Roundup

• Call for Proposals:  2023-24 SMHA AFP Innovation Funds - Aug 21/23 submission internal review deadline
• Reminder: 2022/2023 Annual Activity Reports
• Minimizing delays in pathology results for urgent cases
• Article: A New Approach to M.S. Could Transform Treatment of Other Diseases
• New self-serve IT portal now live: Quickly and easily submit and track IT tickets
• Report suspicious calls to Privacy and Risk

Please see below for the following updates:

• Reminder: 2022/2023 Annual Activity Reports
• Call for Proposals:  2023-24 SMHA AFP Innovation Funds - Aug 21/23 submission internal review deadline
• IM Accreditation Response
• Unity Health launching new self-serve IT portal on July 17

• Congratulations to…
• Special Congratulations to our Retirees!
• Chief Medical Resident Changeover
• Lyne Noel de Tilly's Retirement
• Masking changes at Unity Health effective June 27, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

I am very pleased to announce that Dr. Laura Walker from the Division of General Internal Medicine will become the Site Director, Core Internal Medicine program, as of July 1, 2023, replacing Dr. Eric Tseng who has completed his 3 year term.  Laura is a clinician teacher, has completed the Master Teacher program, and was the Chief Medical Resident at SMH in 2016/2017.  She has been the Deputy Site Education Program Director over the last 3 years. Please join me in congratulating Laura and thank you in advance for your support of her in this new role. Thanks also to the Search Committee who completed the interview process.

I also wish to thank Eric Tseng for his excellent leadership in this role over the last 3 years during the very difficult times of a global pandemic, staffing changes, and a Royal College accreditation decision of intent to withdraw.  Eric will become the Program Director for the Hematology residency training program as of July 1, 2023.

Congratulations to both!

Sharon

• Encouraging blood donation and restrictive blood use
• Call for applications - Deputy Site Director, IM
• St Michael’s physicians who use phone dictation: Review these tips for using eScription One
• Atropine 1% ophthalmic solution bottle dropper 5 mL is on backorder
• Outpatient Post-COVID Condition Rehabilitation Program closing August 31
• Announcement from Thomas Parker, Executive Vice-President, Clinical Programs & Chief Medical Officer
• Medical Education Strategic Plan 2023-2025 and 2022-2023 Annual Report

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?

Dear Colleagues,

At this week’s Higgins Day event, the thirty-fifth annual H. Patrick Higgins Memorial Scholarship Award of Merit was presented. This award, which is given to the resident with the best research project at the event, consists of a $2,000 prize and a plaque. The section judges this year were Akshay Bagai, Stephanie Lee, Matthew Lincoln Julie Gilmour, James Rassos, Kieran McIntyre, Danielle Buell, Suneil Khanna, Sami Alnasser as well Dr. Brian Higgins.  The committee chose the winners from the 21 resident projects presented.  The residents also enjoyed a spectacular key note talk from Elizabeth Tullis. It was a unique blend of mentorship and personal insight that hit all the right notes with the trainees.

I am very pleased to announce that Judy Truong’s presentation “Phase-Specific Costs of Care in Hematological Malignancies in Ontario, Canada” was selected.  Her supervisor was Dr. Matthew Cheung from Sunnybrook. Congratulations, Judy!

The award for research in urban health and substance use support called the William P. Jones III Memorial Scholarship Award was awarded to Sophia Wen for her presentation “High Prevalence of Iron Deficiency and Socioeconomic Disparities in Laboratory Screening of Non-Pregnant Females of Reproductive Age”.

The best presentation prize in the Quality Improvement/Education category was awarded to Andrew Wong-Pack titled “The ANTI Anticholinergic Project: Targeting Order Sets to Reduce Diphenhydramine Use in Older Adults”.

Research category winner is Menal Huroy for her presentation “The Impact of Gastrointestinal Surgeries on peak plasma anti-Xa Direct Oral Anticoagulant levels: A retrospective cohort”.

Clinical Vignettes category winner was Tina Marvasti  and Rohan Philip for their joint presentation titled “Reviewing your ABCs - Acute Kidney Injury, Bartonella Endocarditis, and C-ANCA Vasculitis”

I also would like to congratulate the winners of the Murray Muirhead Awards:  Maisha Chowdhury PGY1; Menal Huroy PGY2; and at the PGY3 level, Rohan Philip. Grace Wang, Connon Award;  Dhruv Nayyar and Kaja Konieczny have both won the Gerald Wong Award for undergraduate teaching excellence; and the winners of the Dr. Robert Sargeant Postgraduate education award are Jane Batt, Danielle Buell, Kaja Konieczny, Dharini Mahendira, Kieran Mcintyre and James Rassos.

We have also introduced the new Divisional Subspecialty Resident Awards this year.  Congratulations to the winners:

Video Link: https://vimeo.com/831916998?share=copy

Password: Higgins2023

Please see below for the following updates:

• Dr. Jane Batt appointed Vice-Chair, Research
• Stepping Stones: Foundations in Education Program Now Open for Registration!
• Centre for Faculty Development now accepting applications
• Helen Batty Awards - Call for Committee Members

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

Please see below for the following updates:              

• New Staff Profile:  The Department of Medicine is delighted to welcome Dr. Natalia Calo, Division of Gastroenterology, to the active staff!
• Message from the President and CEO: Unity Health marks exciting milestone in electronic patient record project
• Register Now: WAM+ Summit 2023
• Road and Sidewalk Paving - LKSKI Entrance affected Friday April 28th

Please see below for the following updates:                                               

• Welcome Dr. Ann Young
• Staff Lounge Move
• Data Science Institute University of Toronto - Data Science Certificate Courses Offerings Summer 2023; 10% Discount for Unity Health Employees

Please see below for the following updates:                                               

• Medical Staff Re-appointments - deadline to complete is March 31/23
• CALL FOR APPLICATIONS | PGME Faculty Lead, Admissions and Transitions
• Compensation for COVID-19 related work for March 2023 – Due April 13, 2023
• Reminder: SMH DOM Awards - Deadline: March 31, 2023
• Reminder: Nominations for Murray Muirhead Awards – Deadline: April 14, 2023