As site Evaluation Lead for QBOL I am very excited to be part of this program. We have a state of the art electronic portfolio, developed by Queens DFM, to track resident progress and identify learning needs. We are going to be able to provide an excellent and well rounded, and relevant (no longer spending time holding retractors, staying up all night managing acutely ill neonates in the NICU) program that will produce family physicians who are able to participate in the full spectrum of patient care. We have great tools to help us teach and evaluate our residents!
Here is a link that will introduce you to some teaching tools.
Documenting the start of the new Queen's Family Medicine training site based in the Region of Durham and the hospitals of Lakeridge Health. Here, you will be able to find out about what we offer as a site in terms of curriculum, communities, and activities.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Teaching
It is amazing how far teaching knowledge in family medicine has come since I was in residency! After attending workshops on teaching procedural skills, motivational interviewing, narrative (and the importance of reflection in life and making change), and magic, I feel energized to get back to the office and practice! It was great to meet several energetic medical students who seemed excited about our new horizontal program and our "sorting hat". I look forward to the arrival of our first residents!
QBOL was at the FMF 2011, Montreal
We had a great time at the Family Medicine Forum held in Montreal this week. Excellent teaching sessions and the chance to meet and learn from many of the great Family Medicine teachers across Canada. Almost 4,000 people to rub elbows with over four days!
Félicitations to the CFPC and to Montreal for organizing this event.
Félicitations to the CFPC and to Montreal for organizing this event.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Help Wanted!
This post is just an FYI that we are now looking to hire an organized, enthusiastic person as our QBOL Site Assistant. This is a full time position supporting our QBOL site locally with an office in the new LHEARN Centre at Lakeridge Health Oshawa. Joining our team at this time will give the successful candidate time to participate in some of our preparations, assist in recruiting our first batch of residents, and to become acclimated to the people, places, and processes that will be part of QBOL.
If you or somebody you know is interested, you can find more information through the Queen's University Human Resources page at www.hr.queensu.ca, click on "Job Opportunities" and then proceed to find our listing under "Available Positions: External Candidates". Also pay attention to the link on "How to Apply".
(If you are having difficulty, please follow this link which will take you to the actual posting which outlines the candidate requirements and job responsibilities although you will still need to go through the instructions outlined from the Human Resources website to apply.)
If you or somebody you know is interested, you can find more information through the Queen's University Human Resources page at www.hr.queensu.ca, click on "Job Opportunities" and then proceed to find our listing under "Available Positions: External Candidates". Also pay attention to the link on "How to Apply".
(If you are having difficulty, please follow this link which will take you to the actual posting which outlines the candidate requirements and job responsibilities although you will still need to go through the instructions outlined from the Human Resources website to apply.)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Accredited*
So it was a lot of effort but it was worth it!
The accreditation team gave a very positive report for Queen's Department of Family Medicine (as well as most of the specialty programs) after spending much of last week visiting the various teaching sites and meeting with the teachers and learners. I will provide a link to Dean Reznik's blog which goes into more detail about the feedback that was given.
A big congratulations to everybody on this success!
* - the asterisk indicates that, while the accreditation team gave a glowing review of most of the programs including Family Medicine, the official (and final) decision is not announced until early in the new year.
The accreditation team gave a very positive report for Queen's Department of Family Medicine (as well as most of the specialty programs) after spending much of last week visiting the various teaching sites and meeting with the teachers and learners. I will provide a link to Dean Reznik's blog which goes into more detail about the feedback that was given.
A big congratulations to everybody on this success!
* - the asterisk indicates that, while the accreditation team gave a glowing review of most of the programs including Family Medicine, the official (and final) decision is not announced until early in the new year.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Article: Hands-on 'LHEARNing'
Just trying something different today. Below should be a link that will take you to an online version of the print story that ran in the local paper regarding the grand opening of the LHEARN Centre last month. I hope to get some pictures of the LHEARN Centre up on the blog later this week.
Monday, September 12, 2011
CaRMS is in the air!
So our QBOL site committee has been busy preparing our CaRMS submission for the upcoming cohort of graduating medical students. If it hasn't already been posted, you should be able to see what we came up with on the CaRMS web site shortly.
If you cannot wait to see what we've been up to, I have updated the pages of this blog to reflect how our curriculum is shaping up. You will find them categorized according to their Domain of Clinical Care (DOCC - previously called CRAGs) along the left here.
Below that, you will find a variety of links; the majority are offered to help you familiarize yourself with the area.
We are looking forward to this week's LHEARN grand opening (maybe I'll try to take and post some photos this Wednesday!) immediately followed by a Queen's DFM Faculty Development session.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or wish to join us for any of our events.
If you cannot wait to see what we've been up to, I have updated the pages of this blog to reflect how our curriculum is shaping up. You will find them categorized according to their Domain of Clinical Care (DOCC - previously called CRAGs) along the left here.
Below that, you will find a variety of links; the majority are offered to help you familiarize yourself with the area.
We are looking forward to this week's LHEARN grand opening (maybe I'll try to take and post some photos this Wednesday!) immediately followed by a Queen's DFM Faculty Development session.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or wish to join us for any of our events.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
QBOL - Let's get it started!
We've been focusing our efforts recently to produce our QBOL blurb for the CaRMS website and we also hope to develop our other promotional materials soon.
I hope we will have good representation from the QBOL Site Committee at the upcoming 2011 Family Medicine Forum in Montreal this November 3rd to 5th (educator's day on November 2nd) so that we can start our "sales pitch" and generate interest in what we are developing. Hope to see you there!
In addition, the LHEARN Centre at Lakeridge Health Oshawa which houses our new classroom facilities, administrative space, resident lounge, sim lab, and library will be showcased in a grand opening ceremony on September 14th at 2 pm. That evening, Queen's Department of Family Medicine will also be hosting a faculty development session. Please let us know if you need further information about this session.
I can't tell you how excited we are to finally be progressing from the planning phase of our program development as we get ready to meet with some future QBOL residents.
I hope we will have good representation from the QBOL Site Committee at the upcoming 2011 Family Medicine Forum in Montreal this November 3rd to 5th (educator's day on November 2nd) so that we can start our "sales pitch" and generate interest in what we are developing. Hope to see you there!
In addition, the LHEARN Centre at Lakeridge Health Oshawa which houses our new classroom facilities, administrative space, resident lounge, sim lab, and library will be showcased in a grand opening ceremony on September 14th at 2 pm. That evening, Queen's Department of Family Medicine will also be hosting a faculty development session. Please let us know if you need further information about this session.
I can't tell you how excited we are to finally be progressing from the planning phase of our program development as we get ready to meet with some future QBOL residents.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Working away.
This post is specifically for the QBOL PGES. Thanks for the great meeting this past Thursday. I just wanted to provide ongoing links to the two documents we discussed at our last meeting where we are working on our CaRMS promotional materials. One document is regarding things a potential resident would want to know about our curriculum and the other deals with our communities (click on the word to go to the appropriate document).
The first draft is due by the end of next week and the "drop dead" date is actually (gasp!) September 2nd for CaRMS material. The brochures will need to be done soon afterwards.
To everybody else, our work continues behind the scenes. I will be updating the pages on the blog to reflect the curriculum that we have designed / are trying to deliver starting July 1st, 2012. Less than a year to go!
The first draft is due by the end of next week and the "drop dead" date is actually (gasp!) September 2nd for CaRMS material. The brochures will need to be done soon afterwards.
To everybody else, our work continues behind the scenes. I will be updating the pages on the blog to reflect the curriculum that we have designed / are trying to deliver starting July 1st, 2012. Less than a year to go!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
New name; same goal.
Just changed the heading of this blog to "The Q-BOL Blog". Thanks to Dr. Ed Osborne for coming up with the acronym for our Queen's-Bowmanville-Oshawa-Lakeridge distributive site (it is quite a mouthful).
A touch of whimsy on an otherwise unsettling weekend.
Let us know what you think of the new name and be safe out there.
A touch of whimsy on an otherwise unsettling weekend.
Let us know what you think of the new name and be safe out there.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Time Marches On.
Things may appear to be quiet but we have established a Site Committee and are meeting regularly and developing our ideas, thoughts, and plans. The Site Committee members are: Dr. Aubrey Kassirer (Curriculum), Dr. Charlene Lockner (Evaluation), Dr. Ed Osborne (Faculty Development), Dr. Mike Ward (Curriculum / Research), Dr. Sukhjeen Nandra (Senior Resident), Michel Henry (Site Coordinator), and myself.
In particular, we continue to work on developing the general objectives for use at our particular sites. This will allow us to see how we can best achieve the desired resident outcomes (competencies) with our local personnel and resources. We are coming up with a lot of great concepts and hope to see at least some of them implemented in our new program.
To improve our communication with physicians who are interested in and will be affected by this program, we are also in the process of identifying lead preceptors to cover the main learning spheres as outlined in the CRAG documents (click on the link to the cloud storage if you would like to download the documents themselves). We hope they will be able to provide efficient feedback between the Site Committee and the various preceptors.
Stay tuned, there is definitely more to come.
In particular, we continue to work on developing the general objectives for use at our particular sites. This will allow us to see how we can best achieve the desired resident outcomes (competencies) with our local personnel and resources. We are coming up with a lot of great concepts and hope to see at least some of them implemented in our new program.
To improve our communication with physicians who are interested in and will be affected by this program, we are also in the process of identifying lead preceptors to cover the main learning spheres as outlined in the CRAG documents (click on the link to the cloud storage if you would like to download the documents themselves). We hope they will be able to provide efficient feedback between the Site Committee and the various preceptors.
Stay tuned, there is definitely more to come.
Monday, January 10, 2011
New Year's Resolution? Regular Posts.
So we're suddenly a good chunk into January already. Happy New Year.
We have just had a meeting of the Site Committee and are going to be organizing the objectives and priority topics in a way that will
We continue to be on the lookout for ideas for quality learning experiences for the Family Medicine residents who will be starting next year. Please click on the appropriate tab and follow the link to the brainstorming pages to add your two cents.
If you have already expressed interest in becoming a Family Medicine Preceptor, Michel will be sending out a mini practice profile for you to complete (if you haven't already) so we can compile the various possible learning experiences that may be unique to your practice.
I have also posted a few updated CRAGs (Behaviour, Care of Elderly, and Care of Underserviced) to the "cloud". The CRAGs should all be cross referenced to the appropriate Priority Topic, where applicable.
I plan to update this blog on a weekly basis (at least after I return from my vacation next week) and hope to be able to set up other Site Committee members with the ability to post to this blog as well.
Until next time.
We have just had a meeting of the Site Committee and are going to be organizing the objectives and priority topics in a way that will
We continue to be on the lookout for ideas for quality learning experiences for the Family Medicine residents who will be starting next year. Please click on the appropriate tab and follow the link to the brainstorming pages to add your two cents.
If you have already expressed interest in becoming a Family Medicine Preceptor, Michel will be sending out a mini practice profile for you to complete (if you haven't already) so we can compile the various possible learning experiences that may be unique to your practice.
I have also posted a few updated CRAGs (Behaviour, Care of Elderly, and Care of Underserviced) to the "cloud". The CRAGs should all be cross referenced to the appropriate Priority Topic, where applicable.
I plan to update this blog on a weekly basis (at least after I return from my vacation next week) and hope to be able to set up other Site Committee members with the ability to post to this blog as well.
Until next time.
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