Advocacy

Doctors Nova Scotia strives to not only engage in responsive advocacy, but also to be a model for positive change. The DNS Advocacy Framework provides clear guidance on when and how the association engages in advocacy, ensuring actions are timely, proactive and thoughtfully informed. The framework identifies three types of advocacy:

• advocacy associated with daily DNS business
• advocacy in alignment with the association’s strategic plan
• advocacy not directly linked to the association’s purpose and strategic priorities

Read the full DNS advocacy framework here.

Healthcare is an essential public service funded by both the federal and provincial governments. As the organizations that operate healthcare services for the provincial government, Nova Scotia Health and the IWK Health Centre are extensions of the government.

While physicians are often at the periphery of these organizations, all parties have a vested interest in healthcare and are deeply intertwined.

Doctors Nova Scotia aims to improve healthcare by co-creating and influencing public policies or resource allocation strategies to help physicians thrive and have a positive impact on their patients’ lives, at an individual and system level.

Physicians are uniquely positioned to influence healthcare decisions as patient advocates and leaders who bring a different perspective to discussions on the healthcare system. You can play an important role in educating colleagues, the public, and elected and government officials about healthcare issues.

Advocacy on behalf of patients has also been shown to be a vital counterbalance to physician burnout. Engaging in advocacy efforts can provide a valuable sense of empowerment and meaning that serve as protective factors for the physician.

Doctors Nova Scotia’s political advocacy toolkit is aimed at helping physicians understand how they can influence healthcare and the government.