Register now for the annual Professor-in-Residence Lecture (virtual): Feb. 12, 4-5 p.m. ET

The Honourable Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler, MD, FRCSC is the 2024 Royal College Professor-in-Residence and has been working with the Royal College staff and leadership team to examine health education and health policy with the goal of improving Royal College programs and helping to address the national health care crisis. 

Appointed to the Senate of Canada on September 26, 2022, the Honourable Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler is an internationally renowned surgeon (Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery) and health care advocate as well as an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba. 

We recently spoke with the Honourable Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler about her advocacy and health policy work, and what members can expect at her lecture next month. 

Congratulations on being named the 2024 Royal College Professor-in-Residence. Can you tell us a bit about your advocacy and what drew you to this work? 

The pathway to advocacy, medical leadership and medical politics was never a path I intentionally set myself on. But I came to realize that to improve the health of people and populations, and to improve the health care system, we need advocates who come with a clinical background. We need leaders with a real-life work background, and leaders who deeply understand the health and health care issues that Canadians face. Physicians bring that lens to our work as advocates and as health care leaders.

How does your background as a physician inform your approach to creating or supporting health policies?

Physicians bring a lot to the table, and we are at a point in time where there is a deepening health care crisis in this country. The daily interactions that we have with patients and their families inform us about what is working in the system right now and what is not. Health care is one of those wicked problems and part of the wickedness is the constitutional boundaries between provincial, territorial, and federal jurisdictions.

As physicians, we have first-hand knowledge of how these policies are working on the ground and affecting patients and families. We can use this knowledge to inform policy makers and decision makers about the policies that are either in action or being created.

We need to start focusing more of our advocacy on provincial and territorial governments, because that is where health care administration and delivery primarily occurs. As physicians, I believe we need to be at those tables where the decisions are made, as well as being part of the decision-making team.

Physician burnout is a significant concern in Canada, with many physicians reporting stress from increasing administrative tasks. What steps can the federal or provincial governments take to alleviate burnout and improve physician well-being?

Fix Canada’s health care system and physician burnout will improve. The discussion on physician burnout has evolved over the years and I recall when the strategies to reduce burnout focused solely on the individual physician. It is an improvement to see the strategies shift away from the individual and towards a shared responsibility between physicians and the health care system.

Stress from increased administrative burden is merely a symptom. Now, the emphasis must shift towards the cause and to fixing a health care system which is no longer fit for purpose. Despite ballooning provincial health care budgets, inequities in health outcomes persist and access to care is worsening across the country. Canada’s health care system needs a fundamental overhaul and modernization so it can provide the care that Canadians need and deserve.

In your opinion, what can physicians in Canada do to influence health policy and contribute to the future direction of the health care system (provincial and/or national levels)?

In the 2023 speech from the throne, Manitoba’s premier [Wab Kinew] said, “the economic horse pulls the social cart,” meaning that in order for the government to deliver on their mandate “to fix health care and lower costs for families,” the government would have to grow the economy. Well, it’s politics that steers the economic horse. Physicians must recognize that politics determines the direction of the cart and what social policies are put in the cart. Politics and political decisions determine policy, thus driving the social determinants of health: early childhood development, education, housing, income supports, employment opportunities, the social safety net, and so on.

So, what can physicians in Canada do to influence health policy and contribute to the future direction of the health care system, whether it is at the provincial, territorial or national level? Understand politics. Know policy. Work them both.

Which key areas of health care policy do you believe physicians’ voices are underrepresented in, and how can the political process better incorporate their expertise and perspectives?

Certainly, physicians are medical experts with deep expertise in health and disease. But, physicians have less expertise in the mechanics of how health policy decisions are made, and at times, even how health care in Canada is funded, structured, administered and delivered. For example, does Canada have a single health care system? No. Canada has 14 different health care insurance plans, with thirteen provincial and territorial health plans and a federal government who is responsible for delivering health care services to specific populations, including First Nations people living on reserve, Inuit, serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces, eligible veterans, inmates in federal penitentiaries and certain refugee claimants. Each health care insurance plan is different, and each jurisdiction administers and delivers health care differently.

The political process will not effectively incorporate physician expertise and perspectives until physicians themselves have a better understanding of how health care funding, administration and delivery works across Canada’s various jurisdictions, as well as a better understanding of policy and politics.

For physicians interested in engaging with health policy and advocacy in Canada, what advice would you give to those looking to have an impact in the public sphere, whether at the provincial or federal level?

I would love to see more physicians engaging in health policy and advocacy, but I know clinicians are working as hard as they can right now. The health care system is under strain. So, to engage in health policy and advocacy may mean you have to cut back on patient care at a time when patients are not able to access the care they need. Which means not everyone is going to be looking to engage in health policy and advocacy. Instead, many physicians will want to continue to provide clinical care and that is okay. For those who are interested in engaging in health policy and advocacy, you do need to equip yourself with as much of the knowledge and skills as possible. There are programs that residents and physicians can do such as leadership courses or do a master’s in public health or health policy. You also need to build your network, and organically, find those areas of health policy that speak to you so that you can advocate and lead authentically with integrity.

Can you share a few details about what Royal College members can expect at your Professor-in-Residence Lecture in February? Who should attend and why?

I would love to see as many Fellows attend as able, as well as medical and health care leaders from provincial, territorial, and national organizations. We are aiming for this to be an engaging conversation to draw people in and to discuss the knowledge and skills that contemporary physicians need to be persuasive in the political domain. It will be a discussion on political engagement in an era of division, partisanship, and incivility.

The annual Professor-in-Residence Lecture will take place virtually on Feb. 12 from 4-5 p.m. ET.

Register for the lecture. 

The annual Professor-in-Residence Program fosters innovation and knowledge exchange at the Royal College by inviting a renowned expert to join the Royal College leadership team to examine health education and health policy with the goal of improving Royal College programs. The invited guest also presents the annual Royal College Professor-in-Residence Lecture.