Happy Doctor's Day!

Sometimes, it's good to just to remember why we do what we do.  Beyond the daily grind, uncertain short term professional outlook (in Ontario), and sudden jolts of gut wrenching stress it is still a exciting, often joyful challenge and always a privilege to work in medicine.

This link is to the OMA's Ontario's Doctors site which is set up to celebrate Doctor's Day this year.

I like the hashtag for this year.  #DocsRock

I hope our PGY2 QBOL residents are "rocking" their licensing exams this week.

Plans for the Summer of 2015?

I am still trying to decide what to do with this blog.   I don't know if annually showing photos of the Toolbox activities, simulation labs, etc. every year is the best use of this space.  If you have any suggestions, please do leave a comment or contact me.

Rest assured, the QBOL site is doing well.   There is a lot of activity as our second years prepare their research posters and presentations and then prepare to face their exam. 

We have had great interest in our site during this year's CaRMS process and it is always a true pleasure to meet so many future colleagues through our information sessions and interviews.

Here is something different which is happening in our area this summer: the Pan Am Games.  This link is a request for volunteers for the games if you should happen to be in the area this summer.

Pan Am Games: Join In

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.

QBOL Grand Opening / 1 Year in Partnership with Lakeridge Health

As we prepare to welcome the 8 new PGY-1 residents to QBOL in July and have our original 8 transition into the second year of residency, the Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University and Lakeridge Health celebrated their 1st year in partnership on May 29, 2013 in the LHEARN Centre at Lakeridge Health Oshawa. 

The partnership has been a huge success with bringing family doctors to Oshawa and Bowmanville to train and get hand-on experience as well as exposure to state-of-the-art simulation equipment in the LHEARN Centre.

Remarks: Dr. Glenn Brown - Head, Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University

Remarks: Dr. Richard Reznick - Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University

Remarks: Dr. Wei-Hsi Pang - Site Director, Queen's Bowmanville Oshawa Lakeridge

Remarks: Dr. Kate Newton - Former Chief Resident, QBOL

Remarks: Recognition of Dr. Gene Dagnone, Queen's University

 

(L-R) (Site Director): Dr. Wei-Hsi Pang, (Residents):Dr. Kate Newton, Dr. Vicki Mount, Dr. Chemanthi Kalen, Dr. Corey Boimer, Dr. Kevin Lam (Absent: Dr. Trish Rys, Dr. Joel Pariag, Dr. Stephanie Marshall)

NNT

Hi.  Spring is finally in the air so that I guess that means we're coming out of hibernation on the blog.  Remind me to stop taking heed of the groundhog forecasts next year.

It is hard to believe that the end of our inaugural year is approaching - it has been quite a blur. 

At QBOL, under the tutelage of Dr. Ward, we have started our monthly Journal Club so the concept of NNT (Number Needed to Treat) has been coming up.  It's fascinating to see where we have good evidence for tests and interventions and very telling when we don't.

During the discussion surrounding one of the papers at Journal Club, the idea of "Number Needed to Teach" came up (because Journal Club is always serious...).  But wouldn't it be interesting to see how many residents had to be taught / unit time to effect a desired learned outcome and then to see how different teaching interventions impacted this type of NNT?

But seriously, this informal use of NNT is also a reminder to me to welcome our incoming cohort of PGY-1 residents to QBOL.  We were ecstatic to find we had matched fully in the first round this year and are looking forward to getting to know our next wave of residents while we expand and refine our learning experiences at our site.

As a parting shot, I'll leave you with the link to a website called TheNNT which Dr. Ward shared with our resident group.  On this site, you can learn about some of the NNT's for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.  Or, if you are ready to be put in your place, on the site, you can also be quizzed about some of the concepts and specifics around NNT (usual definition).

We would be delighted to discuss teaching tools, online resources, and such so if you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to comment below or contact us!

Amazing CaRMS Results for 2013

Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to send out a huge congrats to all the soon to be new PGY1s who matched to our site in the first round. We're thrilled that we are fully matched in the first round with 8 excellent candidates and cannot wait to meet everyone! We are definitely brainstorming fun social events for the summer :).
As for the PGY1s, we have all been keeping pretty busy - many of us took part in the CaRMS interview process which was an enlightening and enjoyable experience. Also, we all recently travelled to Kingston for the site wide research day. It was great to be able to see all the interesting projects out there and I think it really inspired all of us for our projects as well.  I find these little trips are also like a mini vacation (unless there's a huge snowstorm lol) and its nice to spend so much time with our colleagues, we usually get the chance to hang out and have dinner as a group which is great.

We recently started our emergency medicine shifts as well as some surgery clinics which have both been highly beneficial.  I know everyone says this but I honestly can't believe how fast time is going - it's been a great year so far!

Congrats again to all the new residents!
-Stephanie

Images from CaRMS 2013 slideshow. Part 3.

And last, but not least, here are some pictures of our simulation facilities in use at the LHEARN Centre this past summer.

The briefing room.

A Nightmares FM scene.

NRP.

To all of this year's applicants, I hope everybody has safe travels over the CaRMS period and best of luck in finding the right matches for yourselves!

Images from CaRMS 2013 slideshow. Part 2.

And here are some images from our self defence course.  It provided some team-building fun as well as some information / skills that are good to have in mind (even though you hope never to have to use them).

A little bit of hair pulling.

Getting it out of our systems?

Harder to explain - I call it, "What to do if you are attacked by a chorus line."

Images from CaRMS 2013 slideshow. Part 1.

We are just in the midst of our CaRMS interview dates this year.  It has been humbling to see people braving the cold (- 27 C last week!) and the snow, rain, and black ice (last night) to find out more about our sites and program.  And as always, it is a wonderful privilege to get to meet so many interesting people and find out the various paths that brought them to the point of having a CaRMS interview with us.

I am just going to take this opportunity to post some photos that you might have seen in this year's CaRMS slides.  I don't seem to be able to get the photos to behave if I post more than three or four at a time so let's just break things up in to bite sized chunks.

Here are some photos from last summer's scavenger hunt.

The starting bench at the front of LHB.

Striking a movie pose at the theatre.  Any guesses as to the  film?

One of the buildings of the downtown campus of UOIT.

2012 FMF: Toronto!

Off to a great start at this year's FMF Education Forum learning about challenges medical learners and new graduates face as they progress through personal and professional transitions and "microtransitions".  Great discussion and hope to incorporate some of today's ideas into our QBOL program.

The times (on call) are a'changing.

Just a quick update today prompted by an article I read in the Medical Post (here's the link - hope it works but I had to log in to get to this article) describing how the CMA passed a motion to limit resident call to 16 hours or less.

The idea of decreasing from 24 hour call seems to be gaining traction across Canada but I know it's a "hot button" topic where effects can range from the obvious (like changes to call schedules) to the more unexpected (e.g. will fewer hours on call in training lead to a change in the duration of training?).

I would not say I have strong feelings either way but am very interested in how this develops as it will affect our curriculum.  This article also mentions that some of the Quebec programs that were early adopters of this type of policy are not that happy with the results so far.

Please leave a comment if you have any insight to share about this.

Camp Oconto - September 2012

Well, last week marked my first visit to Camp Oconto and it was a wonderful experience.  It really was the first chance for the current crop of Queen's FM residents from all sites and all years to mingle as a group.  This was facilitated by the 75% cooperative weather (not counting the program director-powered "hurricane" the first day), the beautiful backdrop of Eagle Lake, engaging speakers, and many enjoyable team-building / communication-enhancing / medical knowledge-testing activities.  Thanks again to the organizing committee - your planning efforts were certainly noticed and appreciated!

I'll attach a few photos here to give a taste of the activities but the photos really don't do justice to the experience.  Or the memories.  It was truly humbling to see how many future family physicians we are helping to prepare.

I can't wait for next year's wilderness medicine experience in Temagami!

Receiving instructions while itching for "lake-time".

A great "classroom" to learn about work-life balance.

High strung teamwork?

An impressive group.

Back to nature.

Resident Perspective

Hello Everyone!
    I am periodically going to be updating the blog as one of the brave pioneer residents of this exciting program. We are currently well in to the swing of things and have all been learning lots along the way. This week we're heading to Camp Oconto for our annual family medicine resident retreat to bond with our fellow Queen's residents. I will give you a more indepth post upon our return along with some pictures of our crew enjoying the great outdoors...Stay tuned!

Also, don't hesitate to reply if there's anything you're particularly curious about!

Cheers
- Stephanie

We're in the local news!

The good news:  Here's a little article that came out of the ALARM course we hosted at the LHEARN earlier this week.  Let's keep up the good work everyone!

DurhamRegion Article: Oshawa medical students get hands-on training on emergency births

The bad news:  According to the article, our residents may have been demoted back to being medical students...

Friday the 13th was a "Nightmares FM" day.

Shhh.

Here are some photos from QBOL's inaugural Nightmares FM course which took place last Thursday and Friday at the LHEARN Centre.  The LHEARN Centre is a recently opened facility housed at Lakeridge Health Oshawa which provides numerous teaching and meeting facilities including two brand new simulation labs.

(And yes, through some fortuitous and entirely unintentional planning, the second day of our Nightmares FM course did actually fall on Friday the 13th.)





This Nightmares FM course welcomed our batch of first year QBOL residents along with additional Queen's residents from other sites in a safe, non-judgemental learning environment.  The goal of this simulation course is to better prepare our future family physicians to respond confidently and competently to the needs of acutely ill patients.

Day 1 briefing session.

Ready to go!

We plan to take advantage of these state of the art facilities with refresher Nightmares FM courses and additional simulation courses.

QBOLers getting ready to roll.

Monitoring the scenario.

I also want to give special thanks to Dr. Randy Wax for assisting with the set up and mannequin support and to Drs. Aubrey Kassirer and Ed Osborne who were the primary instructors.  Your time, effort, preparation, and enthusiasm really helped to set the tone for our first simulation course and made for a very successful learning day!