Nearly 300 rural medical professionals, many of them family doctors, residents, and medical students, attended the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia’s BC Rural Health Conference, held in Whistler.

For many attendees this was their first introduction to the Community Physician Health and Safety program, where SWITCH BC staff provide health and safety tools, assessments, and resources to community physicians and their staff.

SWITCH BC was a proud sponsor of the BC Rural Health Conference. At our information booth, we showcased the new Community Physician Health and Safety Guide and discussed rural health workers’ unique challenges. We heard physicians and their staff continue to struggle with knowing what to do and how to report when needlestick injuries occur outside of a facility; when working as a locum whether that physician is covered under the clinic’s WorkSafeBC account; and how to develop and maintain a culture of health and safety in community clinics. We were happy to answer all their health, safety, and wellbeing questions.