Sam's Story

Dr. Dorothy (Sam) Williams is a geriatrician based in Victoria, B.C., where she works on a group service contract with the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

The product of a medical family (her mother, father and other family members are all in the field), she has been practising Geriatric Medicine since 2000.

Dr. Williams is connected to what she calls a strong core of doctors on Vancouver Island who, like her, are passionate about physician wellness. And for good reason. “For doctors, along with a huge workload, there is a constant need to be good, with no room for error,” she notes. That builds unhealthy levels of stress, both mental and physical, she says.

She has observed firsthand high degrees of stress and burnout in colleagues, prompting them to leave the profession altogether.

“I believe the medical community should help its colleagues before they reach the crisis point,” she says, adding that helping fellow physicians is something that is not taught in medical schools.

Enter physician wellness groups. While there is not currently a formal PAW group, she has served as president of the Medical Staff Association for South Vancouver Island.

That body, in addition to the Department of Family Practice and the department of Continuing Professional Development, has become a vehicle for holding educational events around physician wellness. The Medical Staff Association has held a number of events highlighting physician wellness issues. They’ve been popular, attracting up to 6o physicians. There have also been informal meetings over dinner, some with speakers on a particular subject such as depression. Dr. Williams has worked closely with Dr. David Evans, another strong proponent of physician wellness. In fact, he has set up a series of meetings to establish a formal PAW group on Vancouver Island.

One physician-wellness accomplishment she is proud of is the establishment of a doctor’s lounge in the new patient tower at Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital. “Doctors need a private place to talk and to support each other,” she says. It was challenging to set it up – “there was a feeling it was ‘elitist’ – but we are under so much pressure that we simply need a place where we don’t need to worry about patient confidentiality and can just talk to one another.”