Preparing for the province's upcoming electronic health records system is top of mind
Having started her career as a registered nurse before pivoting to the law, Nichole Elizabeth has always felt drawn to roles that allow her to marry her passions for healthcare and the law.
After completing a law degree with a specialty in health law and policy, Elizabeth worked at a small boutique firm in St John, New Brunswick that focused primarily on health law. This later led to an opportunity to join the Mass Casualty Commission team which was tasked with the joint provincial and federal public inquiry into the mass casualty that occurred in Nova Scotia in April, 2020. The commission also worked to provide support to those affected in the aftermath and to produce recommendations to better protect Canadians in the future.
“As a Nova Scotian on the commission team, that was really close to my heart and very meaningful work,” says Elizabeth. “I was really honoured to be able to sit with people and for them to trust me with their stories.” She then took these stories back to the commission to help with the development of meaningful recommendations.
In Oct., 2022, Elizabeth joined Doctors Nova Scotia – a professional association representing all doctors in the province – as legal counsel and chief privacy officer, a role that allows her to combine all aspects of her career history.
“For someone like myself, who thinks in a healthcare-meets-policy-meets-law kind of way, being in-house counsel at DNS is the perfect fit. It invites me to show up and contribute in all the ways I am capable of, and for that I am truly grateful,” says Elizabeth.
“That personal experience of working in healthcare on the front lines informs everything that I do because I came to this role not only with that legal lens, but also with a practical on-the-ground understanding of how some of these things will play out, or the nuances that have to be considered,” she adds.
As the sole in-house counsel at Doctors Nova Scotia, Elizabeth provides the organization with advice on governance, HR, and regulatory matters relating to physicians. She also assists with negotiations and contract governance, as well as drafting and reviewing contracts of all kinds.
Privacy is top of mind for Elizabeth, particularly in view of the upcoming ‘one patient one record’ electronic healthcare records system which was announced in Nova Scotia earlier this year. The system is expected to roll out across the province within two years.
“There’s a lot of work to be done in that space, and a lot of important conversations and considerations about how some of those changes will impact physicians, and also how we support physicians through those transitions,” she says.
Elizabeth is also proud to be supporting Doctors Nova Scotia through its equity, diversity, & inclusion journey. As the only Indigenous employee at the organization (Elizabeth is Mi'kmaq from the South Shore of Nova Scotia) she brought a valuable lens to an existing EDI framework when she joined last year.
“Finding myself at an organization that supports my advocacy and passion in that space has been really great,” says Elizabeth. She supports the organization’s work with a section of Black physicians, and a section of physicians who work in the First Nations, for example.
Together with a colleague, Elizabeth recently presented to a physician wellness group comprised of colleagues from various Provincial and Territorial Medical Associations on the concept of integrating restorative justice principles which are learnt from many Indigenous practices.
“We introduced this topic of integrating these principles into healthcare as a means of addressing conflict, and repairing harm between professionals,” she says. “There is potential to address conflict, whether it’s between patient and care provider, or between healthcare professionals, the goals is to find a way to repair relationships by leaning into concepts like this.”
