Patient Programs Coordinator

Job Title

Patient Programs Coordinator

Job Category

M&P - AAPS

Job Profile

AAPS Salaried - Educational Programming, Level A

Job Family Group

Staff - Non Union

Department

UBCO | Year One and Two Program Support | Southern Medical Program | Faculty of Medicine

Compensation Range

$5,273.67 - $7,576.83 CAD Monthly

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Job End Date

May 16, 2027

Posting End Date

October 25, 2026

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

This position is based in Kelowna BC.

This is a 6-month term position.

This is a part-time position at 0.75 FTE. Salary will be prorated.

Please include a cover letter with your application.

Background

The Southern Medical Program (SMP) is one of four distributed Medical Undergraduate Degree Program (MDUP) sites within The University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine. The expansion is a partnership involving three universities: The University of British Columbia (UBC), The University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) and The University of Victoria (UVic). The SMP is an innovative collaboration between UBC and the Interior Health Authority (IHA) with a mandate to provide undergraduate medical education training to students throughout the Southern Interior of British Columbia. The SMP delivers its education and training at five primary education sites at UBC Okanagan, Kelowna General Hospital, Vernon Jubilee Hospital, Royal Inland Hospital, and Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in addition to regional and community hospitals, community health centres, and family physician offices in 30 different communities.

Job Summary

This position recruits, trains and supports successful delivery of activities involving patient programs participants, including Standardized Patients (SPs), Volunteer Patients (VPs) and Clinical Teaching Assistants (CTAs), involved in teaching and assessment of medical students for the SMP.

This position will require an individual who is comfortable in an atmosphere of ambiguity as systems and processes are regularly revised for quality improvement purposes.

Organizational Status

This position reports to the Years 1 and 2 Program Manager and receives direction from the Provincial MDUP Patient Programs Manager to support the comparable delivery of MDUP patient programs activities across the distributed sites. This position works closely and collaboratively with the patient program colleagues, program staff, clinical faculty, and clinical faculty leadership at the SMP. This position works collaboratively with patient programs staff at the MDUP distributed sites, and MDUP clinical faculty leadership to support effective communication and delivery of provincial MDUP curriculum and assessment involving patient programs participants. This position liaises with representatives of Interior Health (IH), partner institutions and representatives of other external organizations as required.

Work Performed

Coordinates and implements Patient Programs activity at the SMP:

Volunteer Patients (VP) Program:

• Maintains an active VP pool and proactively recruits new VPs from diverse backgrounds.
• Interviews, selects, trains and evaluates individuals for the VP program, including both symptomatic and asymptomatic persons.
• Supports colleagues and program staff in the scheduling of VPs involved in curriculum delivery and student remediation as directed by managers and faculty leadership.
• Books and confirms appointments in accordance with program schedules and requirements of each session
  
  

Standardized Patient (SP) Program:

• Coordinates requirements, responsibilities, and timelines for the delivery of curricular sessions requiring experiential student learning as portrayed by standardized patients. Collaborates with provincial and local staff and faculty on the development and use of teaching resources and plan for patient program participants.
• Recruits and trains SPs to simulate medical conditions and/or communication challenges for the teaching and assessment of medical learners.
• Works with managers and program staff to schedule SP involvement in curriculum delivery and student remediation as directed by SMP managers and faculty leadership. Books and confirms appointments in accordance with schedule blocks and requirements of each session.
• Works with managers, program staff and faculty leadership on Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs): providing back-up support for all aspects of exam activities as required.
  
  

Clinical Teaching Associates (CTAs):

• Supports the recruitment, training and scheduling of Clinical Teaching Associates (CTAs) for sensitive examinations as required.
  
  

General Patient Program Support:

• Identifies opportunities and fosters engagement with community organizations to celebrate diversity, build on strengths found in differences and promote healthy, inclusive education, training and support through the Patient Programs’ activity.
• Participates in local and provincial meetings with the Patient Program team, contributing to a forum for communication, regular updates, and collaboration to support standardized delivery, monitoring of performance and training needs, and proposing quality improvement initiatives for Patient Progams involvement in curriculum and assessment activity.
• Maintains accurate and up-to-date records (including waivers and consent), file systems and processes ensuring all record keeping meets or exceeds UBC standards.
• Collaborates with the SMP Communications Manager to create and maintain promotional material relating to all aspects of the patient programs activity at the SMP.
• Supports the development of new initiatives.
• Coordinates recruitment, recognition and retention efforts for patient programs participants.
• Supports the correct and timely financial processing of all patient program activity in accordance with guidelines, policies and procedures.
• Provides program support to SMP colleagues during absences.
• Performs other related duties as necessary in keeping with the qualifications and requirements of the job.
  
  

Consequence of Error/Judgement

This position conducts interviews and training with program participants, which will require the ability to ask questions with tact and discretion. This position will have access to highly confidential case material and SP, VP and CTA personal/medical information and must be able to maintain confidentiality appropriately. Many of the projects undertaken by the SMP Patient Programs team are high-stakes examinations or challenging situations, requiring that good judgment be exercised in dealing with anxious individuals in a stressful setting. The position requires the ability to make decisions quickly and under stress. Inappropriate judgment in these situations can result in appeals by candidates or the invalidation of exam results.

Supervision Received

Reports to the Years 1 and 2 Program Manager and takes direction from the Provincial MDUP Patient Programs Manager. Autonomous in regular decision-making; unusual issues brought to the attention of the, Program Manager or Course Directors as appropriate for direction, advice and collaboration.

Supervision Given

None. Provides guidance to administrative support staff regarding patient programs specific activity.

Qualifications:

Minimum:

• University degree in a relevant discipline.
• Minimum of two years of related experience, or the 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

• Experience as a Standardized Patient or a background in health care is an asset.
• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomacy skills, as well as demonstrated ability to develop effective working relationships with community members, staff, faculty and students.
• Enthusiasm to nurture an environment that celebrates diversity, builds on strengths found in differences and seeks to encourage growth in all members of the team.
• Enthusiasm to work with equity, diversity and inclusion-based approaches to advance decolonization and Truth and Reconciliation initiatives.
• Experience promoting healthy, gender inclusive education, training and support.
• Demonstrated strong independent problem-solving and organizational skills, especially in the delivery of examinations, events and projects.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, relate to and work with people at all levels; ability to function collegially within a close team environment.
• Ability to exercise a high level of tact and discretion, sensitivity, empathy, project positive image and be diplomatic in stressful situations while maintaining confidentiality in dealing with patients, students and faculty.
• Demonstrated skills in verbal and written communication.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative and to work under pressure to meet constant deadlines.
• Comfortable working in ambiguity, adaptable and invigorated by change.
• Intermediate to advanced user of MS Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access), SharePoint and web browsers.
• Demonstrated knowledge of file and records classification systems and processes.
• Demonstrated understanding of university institutional initiatives, and administrative policies and procedures.
• Comfortable learning new technologies.
• Flexibility regarding work hours and ability to work after regular hours and on weekends is required.