Congratulations to our first group of QBOL FM graduates!

It's June 30th so that means it's finally time to say goodbye to our first group of QBOL FM graduates!  I'm happy to report that our residents were very successful in their licensing exams and are ready to move on to the next phases in their careers.  For some, it's additional third year training and for others, starting into practice.  From all, I expect big things!  You have been a wonderful group to work with over the past two years.

QBOL residents and preceptors - a great team!

We had a couple lovely events last week to mark this special occasion: a local QBOL celebration that was well attended by both residents and preceptors at the Brock House in Whitby and a formal graduation ceremony followed by a DFM party with awards presentations in Kingston.

Of course there was cake!

Our residents at the graduation party in Kingston.

I was ecstatic to see Dr. Aubrey Kassirer earn this year's Dr. Donald Potvin Memorial Award from the Department of Family Medicine for his outstanding work, never-ending enthusiasm, and positive role-modeling as an exemplary community Family Medicine Preceptor.

Some nice things being said about Dr. Kassirer.

It's been over four years of work to get to this point.  Starting with a great group of residents helped our site enormously but I know we would not have had nearly this amount of early success without the efforts of all our preceptors here, especially the members of my Site Committee, and to our many wonderful supports from the main site in Kingston, especially Dr. Karen Schultz, Queen's Family Medicine Program Director.

But honestly, there isn't the time to even try to find some laurels to rest on as we prepare to welcome our next batch of QBOL residents in a couple days!

Have a safe and happy Canada Day tomorrow, everyone!

2014 Fiesta Week is here!

It's the week after Father's Day which means Fiesta Week is again upon us here in Oshawa.  This year, it's a milestone 40th anniversary for Fiesta Week!  Congratulations to everybody who has been involved with this vibrant event over the years.

I usually make mention of this as my favourite festival in Oshawa during my recruitment speeches so this year, I thought I would take the time to post a link to the actual Fiesta Week website.

This is a fantastic opportunity for people to enjoy a cultural and food exchange at the fifteen pavilions set up throughout the area this week.  The performances are always entertaining and you can't help but come away with a deeper appreciation for the various multicultural roots that nourish Oshawa.

If you are in the area, please stop by at least one of the pavilions for lunch or dinner (purchased Fiesta Week passports are required for evening meals and performances) this week.  You won't be disappointed!

New PGY-1s to start in July!

Posted on behalf of Nathalie:

Congratulations to our new residents starting at QBOL! July 2014 marks our third year “up and running.” We're all excited and eager to meet the incoming class in July :)

 

The first month is fittingly known as the "toolbox" month, preparing residents for what's ahead. During this month, residents will attend orientation activities (including a scavenger hunt through Durham!), complete training courses, and be introduced to the various longitudinal experiences that will be interspersed with their family medicine clinics throughout residency. Then we will unleash their enthusiastic energy upon the Durham region, as they start to see patients and continue their paths towards becoming independent, wonderful family physicians!

 

Many people in Oshawa and Bowmanville are still pleasantly surprised to learn that there are Queen's family medicine residents based in Durham for their entire residency training, as previously Queen's only sent residents on time-limited rotations. However, as our QBOL program continues to bring in new residents, we'll continue to spread the word! Welcome QBOL class of 2016!

 

Nathalie

QBOL Site Chief Resident, 2014-15

2014 Primary Care Research Day

Last week, I had the good fortune to be able to attend Primary Care Research Day which was presented by the Centre for Studies in Primary Care and the Department of Family Medicine at Queen's University at the Holiday Inn Kingston Waterfront on February 27, 2014.

This is the first year that we have had residents from QBOL presenting their research projects at Research Day.  As in previous years, I was extremely impressed by the various projects that all of the residents are able to produce during their time at Queen's - there is always a few new things I take away from the projects.  But it really added something for me seeing QBOL residents up with their posters and presentations.  I think I was having something similar to a "proud parent" moment all day...

Speaking of proud parent feelings, Dr. Trisha Rys, was prepared to present her poster on: Aboriginal advocacy but instead had to attend to her own, more pressing parenting issue.  Congratulations on your new addition!

Dr. Chemanthi Kalen presented a poster (and web module) entitled: Approach to acne scar management for the family physician.

Dr. Corey Boimer presented: Digital nerve block techniques - a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Dr. Kate Newton presented: Factors influencing choice of residency site: does curriculum organization matter?

Dr. Kevin Lam presented: Exploring the complexity conundrum for Ontario family physicians in care of the elderly: a cross sectional study.

Dr. Stephanie Marshall presented her poster: Management of infertility in primary care: current practice trends in Durham region.

I found all of their projects very informative (but I may be biased).  It is great to see some family practice research starting locally.  I think this will be the catalyst for even more scholarly activity in family medicine here in Durham Region.

Then, to top the day off, two of our residents won Research Day awards!  Dr. Kalen for best poster and Dr. Boimer for best review.  Again, what a phenomenal inaugural research day showing by QBOL.  We are blessed to have such a fantastic group of residents here!

Finally, I want to close by thanking Dr. Michael Ward who is our QBOL Research lead.  The quality of his guidance and his infectious enthusiasm for research certainly shone through in all of the projects that came from our site.  Congratulations, Mike!

CaRMS Results 2014

Well, it was a banner day for QBOL and the general Queen's DFM in terms of our CaRMS results this year.  All of our Family Medicine sites / programs matched fully in the first round!

For QBOL, I know this is a reflection of the amount and quality of work that our preceptors and residents put in, not just on the CaRMS interview days, but every day as we all work to make our site the best it can be.  So thanks to everyone who has helped us to come so far over the past two years, especially everyone on our Site Committee.

I look forward to getting in touch with our incoming class and getting to know you all better and figuring out how we can best help you on your paths to independent practice. 

What better way than to celebrate with QBOL cake?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the QBOL site!

Holidays were quite unique this year in southern Ontario due to the ice storm and subsequent "polar vortex".  I hope everybody reading this from the affected area has come through relatively unscathed.

Things have been progressing steadily here; we are very excited to have our first wave of residents readying for (exams and) graduation.

Here is a little blurb about one of our PGY-1 residents, Dr. Kevin Graham, who was presented with the Takeda Family Medicine Scholarship recently at the Ontario College of Family Physicians’ 51st Annual Scientific Assembly.  (I love the pun in the headline.)  Congratulations, Kevin!

As for the blog, I'd actually be interested in hearing ideas about directions we could go with the blog.  Initially, it was meant to be a way to show what we were planning and our start up years.  But we are now nearing our second year up and running; I don't know that posting about scavenger hunts, Nightmares FM courses, and Camp Oconto / Temagami weekends will be enough to carry things on an ongoing basis.

Please feel free to comment below with any suggestions.