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Family Matters
Your updates from the University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine
January 2019
Message From the Chair
Last month I mused on learning by seeing our department from a distance. My thoughts this month turn toward the perspective I’ve gained on our department by showing something important about it to an outside audience that didn’t understand at all initially, and has now come to understand the great importance of that feature. In the process I’ve learned a lot and gained a deeper appreciation myself.
That feature is some of you: clinic preceptors. The occasion was finding the silver lining in a dark cloud: the AMHSP rules changes that have impacted your work. In the process of educating the AMHSP about that impact, I had to lay out a very clear picture for them of our educational mission and your crucial role in our ability to deliver it – as well as the important contributions you make to department leadership (all but one of our centre directors, for example). It was all things I knew, but putting it all together into a coherent whole was an eye-opening experience nonetheless. Add the chronically impressive teaching evaluations we receive from residents and students alike, and it made quite an impressive picture indeed. Strong work.
- Dr. Lee Green, Chair, Department of Family Medicine
CaRMs Thank You
I want to thank everyone who helped in making our CaRMs process a very enjoyable and successful event. As we await our match results, I wanted to share with you the very positive comments and impressions that the prospective candidates to our program provided. As a group all the medical students felt everyone in our department was helpful, friendly and role modeled the discipline of family medicine very well. This speaks very well of everyone’s dedication.
Once again, a warm thanks for your time and for group effort to make our family medicine department strong.
Cheers
John Chmelicek, Director, Postgraduate Medical Education
Congratulations
Medical Student Award (MSA) Recipients
Congratulations to the preceptors with the Department of Family Medicine who were recognized with MSA Teaching Awards at the Affair of the Heart Fundraising Gala and MSA Teaching Award Ceremony held on November 30, 2018.
Joseph Abraham was recognized as Year 1 Physical Exam Preceptor of the Year
Lillian Au was recognized with the Year 2 Physical Exam Preceptor Excellence award
Trevor Day and Andries Esterhuizen were both recognized with Year 3 Preceptor Excellence awards.
Scott Garrison Receives AAAPC/NAPCRG Travel Prize
Scott Garrison was the recipient of the 2018 North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) Conference outstanding oral presentation (describing the INRange RCT) selected for repeat oral plenary awards presentation at the Australasian Association for Academic Primary Care’s (AAAPC) summer 2019 Meeting in Adelaide, Australia.
Lee Green Receives Honorary Professorship
Dr. Lee Green was provided with an honorary professorship in the Zhejiang University Medical School. The professorship was presented by the president and dean of the ZJU 4th Affiliated Hospital, on the first day of the FoMD team’s visit in December.
Publication of Female Doctors in Canada
Congratulations to Shelley Ross, Shirley Schipper and Earle Waugh on the publication of Female Doctors in Canada: Experience and Culture. We have been eagerly anticipating this book which offers perspectives on the many facets and experiences of women working in medicine. Female Doctors in Canada is Published by the University of Toronto Press.
MARD Centre Supports New Alternative Transportation System
Thanks to the MARD Centre, seniors as well as other individuals in the area who are unable, or choose not to, drive in Big Lakes County will have an alternative transportation option. Using expertise from MARD, Big Lakes County has developed a transportation service which will make regularly scheduled trips to High Prairie, Grande Prairie and Slave Lake.
Reminder: Northern Alberta Academic Family Physicians RFP is Open
In 2012 the Northern Alberta Academic Family Medicine Fund, an endowment held by the University of Alberta and managed by employees of the Department of Family Medicine, was established. The interest generated from this endowment is intended to support initiatives promoting the advancement of family medicine.
A fund management committee was established to review Requests for Proposals from Family Medicine staff, residents, students and trainees. Now on the twelfth RFP, NAAFP is very pleased with the response to this initiative. To date, the committee has funded over 50 proposals.
The Fund Management Committee is pleased to announce the opportunity to submit to the twelfth round of project proposals. These projects are supported by the interest received from the endowment funds invested by NAAFP.
As per the Terms of Reference of the fund, activities of the following nature are eligible:
* Educational infrastructure,
* Awarding prizes,
* Research by department faculty members, residents, students and trainees,
* Research and personal development activities, and
* Any other educational, research and/or administrative activity which the Fund
* Management Committee deems advisable for the general education and/or research purposes of the Department.
Deadline for submission is midnight on Thursday, February 28, 2019.
Please contact danica.erickson@ualberta.ca for an application form.
Completed application forms can be submitted to danica.erickson@ualberta.ca.
Clinical Health Research (CHR) Working Group Call for Participation
The Alberta Clinical Research Consortium (ACRC) is an initiative managed by Alberta Innovates with the vision to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical research in order to provide Albertans with access to the best and most innovative health care. The ACRC works collaboratively with our partners and together have co-developed several useful tools and resources, such as the Alberta Clinical Research Roadmap, to assist researchers and their teams in conducting clinical health research in the province.
Join an ACRC Clinical Health Research Working Group
The ACRC is seeking to expand the membership of two of its working groups.
1. Clinical Health Research in the Community Working Group
The ACRC is looking for physicians and clinical health research (CHR) support staff who are champions and/or subject matter experts in conducting CHR within the community setting in
Alberta. The main objective of this Working Group is to build the capacity of community-based physicians and CHR staff within the province to:
* Create opportunities for community physicians and staff to network.
* Co-develop tools and templates to assist in building a clinical health research program in the community setting.
* Provide guidance and best practice for CHR in the community through a community of practice group.
* Create opportunities for partnerships between research teams and funders, sponsors and investors.
2. eSolutions (Paperless Management) Working Group
As the health care industry advances into the digital era with the use of electronic health records, a matching trend has emerged in the clinical health research community – the paperless study management. The ACRC is seeking clinical health researchers and support staff with expertise and experience in this domain to join the Paperless Management Working Group. The primary purpose of this Working Group is to help researchers navigate the rapidly changing, paperless study management environment to:
* Develop tools and templates along with regulatory guidance and educational materials on components of the paperless study management process. Focus will be on e-informed consent, computer system validation, digital data management, and e-regulatory binder.
I am not able to join a Working Group; can I still participate?
Yes, you can! The ACRC is also interested in speaking with individuals who are willing to share their personal experiences conducting CHR in Alberta. Our interest is to understand the enablers or barriers that researchers encounter while initiating, conducting or closing out a study (whether investigator initiated, or industry driven). We welcome suggestions on how concerns can be dealt with, and how ACRC can help to shape and improve the CHR landscape in the province.
Contact ACRC
Please visit our website for more information on the ACRC Working Groups, or contact the ACRC Program Manager directly.
Email: Julianna.Wozniak@albertainnovates.ca; Phone: 780-429-6890
If you are interested in joining one of the working groups, please email your expression of interest by Friday, March 15th
If you are willing to share an account of your clinical health research experiences in Alberta, or would like further information on the working groups
RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
Visit the Department of Family Medicine Recent Research Publications webpage.
FAMILY MEDICINE IN THE NEWS
Dr. Stephanie Liu, a graduate of the Department of Family Medicine, has started an evidence-based mom blog called Life of Dr. Mom.
Neil Bell was quoted in Your Health Questions article about annual checkups. Good Times is a Canadian magazine for retirees.
Professional Development Opportunities
SAVE THE DATE: Family Physician and CancerControl: Strengthening Linkages Workshop
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2019
Locations: This year, the workshop is extended to four Community Cancer Centres and Stanton Hospital in Yellowknife in addition to the standard Tertiary and Regional Cancer Centres. The event is held in-person and connected via videoconference between following sites:
- Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton
- Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary
- Jack Ady Cancer Centre, Lethbridge
- Central Alberta Cancer Centre, Red Deer
- Grande Prairie Cancer Centre, Grande Prairie
- Margery E. Yuill Cancer Centre, Medicine Hat
- Fort McMurray, Drumheller, High River, Canmore, and Yellowknife
This Group Learning program has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Alberta Chapter for up to 6.5 Mainpro+ credits. Registration form will follow. For any inquiries, please contact Anna Fabbroni at 780-643-7140 or anna.fabbroni@ahs.ca.
Inclusive Health Conference
LGBTQ+ health in primary care
The date has been set for the 6th annual inclusive health conference:
March 16, 2019
Lister Conference Centre
Visit the conference website for more information.
Don't Forget to Register for FREzER 2019
FREzER is getting closer. Have you booked your spot yet?
Here is the Passkey to book your accommodation: https://book.passkey.com/go/uofafrezer2019. Please RSVP Karen Moniz to confirm your attendance and also inform her of any food allergies you have.
This year’s conference takes disruptive action as valuable action, and the “disrupters” as crucial voices for change. When our beliefs about health and our structures in health care are challenged, our ethical obligations come most sharply into relief. Patients whose preferences and behaviours are challenging or inconvenient are often labelled as “difficult” or “non-compliant”. Yet these individuals hold a mirror up to the system that may highlight its shortcomings and flaws. This can force positive reflection at all levels about the nature and goals of health care and what accommodations and limits are reasonable in healthcare delivery.
Visit the conference website for more information or to register.
SAVE THE DATE: Edmonton Zone General Surgery Education Day 2019
Date: Saturday May 25, 2019, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Robbins Pavilion, Royal Alexandra Hospital
We want to know what you would like to learn about General Surgery. Please send topic suggestions to the email address below so that we can build a program that meets your learning needs.
The General Surgery topic that you would most like to learn about is:
Please email or fax your response back to us by Thursday, February 28, 2019
Dr. Jonathan White, Dr. Dan Schiller and Dr. David Bigam
On behalf of the Division of General Surgery
email: jswhite1@ualberta.ca
Fax: 780-735-5459
The 3rd Annual National Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) Conference
May 31 – June 1, 2019 (Friday - Saturday)
Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel
Vancouver BC
Target audience: family physicians, specialists, lawyers, policy makers, nurses, nurse practitioners, residents and medical students
Preliminary agenda now available online at maidconference.ca
University Updates
Rich Man. Poor Man Dinner
On March 9, 2019, the Global Health Program, Division of Community Engagement, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, along with partners in the School of Public Health, Students Invested in Health Association and Medical Students’ Association, will host the Rich Man Poor Man Dinner annual fundraiser. Money raised from this dinner supports global health education for students and residents. The event will be held at St. Basil’s Cultural Centre and features an entertainment program, silent auction, and keynote speaker.
To order tickets or make a donation, please contact Cheryl Knowles by Monday, March 4: cknowles@ualberta.ca.
Disclaimer
External links are provided as a courtesy and for the convenience of those individuals and organizations wishing to access these resources and information. The Department of Family Medicine does not endorse nor has it vetted any external content provided.
