Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - January 29

Please see below for the following updates:

• Betty & Gerald Straus Early Career Research and Innovation Award 2025/2026
• Congratulations to Dr. Dalia Rotstein on National MS Society Grant Award
• EPR Updates: Info Requests for External Providers can now be sent via Epic
• Video Link: Medical Grand Rounds - A Systemic Framework for Addressing Workplace Violence in Healthcare - Jan 28 2026
• Publication: The International/Canadian hereditary angioedema guideline lead by Dr. Stephen Betschel
• Reminder: Royal College Maintenance of Certification
• Reminder: Annual 2026–27 Reappointment Information for Medical Staff

 We are pleased to share the results of the inaugural Betty & Gerald Straus Early Career Research and Innovation Award competition.

This award was established in honour of Dr. Sharon Straus and her outstanding leadership and contributions during her tenure as Physician-in-Chief from 2018 to 2024. It recognizes an early career investigator whose work demonstrates exceptional promise in research, innovation, and impact. The award carries a value of $20,000 to support the recipient’s academic and scholarly pursuits.

We extend our sincere thanks to Sharon for her lasting influence on our department’s academic mission.

It is with great pleasure that we announce Dr. Matthew Lincoln as the recipient of this year’s award.

Please join us in congratulating him on this well-deserved achievement.

We would also like to thank the reviewers for their time and thoughtful evaluations, as well as all applicants for their impressive submissions and ongoing contributions to research within the Department of Medicine.

Congratulations Matt!

 Congratulations to Dr. Dalia Rotstein on receiving a research grant from the National MS Society (U.S.) for the project titled “MS Hot Spot: Exploring Vasomotor Symptoms in Women with MS.”

This important work will be supported from April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2028, with total funding of $199,951.

*Message on behalf of Dr. Trevor Jamieson*

I wanted to draw your attention to the first item in the Updates for Providers.

One challenge that people have in the ambulatory space is the need to re-enter diagnoses repeatedly on follow up visits. The update we've gotten into the system is to automatically attach visit diagnoses when people do various things - including adding a problem to the problem list - or simply adding a problem to your documentation.  I'm including some screen shots:

• In this instance, we have a patient coming to a visit for diabetes who has diabetes on their problem list.
• When they come for a subsequent visit, an efficient way to add this diagnosis to the visit (without adding a visit diagnosis) is to write about the diabetes in your note. 
• If you include the .diagpoc smart section in your documentation (the assessment and plan section) - pic1 - there are a variety of ways to streamline this activity
• This smart section has two important functions.  On the right (Pic2) is a dropdown where you can add an existing problem that you are going to document about.  Selecting a diagnosis (or multiple) from this drop down will add it to your "assessment and plan" in the note for you to document against, but will also automatically add it as a visit diagnosis.
• The other symbol (the triple dot in the circle - pic3 and pic4 - allows you to pull forward your past assessment and plans notes for all selected problems, which can then be edited as required). Note that you can pull forward your last assessment and plan, or, in the case of a shared care model, the last assessment and plan.  

I would not recommend using the "add visit diagnosis" (pic5) as a matter of routine unless you will not be seeing this patient again.  It doesn't add the item to the problem list, so in future visits, that item will not be there for reselection.  I.e. On the initial visit it's better to add that diagnosis to the problem list which should make it a visit diagnosis automatically (i.e. you shouldn't need to do both)..but once that's done, then you can simply document about it in follow up visits and that should automatically make it a visit diagnosis.

Trevor

Please see the recording from the Medical Grand Rounds presentation, “A Systemic Framework for Addressing Workplace Violence in Healthcare,” held on January 28, 2026.

https://vimeo.com/1159329867?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

Password: SMHDOM2026

Congratulations to Dr. Stephen Betschel on leading the development and publication of the newly updated International/Canadian Hereditary Angioedema Guideline.

Open Access Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13223-025-00999-8

All Department of Medicine members are reminded that the deadline to submit your 2025 continuing professional development (CPD) hours for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) without mandatory documentation is January 31, 2026. You can submit your hours online at MAINPORT on the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada website. 

Please note that 2025 certificates of attendance for St. Michael's Hospital Medical Grand Rounds were emailed by Jessica Comilang in early December. 

Resources related to MOC and credit submission can be found at:  https://royalcollege.ca/en/cpd/moc-program.html

Login to MAINPORT is accessed from this page: royalcollege.ca/mymoc

You will receive an email from CMaRS initiating the reappointment process the week of February 16, 2026.

The deadline to complete your application is March 31, 2026. Reappointments cover the time period of July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

To assist with time pressures, the below five courses can be completed in advance of the reappointment period. They will be accepted if completed between December 1, 2025, and the reappointment deadline of March 31, 2026.

Mandatory learning modules for 2026 reappointment:

1. Workplace Violence & Harassment
2. Fire Safety, Security & Emergency Codes
3. TAHSN Privacy & Cyber Security
4. TAHSN Relations with Industry
5. TAHSN Domestic Violence

Note: These modules must be completed, as outlined in the UHT Corporate Mandatory Training Policy.

Please see the attached 2026–27 Medical Staff Reappointment Communications Guide for more information.

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions.