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On Monday, September 25^th, in honour of Truth and Reconciliation week, our department is hosting a half-day event: Listening and Reflecting. This will be the first part of the ABC Leadership series. Event information and registration will be coming soon!

From Friday, October 27^th – Sunday, October 29^th, we welcome faculty to join in the Annual Faculty Retreat at the Fairmont Montebello. Part II of the ABC Leadership series will be offered on Friday, October 27^th. The weekend will also include our Annual Departmental Assembly, educational and poster sessions, and a Halloween-themed dinner party, along with numerous leisure activities! Registration will be open soon.

I wish you a wonderful start to the summer, and hope everyone is able to take some well-deserved time off for rest, and time with family and friends.

New Faculty Orientation, ETS1 and Faculty Development Day

On Friday, June 2^nd, new and established faculty members from multiple sites gathered in person for a day of learning, enrichment, and networking. It was a full agenda, with something for everyone, offering six diverse teaching and learning sessions.

The day began with a “Teacher Know Thyself” workshop, led by Dr. Wooltorton, Director of Faculty Development, in which participants discussed the role of a clinician teacher, their motivations for teaching, and how to overcome barriers they might encounter.

Speaking to small groups, each leader provided an overview of their respective domain, and invited questions from new faculty. Topics of discussion included an overview of the roles of an academic family physician and a clinician teacher, growth opportunities and career planning in terms of how to create an academic plan, and how to develop and disseminate academic work. Some of the new faculty are pictured below, along with the leadership team:

Figure 2: New Faculty Orientation, Meet the Leaders - New Faculty Members

During the orientation, new faculty are informed about their new role and what university services are extended to them. As part of this process, in-between sessions new faculty had their photo taken for their faculty ID card. For those who missed this opportunity, please contact Louise Gagné, lgagne@uottawa.ca, to obtain a faculty ID card.

A successful ETS1 session, attended by 27 faculty members, followed the orientation. Led by Dr. Eric Wooltorton, Associate Professor, Dr. Taunia Rifai, Lecturer and Dr. Rita Hafizi, Assistant Professor, this session included discussions about a competency-based teaching approach and effective feedback. Participants also watched videos that demonstrated how to provide constructive feedback using various assessment tools, prompting a lively discussion amongst those in attendance.

Figure 3: uOttawa Medical Choir - Performing during the Meet the Mentors Lunch

Following the Choir performance, Dr. Alykhan Abdulla, Assistant Professor, and social worker, Sabina Wasserlauf, kicked off a mentorship lunch session by providing mentorship advice on a range of topics, including, “When patients won’t take no for an answer.” Participants also had the opportunity to meet members of the established DFM CLIMB! Mentorship group, discuss the “mentorship mindset,” and explore resources to help with challenges related to the CLIMB! domains (clinical care, leadership, investigation/research/scholarship, medical education, “Best self”). A change management session, “Leading lasting change in YOUR medical education setting,” facilitated by Dr. Taunia Rifai, (Incoming Civic Unit Director), Dr. Michelle Anawati (Interim Vice Dean Francophone Affairs), and Dr. Eric Wooltorton, provided insight into relevant “change management” frameworks, barriers to effecting successful change and how to overcome them. 

Thank you to all who facilitated and attended this event!

Recognizing the achievements of our faculty and staff is integral to celebrating “Our People.” This year, as part of our department’s awards and recognition program, 10 members of our faculty and 2 support staff were awarded DFM awards during an awards ceremony at Research, Inquiry and Opinion (RIO) Day, on June 9^th. Congratulations to the following 2023 DFM award winners:

Please help us keep this program strong by noting throughout the year the names of those you feel are deserving of an award, who can be nominated in 2024. Thank you to all who supported the program this year by submitting your nominations! Input from all faculty and staff is encouraged and welcome!

All Ontario physicians are welcome to apply for a new funding opportunity offered by the Ontario Medical Foundation (OMF). Members can apply for funding to support research projects or lead an initiative into systemic solutions that reduce barriers to equitable health care. A full list of funding criteria is available on the OMF grant webpage. Applications close on July 21^st, 2023.

Dr. Clare Liddy, Chair of our department, spoke to the CBC’s Robyn Bresnahan on June 15^th, about the shortage of family doctors and the role of eConsult in helping to reduce lengthy wait times for patients in need of a specialist. Access the link to listen to the full interview: Is there a way to get patients referred to specialists faster? | Ottawa Morning with Robyn Bresnahan | Live Radio | CBC Listen

Dr. Kamila Premji, Associate Professor, contributed to an article titled “Family Medicine in Crisis” published by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario's (CPSO) eDialogue, to address the shortage of family practitioners. Dr. Premji discusses the clinical and administrative burdens on doctors, measures that can be taken to help alleviate the emergency in primary care, and how this can lead to a more efficient and effective system. Read the full article here!

A recent study, “Clinical and economic impact of a community-based, hybrid model of in-person and virtual care in a Canadian rural setting: a cross-sectional population-based comparative study” by Dr. Jonathan Fitzsimon, Assistant Professor, was published in the BMJ Open Journal. It shows the international nature of the challenge of improving access to family physicians and primary care, and the broad interest in finding solutions to the problem. Follow the link to read the complete study article.

We wish Dr. Bhagirath all the best in his future endeavours. Winchester thrived under his leadership and we are appreciative of his commitment and effort to grow the Winchester program and make it the success that it is today.

Please enjoy the following testimonials from some of our outgoing Chief residents, who share their experiences from the past two years:

The highlight for me was hosting both yearly holiday parties at my place. Here we were able to celebrate the connections we made, and forge new ones. We mixed the PGY1’s and 2’s from many different sites, facilitating that collegial atmosphere that I came to enjoy.

Next year I will be embarking on another nerve-wracking journey, doing my fellowship training in emergency medicine in St. John’s, Newfoundland. This will be an adventure in a place I again have never been. It will be sad to leave the many friendships I’ve made over these past two years, but while I know that everyone is off to do great things, I can take comfort in all the great memories I have from this time in my life.”

The cohort of chief residents I had the pleasure of working with made even the dullest scheduling tasks into a fun monthly exercise - and we shared many laughs along the way. Mostly, the role felt worthwhile when advocating for resident concerns and through making the program just a tiny bit better for those in it. Fortunately, I don't have to travel very far to my next stage of training - I will be starting my PGY3 Emergency Medicine fellowship at University of Ottawa in July. Best of luck to all of my graduating colleagues!"

Through the longitudinal nature of this program, I was able to follow patients through all facets of care, from clinic or home visits to the emergency department or inpatient unit and back. The Winchester District Memorial Hospital was an incredible place to grow and learn throughout the past 2 years; and those who work there are very supportive mentors and exemplary physicians. I consider myself so lucky to have been a part of this program. After I graduate, I will be doing an extra 6 months of training in Obstetrics, after which I hope to use my skills to work as a comprehensive family physician in a rural area."

I was also able to liaise with the DFM faculty and staff and advocate on behalf of my co-residents through sharing a resident perspective and striving to make the residency experience as smooth and as positive as possible for everyone. We were so fortunate to have such a great group of chief residents across the various family medicine training sites this year, which certainly enhanced the experience further. I would highly recommend this role to incoming family medicine residents! Looking forward, I will be staying in Ottawa next year as I complete a PGY3 year in Emergency Medicine!”

RIO Day

Graduating residents from our Family Medicine program at our teaching units celebrated together at the June 9^th graduation ceremony at RIO Day (pictured below):

Bruyère and Primrose

On Friday, June 9^th 2023, we celebrated 19 amazing graduating residents from Bruyère and Primrose. A joint celebration took place at Lago overlooking the stunning Dow’s Lake. The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was jovial, and the jokes were endless. Each resident was roasted and congratulated by their primary preceptor. This included an amazing rendition of ‘Part of your World’ sung by some mermaids, a bobble head stand-in for a missing preceptor, a patient gown to provide warmth and so many other unforgettable memories. 

Our two MC’s, Grace Zhu and Andrew Ward, made sure the night flowed and that the primary preceptors did make it out without a few jokes at their expense. This cohort of graduating residents is resilient, professional, and remarkably caring. We could not be prouder of the physicians they are. Congratulations to all our graduates – Ankita, Sora Abdul-Fattah, Leila Badr, Mariela Fleury de Marquez, Veronique Gallant, Roman Gulko, Connor Howell, Serina Khater, Nicole Laskosky, Isabelle Lefebvre, Laurie Matthews, Lia McCarthy, Daniel Pau, Denisa Rusu, Nitasha Salim, Alexandra Siebert, Sean To, Brenton Wong and Jonathan Zeng. Be sure to come back to locum…seriously.

Special mention to Dr. Jolanda Turley who was honored for her 6 years of service as the Primrose Postgraduate Program Director.

Pembroke celebrated their end-of-year at Dr. Lynsay Lane's Cottage, which was a great success!

Figure 7: Pembroke Graduating Residents

Do you have a research question or scholarly project for a FM resident?

If your project would welcome the involvement of a resident, simply provide us with the following information by July 20, 2023, at fmrspdfm@uottawa.ca:

• Project title and/or keywords
• A brief description of the topic/background of the project
• The role that would be offered to the resident joining the team
• Name of the contact person for the project

Your contributions and collaboration are greatly appreciated as we strive to provide meaningful scholarly and research opportunities for residents. For more information, contact Dr. Maddie Venables at Maddie.Venables@uOttawa.ca.

Family Medicine Grand Rounds

Claim your CFPC MainPro credits for the 2022-2023 series (ID 108200-001). The DFM had another successful FMGR series, with 20 presentations, over 250 participants live on zoom and 180 participants having viewed part or all of the sessions on our YouTube Channel. For a complete list and recordings of past presentations, visit us on the DFM Website Research Page.

We are presently developing the 2023-2024 series. If you are interested in presenting, contact us at RechercheDFM@uottawa.ca. The virtual sessions will continue to be on the 4^th Thursday of the month, from September 2023 to June 2024 (excluding December), 8:00 to 9:00, join us on this Zoom link.



Your Visibility and Discoverability as an Academic

Interested in increasing the visibility and discoverability of your work as an academic at the national level? UNIWEB is a Canadian company located in Ottawa providing web-based software for academic institutions with a focus on academic discoverability network and CV management. Institutions using UNIWeb include McGill University, ÉTS, CIMVHR, University of Lethbridge, Dalhousie University, Queen’s University, Hôpital Montfort, Bruyère Research Institute and others as well as the University of Ottawa. Consider completing or updating your uOttawa UNIWEB profile. It will increase your web visibility, allowing your work and areas of academic interest to be seen by a larger audience both within and outside uOttawa, facilitating the identification and connection with other academics with the same teaching or research interests. 

Log in using your uOttawa credentials (same as your uOttawa e-mail) where you will find tutorials that will walk you through the process of creating your profile. You will also find the option of including your full CV if that is of interest to you. If you require assistance, send us an e-mail at Recherchedfm@uottawa.ca.

The Practising Well Community of Practice 

On Wednesday, June 28^th, the Practising Well Community of Practice is hosting an event, Breaking bad: Strategies and tips to decrease nicotine use. Registration is open to Family Doctors, including Residents. Please visit the Ontario College of Family Physician, Practicing Well initiative webpage for more information about this Community of Practice and their event.