CRAJ Winter 2022

Winter 2022 (Volume 32, Number 4)

Quality Care Committee Update

By Amanda Steiman, MD, MSc, FRCPC

You can’t miss the headlines and the bleak healthcare future foretold: ever-expanding healthcare demand in the face of fiscal, psychic, and infrastructure implosion: the healthcare universe, and its spectacular supernova. I have 300 words to share a Quality Care Committee update in this context. I find it impossible to ignore the stark contrast between the headlines, on the one hand, and the ingenuity, energy, and passion that have driven countless initiatives to improve the quality of care delivered to patients with rheumatic diseases by colleagues from coast to coast. From the study and promotion of models of and approaches to care, nuanced to suit the needs of Indigenous patients, or those transitioning from pediatric to adult care, to Choosing Wisely (and choosing wisely, more generally), from supporting virtual care in our evolving COVID landscape and beyond, to leveraging electronic medical records (EMRs) to ensure care delivery is optimized, there is a palpable passion for and investment in doing better, working smarter, and creating systems that support our colleagues, and our patients.

Initiatives supporting quality care come in all shapes and sizes, and we want to learn more about the work being done nationally, today, and what might grow from this tomorrow. We thus look forward to gaining further understanding of the clinical quagmires, the recurrent themes and pain points, and more of the work being done to address these through our recent Joint Count survey (see page 23 of this issue). In better understanding the Canadian rheumatologic quality care climate, we will work towards forging connections among those working toward common goals, recognizing opportunities, and building networks.

Amanda Steiman, MD, MSc, FRCPC
Chair, CRA Quality Care Committee
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto
Clinician in Quality and Innovation Rheumatologist,
Sinai Health System/University Health Network
Toronto, Ontario