Mobilizing Clinician Voices to Manage Health Supply Chain Disruptions Vital to Safe and Quality Patient Care

This study examines the role of clinicians during supply chain disruptions and the impact of these disruptions on their capacity to deliver care to patients. Clinician leaders (physicians, nurses, pharmacists and regional health authority leaders) from seven Canadian provinces (Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Manitoba) participated in co-design sessions to identify strategies to integrate frontline clinical expertise into supply chain management. A workgroup led by two clinician leaders (a physician and a nurse) defined the challenges of supply disruptions for clinicians (individuals delivering clinical care to patients, such as physicians, nurses and pharmacists) and identified the structural barriers that limit clinician participation in managing supply disruptions and in adapting care delivery through alternative care pathways and resource allocation. This paper presents a set of actionable clinician-led strategies to engage clinicians in supply chain management to ensure that clinician expertise informs supply management decisions and enables safe and quality patient care that is accessible when and where needed. Strategies include designating agencies responsible for clinician communication during supply shortages, building bilateral communication channels linking clinicians and system leaders, implementing standardized communication protocols to engage the workforce in supply chain management and mobilizing clinical expertise to inform supply disruption decisions.