PCN 5 Featured Provider: Dr. Jamil Hirji
Please tell us a little bit about yourself and the patients you serve.
I am a family physician with a diverse family practice in the Olympic Village neighbourhood serving patients all across Metro Vancouver. I have special interests in hospital medicine, long term care, global health and medical education and serve as clinical faculty with UBC.
What made you choose to work in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood? How long have you been practicing there?
I have been practicing in Olympic Village since 2016. At that time, the Olympic Village area was undergoing significant development and more and more people were moving into the area and there was a need to provide primary care and episodic services to the residents living there. Since then, there has been further expansion and even greater need. Olympic Village within Mount Pleasant is a nice quaint and friendly community just outside the bustling Downtown core which makes it an appealing area to practice and explore the sights and sounds!
Why did you want to volunteer to participate in the Access and Assessment Centre (AAC) Working Group?
I wanted to participate in this working group as I have referred several patients to the AAC and have found the service effective but wanted to provide feedback and consultation to help make the service even better for both clinicians and patients.
How have you found the experience working with the division and other providers in the city?
Exceptional. Division staff are all very responsive and supportive and genuinely seek to improve the care of our patients. Working with colleagues in quality improvement projects like these as well helps to foster collegiality and to implement best practices. The experience has been enlightening and also allowed for some networking which has been challenging during the pandemic.
What are your future hopes for the program?
My future hopes for AAC would be to continue providing timely, effective and comprehensive psychiatric consultation to our patients but also to provide more ongoing psychiatric care to patients who require more long term psychiatric services.
