Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - November 9th
Please see below for the following updates for November 9, 2023:
- Congratulations to…
- University of Toronto – City Wide Medical Grand Rounds – November 15th, 2023: F.M. Hill Lecture with Dr. Jillian Horton
- MSA Holiday Party E-invite – Last chance to RSVP
- Upcoming Symposium on Nov 27: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of Insulin to Banting and Macleod
- CPSO clarification on the responsibilities for test management, consultations, and continuity of care
- Minimizing delays in pathology results for urgent cases
- Tips for Cyber Security
- WebCV replacement and introduction of Discover Research and Elements
- Ending the Practice of “Race Correction” in Health Care speaker series, as part of the Li Ka Shing, Clinical and Population Research Rounds, 2023: November 29, 2023 event
- Do Not Use the Emergency Department Entrance
- Upcoming learning sessions on new guideline for AV recordings by patients and visitors
Michelle Sholzberg is the winner of the 2023 Jeffrey C. Lozon Physician Leadership Award as selected by a committee consisting of the MSA executive and several department chiefs. Congratulations, Michelle!
Jeff Perl is the recipient of the American Society of Nephrology Midcareer Award: Distinguished Leader Award. Congratulations, Jeff!
Amol Verma is the recipient of the 2023 CSIM Young Investigator Award. Congratulations, Amol!
David Jenkins has been appointed to the Order of Ontario. Congratulations, David!
Tune in on Wednesday November 15th for CWMGRS – F.M Hill Lecture with Jillian Horton, MD, FRCPC
We are (Not) All Perfectly Fine...How high-stakes personal narratives will change our culture
Learning objectives:
- Create an opportunity for personal reflection
- Discover why stories are an effective mechanism for engagement
- Explore common social and psychological barriers that often prevent physicians from sharing the personal narratives that can affect culture change
Registration is required: https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApfuiqrTwrEtWnZk-MkIhRX6yaK-ofruxA
As a reminder the MSA party is for physicians that pay the MSA dues.
Dear MSA Members,
The MSA at St. Michael’s Hospital is happy to announce the return of our annual Holiday Party!
We will be hosting our event at the Omni King Edwards Hotel on SATURDAY DECEMBER 9TH, 2023 at 6:00PM. Dress code is formal. Guest may bring a plus one. Seating arrangements can be chosen through the RSVP page. Please scan the QR code in the attachment or click this link to RSVP. Guests may bring a plus one. The RSVP deadline will be on Wednesday November 15th, 2023.
Please contact the UHT MSA assistant Charmaine Retanal ([email protected]) if you have any questions.
We look forward to seeing you all for our Annual Holiday Party!
Best,
Charmaine Retanal on behalf of St. Michael’s MSA
Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of Insulin to Banting and Macleod: Impact and Legacy
Registration is free of charge but required for all participants. Registration and symposium schedule available online at Toronto Medical Historical Club.
November 27, 2023 at 2:00-5:00 PM EST
Campbell Conference Facility, 1 Devonshire Place (at Trinity College)
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3K7 Canada
Zoom participation is available due to limited seating at the facility.
Please contact [email protected] with any questions and we thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide in distributing this information.
A reminder from Dr. Karen Weyman and the family health teams:
The CPSO has advised:
- “Any physician who determines that a test is needed is responsible for ordering that test, tracking the results, and managing any follow-up stemming from that test.”
- For those copied on tests, “they would have no additional responsibilities in regard to the tests or results, unless there is reason to believe that a clinically significant test result has not been followed-up on.”
- “Consultant physicians can support referring physicians by accepting consultation requests, where possible, even if there are minor issues with the requests (e.g., incorrect or outdated referral forms).”
The complete updated advice from CPSO on Managing Tests and Continuity of Care is available.
We expect that the updated advice from CPSO will help to reduce the administrative burden of family doctors.
SGFP has updated our resource guide, Transitions in Care-Responsibility
The Division of Pathology continues to be critically short-staffed in all areas of the lab. Since our last communication in January, we continue to experience significant pathology backlogs and turnaround times. We expect that there will continue to be significant and ongoing delays of surgical pathology, cytology and autopsy results, impacting both the St. Joseph's and St. Michael's sites.
We continue to make all attempts to prioritize STAT and other clinically urgent or time-sensitive specimens.
How you can help:
- Refrain from designating specimens as STAT or RUSH unless there is truly a critical reason (i.e. imminent loss of organ, life or limb) that necessitates reporting within 24-48 hours. Over-use of these terms results in slow-downs for all cases.
- Results for several specimens – including surgical resection specimens – are anticipated to take several weeks. Please schedule follow-up appointments for review of pathology results accordingly.
- REMINDER: It is essential to provide pertinent and accurate clinical history on all surgical pathology and cytopathology requisition forms to enable us to appropriately triage specimens.
Thank you for your co-operation and understanding in these challenging circumstances. For any questions, please contact Dr. Eleanor Latta, Division Head, Pathology.
Attached are 4 files with Cyber security tips from the IT Department. They can also be found by searching cyber on the intranet. Link here for easy access: Search Results for “cyber” - UnityNet
Dear Department of Medicine research community,
You may have heard that the Department of Medicine will be moving on from WebCV and participating in the broader University of Toronto transition to a platform called “Elements” which forms the back-end of the new Discover Research portal. The system is designed to automatically pull publications, grants and other items without the need for you to manually update. The public-facing side of this system requires your opt-in and faculty members can login to Elements and select what, if anything, they choose to share. Instructions to login can be found in the attached slides.
As the system was designed to support researchers across all Faculties of the University of Toronto, a working group has been struck to ensure that it meets the specific needs of our clinician teachers and educators, and clinicians in quality & innovation. We do however want to make sure that any distinct needs of our clinician investigators and clinician scientists are not missed (including reporting and CV outputs).
To that end we are looking for a few volunteers from amongst our Clinician Scientists and Investigators to join this group. If you are interested in participating, please let me know.
What is the ask re time?
- Virtual group meeting (30 minutes) to explain the project plan and introduce the TFOM team and the tools.
- Prior to the above meeting, send your CVs, as produced by Web CV, to the team leaders.
- Kate and Joanna from the Temerty Research office will then schedule individual meetings with working group members for individual data review meetings (~3 hours total between now and the winter break).
Thanks,
Kristian GalbergResearch AdministratorDepartment of MedicineTitle: When the literature betrays the patient: Exploring systematic reviews through the lens of “race correction”
Presented by Dr. Patricia O’Campo, Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at Unity Health Toronto, in partnership with the Canada-US Coalition to End Race Correction in Health Care and Knowledge Translation at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions.
Date and Time (virtual event): Nov 29, 2023 from 12 pm – 1:30 pm EST
Registration: https://when-the-literature-betrays-the-patient.eventbrite.ca
About this talk: This talk will explore the question of – What does the reality of race correction mean for the integrity of systematic reviews that:
- Concern or include data based on a diagnostic tool that is race corrected;
- Do not explicitly take race correction into account.
What is “race correction”? Health care providers often use tests to assess a patient’s health. In many cases, health care providers calculate test results differently for Black patients than they do for everyone else. Overall, “race correction” means that Black people are diagnosed late, or never diagnosed at all, for serious conditions from heart, kidney and lung diseases to cognitive impairment. It also means that Black people are systematically excluded from timely access to life-saving treatments like organ transplants and other surgeries. “Race correction” has no scientific basis because “race” is not biological. It is a social construct that is applied differently in different times and in different places. In fact, scientists have shown us that people have more in common genetically across “racial”.
A reminder from Orla Smith that the ED entrance is restricted to ED patients and TTLS responding to trauma. The entry doors are locked for safety reasons and the hospital wants to ensure the safety and security of staff and patients in the ED. Thanks for your help in optimising a safe work environment!
Unity Health has released a new guideline on audio and visual recordings by patients and visitors. Under Canadian law, patients are permitted to take a recording of a conversation they’re involved in without the consent of the other party, including recordings that staff and physicians may or may not be aware of. The new guideline outlines the expectations at Unity Health within this legal framework.
To support leaders, staff and physicians as they navigate this legal context, the Privacy team is hosting two learning sessions:
- Wednesday, Nov. 15 from 8 to 9 a.m.
- Monday, Nov. 20 from noon to 1 p.m.
Additional resources: