses in hospital settings and other regionally- based centres across the province. This position operates as part of the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program (VFMP) and is based in the Fraser region. The incumbent is responsible for providing senior administrative program support for the delivery of UBC MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) activities located in hospital sites across the region.

The incumbent liaises closely with the Vancouver-Fraser team, on-site clinical faculty and staff and collaborates with Years 1 to 4 Curriculum Delivery teams regarding administrative and program development matters. These include fulfilment of day-to-day on-site administrative support for establishment and development of UBC medical education sites in the Vancouver and Fraser regions.

The role requires staff to work with ambiguity and change and prioritizes UBC’s reputation and relationship-building with key internal units and external partners. This position has the option of a hybrid work arrangement once per week when operationally feasible. The primary work location is Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) Burnaby Hospital and may also have some work performed at other hospital sites including Burnaby Royal Columbian Hospital and Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH), along with occasional Vancouver-based sites including Leslie Gordon Diamond Healthcare Centre and UBC campus.

Organizational Status

As part of the VFMP, this position reports to the Senior Manager, VFMP and is supervised by the VFMP Hospital Sites Team Lead. They will work closely and collaboratively with the our Hospital Sites team, Clinical Skills and Patient Programs team, UBC VFMP staff and faculty, respective UBC Departments and Directors, and other distributed staff in the region. The incumbent liaises regularly with staff and faculty in affiliate hospitals across the Vancouver-Fraser region to ensure consistent delivery of MD education across clinical sites and years.

Work Performed

Curriculum Delivery and Teaching Support Responsibilities

• Organizes and assists with scheduling academic teaching sessions (in-person, virtual and hybrid) including room bookings as per the Faculty of Medicine room schedule
• Coordinates activities for on-site Clinical Skills and SIM teaching sessions including recruiting tutors, communicating with patient recruiters, booking appropriate rooms, taking attendance, sending out email communications, and performing set-up and take downs for each session
• Acts as a primary on-site contact and resource for the teaching faculty and patients (Standardized Patients, Volunteer Patients and Clinical Teaching Associates), to meet and welcome them and answer queries relating to their participation in the teaching session.
• Ensure that all appropriate medical supplies and equipment necessary for clinical experiences are stocked and available in the SIM rooms for scheduled educational sessions
• Corresponds with students, tutors, and patients to confirm session details and distribute learning materials for Clinical Experiences teaching sessions.
• Supports classroom-based sessions (such as academic half-days, TIPP, Family Medicine seminars, portfolio) including assisting faculty, patients and external partners in a prompt and helpful manner and prepared to respond with little or no notice
• Provides support and troubleshooting for issues related to audio-visual and other equipment; respond to and resolve issues as they arise
• Coordinates on-site faculty development sessions at Vancouver or Fraser hospital sites in collaboration with the Vancouver-Fraser faculty development team
• Participates in curriculum planning and debrief meetings to present site-specific feedback and evaluation.

Scheduling Responsibilities

• Prepares and coordinates scheduling, including recruitment and administrative support for Year 3 and 4 UBC students and Out-of-Province (both International and Canadian) rotational and elective students in the MD undergraduate on-site; works in collaboration with UBC departments to coordinate schedules and other tasks as appropriate; Coordinates the site schedule of all undergrad students on site and tracks via one45, as required.
• Fulfills responsibilities as an elective owner with One45 as per the elective guidelines for UBC and visiting students
• Liaises with the UBC Visiting Student Elective Program (VSEP) regarding any changes to visiting student elective placements, elective offerings, or issues arising while on placement.
• Liaises with clinical departments and preceptors for accepting additional trainees and verifies rotation capacity.
• Tracks capacity placement for year 4 electives at the incumbent’s main site for undergraduate MD students
• Prepares rotation or call schedules as required

Recruitment and Teaching Tracking Responsibilities

• Identifies suitable tutors for the on-site scheduled teaching sessions in collaboration with the Clinical Experiences program staff and the UBC Departments program staff, and schedules tutors until all teaching slots are filled.
• Acts as the primary contact for tutors and patients at hospital sites. Coordinates with substitute tutors and patients in case of cancellation for continued session delivery.
• Liaises with UBC department preceptors to establish capacity and secure placements through collaboration and frequent communication.
• Updates and distributes student schedules and tutor contact information, as appropriate for the Clinical Experiences sessions.
• Facilitates and monitor clinical faculty appointments to ensure potential tutors are eligible and approved to teach, including coordinating and documentation individual preceptors and UBC FoM Department administrators
• Collects and tracks clinical and didactic teaching hours and enters them into Teaching & Tracking Payment system (TTPS) as required. Coordinates alternate payments (honorary, adjunct, or for call shifts) as necessary.

• Utilize Workday to capture personal attendance and request reimbursements or alternate payments for faculty and patients.

On-Site Hospital Staff Support

• Provides in-person and ongoing student support for local student orientations and, including first-day reporting instructions, email inquiries and ongoing issues as they arise, handouts, ID badges, parking arrangements and other logistics.
• Acts as a resource for students with issues involving hospital-specific access and other on-site related items.
• Acts as the first point-of-contact for the program at the site and ensures responsive and timely service.

Evaluation and Assessment Responsibilities:

• Participates in invigilation for curricular examinations either on-site, or at other Vancouver or Fraser Region sites
• Distributes, tracks, collects and assessment and evaluations for undergraduate learners and preceptors through the evaluation workflow in One45, Qualtrics or alternate evaluation systems; Follows up on outstanding evaluations.
• Coordinates the distribution of visiting student assessments as required by the home school.
• Compiles ad hoc reports as required.
• Invigilates exams as directed

General Responsibilities:

• Support development/organization/implementation/administration of pilots and new electives
• Responds to and redirects inquiries regarding non-UBC affiliated educational experiences (such as observerships and independent elective requests), referring to the appropriate process and policies and identifying issues as they arise
• Supports facility requests and needs at hospital sites in coordination with the VFMP Hospital Sites Team Lead, FoM Facilities team and relevant Fraser Health representatives.
• Participates as a member of the Health & Safety representative role as required, including completion of required training and regular meeting attendance.
• Attends UBC medical education program and site Medical Education Committee meetings as required, takes minutes and follows up on action items as appropriate
• Supports the accreditation processes by identifying areas of risk and providing recommendations to their manager; contributes to accreditation documentation; coordinates logistical aspects of accreditation visits
• Maintains an up-to-date, detailed site-specific job manual for this position.
• Performs other duties related to the position and site as required across Fraser hospital sites, must be prepared to travel within the Greater Vancouver region and work some evenings or weekends during the academic year.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

This position is expected to exercise professional judgement and extreme discretion when dealing with issues surrounding medical education. Errors in judgment or ineffective communication will compromise the effectiveness and efficiency of the programs.

Impact of error is considerable as the incumbent is dealing with time-sensitive and often confidential information. Errors in judgment could have immediate repercussions for the clinical faculty, trainees, staff on-site and on medical education program delivery.

Errors in judgement or ineffective communication could have a negative impact on the Faculty of Medicine and the University resulting in legal action, negative public relations, financial costs, and loss of credibility.

Ineffective communication, may lead to damaged relationships within the community, or with the rotation and program, or loss of preceptors for the program and could have immediate repercussions for the learners and hospital staff, and on medical education program delivery.

Supervision Received

Duties are performed independently as required, under minimal supervision from the Senior Manager, VFMP. The incumbent will also take direction from the VFMP Hospital Sites Team lead and the Manager, Patient Programs.

Supervision Given

Is not required to supervise; may explain work procedures to new or inexperienced staff.

Minimum Qualifications

High School graduation, plus two year post-secondary diploma, plus four years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
• Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• Office and administrative experience preferred.
• Relevant UBC experience preferred.
• Experience with One45 is an asset.
• Knowledge of web-based scheduling programs and online course delivery is an asset.
• Ability to effectively use Outlook, MS Office suite and database software at an intermediate level. Ability to use SharePoint and Adobe Pro.
• Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing.
• Ability to make thoughtful, informed, and thorough decisions. Ability to exercise sound judgment on a daily basis, including determining nature and urgency of inquiries and issues and triaging appropriately.
• Ability to deal with a diversity of people in a calm, courteous, and effective manner.
• Ability to exercise high level of tact and discretion, project a positive image and be diplomatic in stressful situations while, maintaining confidentiality in dealing with faculty, staff and learners.
• Ability to be thorough, accurate, and have a high level of attention to detail.
• Ability to effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities.
• Ability to work effectively independently and in a team environment.
• Ability to work effectively with minimal supervision.
• Ability to work under pressure in a fast paced, high-volume environment with critical deadlines.
• Ability to gather, record, and organize information.
• Ability to determine the nature and urgency of inquiries and issues, and triage appropriately.
• Strong ability to accurately maintain electronic calendars, reconcile scheduling conflicts, coordinate meetings with a large number of attendees and schedule the days’ activities appropriately.
• Highly effective interpersonal and organizational skills.
• Flexibility and “can-do” attitude. Ability to adapt to changing environments and systems.