Ontario’s Anesthesiologists’ Leadership Webinar Series

HEALTH SYSTEM FUNDAMENTALS FOR THE ANESTHESIOLOGIST

Facilitated By Dr. Gillian Kernaghan

Dr. Gillian Kernaghan was appointed the President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph's Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) in 2010. St. Joseph’s is a multi-sited, academic health care organization serving London and region. Her passion for integrated patient care, leadership and performance excellence has inspired the organization to focus on the vision to “earn complete confidence in the care we provide.”

Prior to assuming this role, Dr. Kernaghan served for 17 years as the Vice President, Medical for various hospitals in London and led the medical staff during complex restructuring in which four hospitals merged to form St. Joseph’s. Through this restructuring and various program transfers between organizations, the roles of the London hospitals dramatically changed.

In 1984, Dr. Kernaghan joined the medical staff of St. Joseph's, Parkwood Hospital and London Health Sciences Centre as a family physician. She completed her residency at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1984 upon graduation from Western University and was awarded her Fellowship in 2000.  Degrees and certifications include: MD (with Honours), CCFP, FCFP, and CCPE. 

She currently serves on the Ontario Hospital Association Board, is Chair of the Catholic Health Association of Ontario Board, is a member of the Premier’s Council on Improving Healthcare and Ending Hallway Medicine and Co-Chair of the Southwestern Academic Health Network.  Prior appointments include Co-Chair of the Canadian Health Leadership Network(2014-2018) and Past President of the Canadian Society of Physician Executives (2010-12). In addition, she has also served on numerous regional, provincial and national committees/boards.

Dr. Kernaghan is a frequent speaker at conferences and a certified trainer in Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability and Influencer leadership courses. She is also the recipient of the YMCA Women of Excellence Award in Health, Science and Technology, the Studer Group Fire Starter Hall of Fame Award 2017, and the Canadian Society of Physician Leaders Excellence in Medical Leadership Award, which she received in 2018.

Dr. Kernaghan has been married for 40 years and is the proud mother of three sons, three daughters-in-law and three little grandsons.

About the Program

More than 96% of Ontario’s anesthesiologists want their work to be valued and the specialty to be recognized as innovative, engaged in system change and providing leadership in the peri-operative suite (2017 Membership Survey). Particularly in this increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment, success requires knowledge of the system: the key players, their roles and responsibilities, funding models, decision making and information flows. It also requires understanding new developments within the system and keeping abreast of the learnings and insights being garnered since March.

In response, Ontario’s Anesthesiologists are proud to announce this tailored, accredited leadership development opportunity. Over four Thursday evenings in October, you will develop a deeper understanding of the organizational structures, leadership roles, decision making processes, funding flows and legislative frameworks that govern and influence your day-to-day clinical and academic lives. These will be placed within the context of the broader system changes introduced in Ontario over the past two years, including the new Ontario Health Agency, Ontario Health Teams and the concepts of population health. The series will wrap up with some thought provoking discussion related to how the health system will need to adapt to living with COVID, covering such topics as new levels of oversight, virtual care expectations, remuneration, the impact of IPAC and the future waves of COVID.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this series, participants will be able to:

1. Explain the structure of Ontario’s health care system and the changes introduced over the last two years

2. Identify system stakeholders, perioperative leadership roles and accountabilities within both clinical and academic settings

3. Explain hospital funding flows and their implication for perioperative care

4. Describe behaviours required of physician leaders in this current dynamic environment

5. Participate in planning for the adaptation of the health system locally to living with COVID.

This programme is right for you if….

• you want to know more about the structure of the health system including funding mechanisms and how they are changing

• you want to understand how decisions are made in your hospital that affect patient care and provider efficiency and/or effectiveness

• you are curious about the emerging implications of COVID for the health system and the delivery of perioperative care and pain management; and/or

• you want to take on a position of influence for anesthesiologists locally, regionally, provincially or nationally.