Please see below for the following updates:

• Approved Medical Directive - Nurse Collection of Admission Screening and Point Prevalence Specimens for Candida auris
• Process for Sponsored Trainee Applicants
• Call for Faculty Mentors: Summer Mentorship Program (SMP)
• Save the date:  Higgins Day – Resident Research Event – Tuesday, May 30^th  1:00pm – 4:00pm – 2^nd Floor LKSKI Auditorium

On behalf of Co-Chairs, Sonya Canzian and Dr. Tom Parker, kindly note that the Interprofessional Practice Executive Ctte. (IPPEC) members unanimously approved the following Medical Directive as submitted via email:

Medical Directive:

“Nurse Collection of Admission Screening and Point Prevalence Specimens for Candida auris”

This medical directive has been through stakeholder review and approvals. Presently there are directives in place to provide nurses the authority to implement orders for swabs in suspected cases of MRSA, VRE and CPE. This directive will expand that authority to include swabbing for candida auris as clinically indicated.

Any questions or concerns by an authorizer can be addressed by Dr. Matthew Muller - [email protected]

Thank you,

Dear Colleagues,

We are sending this email as a reminder of process for the review of applications and the appointment of sponsored trainees. Postgraduate training agreements are currently in place between the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine and sponsoring agencies from:

• Bahrain
• Kuwait
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• United Arab Emirates

The PGME office continues to receive appointments/letters of offer from Programs for sponsored trainees who are not in our application system. This includes new offers and extension of offers for current trainees. This may occur as applicants reach out to Programs directly with their documents, and they may also provide sponsorship letters that have not been verified by our office. This continues to be an ongoing issue and causes unnecessary delays in the process of appointing sponsored applicants.

Please ensure the following processes are followed:

• Programs must ensure that any applicants from the above countries are vetted appropriately through the PGME office. It is mandatory that you forward sponsored applicants who reach out to you directly to the PGME office to [email protected], so we can confirm their sponsorship and ensure their applications meet the requirements as laid out in our Training Agreements.
• Sponsored trainees must be remunerated by their sponsor. Departmental funding or other sources of funding are not acceptable.
• All communication to our sponsoring agencies must come directly from the PGME office. If your sponsored trainees reach out to you for training verification letters to be sent to sponsors, requests for leaves, please communicate with us, so we can ensure this communication is sent centrally through our office.

As always, we appreciate all you do to support our sponsored trainees and your ongoing collaboration with our office.  

If you have questions, I encourage you to connect with Shannon Spencer, our International Relationship Manager in the PGME office ([email protected]).

Sincerely,

Patricia

The Office of Access & Outreach are looking for mentors for the Summer Mentorship Program (SMP). SMP is a four-week program designed to provide Black, Indigenous, and low socioeconomic status high school students with the opportunity to gain health sciences mentorship and career exploration in a university environment.

Health professionals are typically recruited from the following specialties, but the SMP is open to others:

1. Medicine – there are MANY requests to shadow a physician in any area (cardiology, emergency medicine, pediatrics, etc.)
2. Nursing
3. Social Work
4. Pharmacy
5. Kinesiology and Physical Education
6. Rehab Sciences (PT, OT, SLP and RSI)
7. Public Health
8. Dentistry
9. Paramedicine

If you are interested in participating as a mentor, please see the link: https://temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/summer-mentorship-program for more information and instructions on how you can sign up.

Kind Regards, 

Please join is on Tuesday, May 30^th – 1:00pm – 3:00pm for our 35^th Annual Higgins Day – Resident Research Event

2^nd Floor, Li Ka Shing Auditorium

Higgins Day celebrates clinical, research, quality improvement, and medical education activities performed by residents based at St. Michael’s Hospital, as well as residents working with St. Michael’s Hospital staff physicians.

Agenda:

1:00pm  - Welcome

1:05pm – Keynote Presentation by Dr. Elizabeth Tullis

1:30 to 3:25 – Resident Research Presentations

3:30 – 4:00pm – Announcement of Department of Medicine Awards and Higgins Day Awards