Thanks to everyone who attended the SMH DOM Annual Celebration last night – it was wonderful to see everyone and to hear all of the laughter!  Thanks, in particular, to Julia and Jessica for all they did to ensure it was a special evening. And, congratulations to all of the award winners and retirees.

Several of you asked for a copy of the poem that Jillian Horton wrote for us and we’ve included it in this newsletter.

Thanks again to each of you for another amazing year! Your kindness, compassion, and commitment to patients and learners continue to inspire.

Sharon

We Said by Jillian Horton

We said, but what if the worst thing happens

It did

We said, but what if we can’t handle it

We could

(What if I never see you again

What if nothing comes of this?)

We got lost in all those questions

Stuck like a record needle

Tired and worn down in those grooves.

(What if this never ends?

What if everything changes?)

We nudged each other out of those ruts.

We got tired of those questions.

We saw they would not change anything.

We started asking new ones.

We said,

What if we are closer than we have ever been to what we are here to do?

We said,

What are we going to do with what we know now?

We said,

What if this is the moment we change everything?

Please see below for the following updates:

• New Staff Profile: The Department of Medicine is delighted to welcome Dr. Adam MacLellan, Division of Neurology, to the active staff!
• Michael's physicians required to setup Microsoft Authenticator for phone dictation by June 14
• Discontinuation of universal COVID-19 testing
• Unity Health Research is coming together under one roof
• Library Services Model Survey

Dr. Adam MacLellan:  Adam is joining the Division of Neurology as a Clinician Teacher and Assistant Professor as of July 1, 2023.  He obtained his MD at Western University in 2012, completed his adult Neurology residency at the University of Toronto in 2017, followed by a two-year Vascular Neurology Clinical and Research Fellowship at Stanford University.  Since 2019, Adam has been a Staff Physician in General and Stroke Neurology for the Vancouver Island Health Authority and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, where he has taken the lead to help build the stroke program locally and regionally on Vancouver Island. Adam played an instrumental role in the development and implementation of a dedicated Stroke Service for Vancouver Island to complement the evolving endovascular stroke program. Moving from a shared model to independent stroke service, the program showed improvements in multiple quality indicators, and, as a member of the recruitment committee, assisted in the recruitment of several new stroke neurologists, leading to the expansion of this service to 24/7 dedicated stroke coverage as of July 2022. Adam also holds an excellent record in resident and trainee education and mentorship with the UBC Island Medical Program and supervises UBC Neurology residents. 

Outside of work, Adam enjoys spending time exploring the great outdoors with his husband, Frank, and their energetic white lab, Truman.

On June 14, St. Michael’s will be introducing a new tool to review and sign off on phone dictated notes. The tool, eScription One, is used at Providence and will replace 3M ESA (ChartScript), which is being phased out as the vendor ends technical support.

St. Michael’s physicians who wish to continue to dictate by phone must download and setup Microsoft Authenticator – a multi-factor authentication application – by June 14. Physicians who don’t setup the app will not be able to review and sign off on phone dictated notes once eScription One goes live.

To setup Microsoft Authenticator, please use this link and follow the instructions. Please note that you must use your Unity Health Toronto email address. Detailed setup instructions can also be found in this tip sheet. More information on eScription One will be provided next week.

As an alternative to eScription One and phone dictation, St. Michael’s physicians can choose to document notes electronically using the Digital Dictation tool (eVR) with embedded Dragon functionality. For more information on eVR, please review this video or check out the daily note guide and download instructions.

If you have any questions about Microsoft Authenticator, including how to download and setup the application, please contact the St. Michael’s HelpDesk at ext. 5751 or email [email protected]. If reaching out to the HelpDesk via email, please copy Alisha Thawer, Project Manager, at [email protected]. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Unity Health implemented universal COVID-19 admission testing of all admissions, including both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission on inpatient units.

As Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) anticipates COVID-19 levels to remain stable or decrease over the coming months, universal COVID-19 admission testing for all patients is no longer required as of Monday, June 5.  It remains essential that all admissions are assessed for COVID-19 symptoms and, if symptomatic, are tested and placed in Droplet-Contact precautions (with N95 respirator). 

We will re-evaluate the need for universal testing should future large COVID-19 waves occur and result in transmission at Unity Health. Thank you for your continued efforts to protect our patients, staff, physicians and communities.

In the coming months, the Unity Health research community will be coming together under one roof at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute.

Researchers and staff who are currently based at the 250 Yonge St. location will be relocated to the Li Ka Shing building by the end of the year.

This decision was made in recognition that remote work and hoteling work stations are the way forward, as well as a bid to save costs and lessen our environmental footprint.

This is also an opportunity to bring the Research community together in one building, fostering collaboration and community building -- as was the original vision of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute.

Here’s what to expect in the coming months:

Updates on the timeline of the move and key dates

Meetings with Research leaders to discuss details and space considerations

Information about resources to help with the move

We thank you for your understanding.

Ori, Pat, Kim

We are evaluating the role of our staff and services across the network in order to best meet the information needs of staff, physicians, students, and volunteers. As part of this process, we are conducting

a 4-minute survey in order to gather your crucial feedback.

The survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/83DRXJ2