What's New at the ACFP and In Health Care
  • Are you a physician in your First Five Years of practice and would like to receive information on both personal and professional affairs to help ensure your success? The FFYFP Committee is planning their annual event and would like to know what topics to cover! Take this short survey to share your areas of interest.
  • The Family Medicine Summit 2019 has less than 20 registration spots available! Be sure to register today as there will be no on-site registration.
  • Reminder - Annual Meeting of Members of the ACFP takes place during the FMS in Banff, Alberta on Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. MST in Salon A/B/C of The Rimrock Resort Hotel. For more details see 2019 AMM.
  • If are unable to attend the 2019 AMM, please submit your proxy form by Wednesday, February 20, 2019 by 4:00 p.m. MST.
  • Make time to recognize excellence and nominate a colleague today!
Message from the President - Invitation to the Annual Meeting of Members
In social media platforms they talk of a 90-9-1 rule where 90% of users are just lurkers, 9% comment, and 1% create content. So our question to you is: If ACFP was a social media platform, would you be considered a lurker, a commenter, or a creator?

Our Annual Meeting of Members is coming up on Saturday, March 2, from 9:00 am to 10:00 am. This is a chance for members to “comment” or get engaged. 

The Board of Directors are looking for your support for their “creation of content” or direction that they are taking with the ACFP. Come and meet your Board members and vote for the new director being brought on to the Board, ask questions about the work that has been done by the ACFP in the last year, see how things will move forward next year, and make sure your ...

Message from the ED - Opioid Response Initiative: One Year Later
As we approach the one year mark of the Primary Health Care Opioid Response Initiative, it is important to reflect on the incredible milestones we have achieved thus far.
With regards to the urgent response, we have increased access to treatment and have exceeded our targets. In the past six months there were:

  • 135 more PCN providers trained to prescribe OAT
  • 61 new PCN prescribers of OAT and,
  • 541 more patients receiving OAT in Primary Care

ACFP is also excited to continue building on these elements and providing resource tools that support this initiative. One tool we will feature in the month to come is the BS (Best Science) Medicine podcast. The BS Medicine podcast is hosted by Dr. James McCormack (affiliate of PEER) out of the University of British Columbia and Dr. Mike Allan (member of PEER) from the CFPC/University of Alberta. James and Mike have been doing this podcast for over 10 years and have more than 400 episodes! Both have created an entertaining way of providing evidence for primary care. Check out episodes 404-406 which relate to Opioid Use Disorder (OUD).

This is just the beginning. This year our focus will expand to assisting family physicians and their teams in making practical changes within their practice. These tools are embedded within our CMN OAT Workshops – Identifying ...

Website Scavenger Hunt Winners!
Thank you to those who participated in our Website scavenger hunt. Congratulations to the following winners:

  • Laura Lu, Calgary
  • Angela Tarazona, Calgary
  • Kiran Dhillon, Edmonton
  • Omid Pour-ahmadi, Calgary
  • Chelsea Henry, Lacombe
Practical Workshop: Identifying and Treating Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care
The Collaborative Mentorship Networks for Chronic Pain and Addiction is travelling across the province to offer family physicians and their teams a free three-hour workshop with practical tools that can be immediately applied in practice.  

  • Edmonton - Feb 21
  • St. Paul - Apr 5
  • Whitecourt - Apr 6
  • Grande Prairie - Apr 7
  • Camrose - Apr 12
  • Wainwright - Apr 13
  • Red Deer - Apr 14

This Group Learning program has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Alberta Chapter for up to 3 Mainpro+ credits.

Mainpro + Minute: Three credits per hour programs
Last month we asked –

If you attend a program certified for three-credits-per-hour and do not complete the required post-course activities, can you be awarded with a certificate, and claim certified credits in a lesser category – i.e. one-credit-per hour?

Answer: No, I can not be awarded or claim any certified credits for participating in this program.

  • Programs designed to include post-course reflective activities have been developed to meet the highest certification criteria set out by the CFPC. All components of the program are mandatory for the provider to deliver, and for the participant to complete in order to receive a certificate awarding the approved certified credits.
  • Participants who do not complete all components of a three-credit-per-hour program will not be issued a certificate for certified credits. They may however complete a “Linking Learning” exercise to earn Mainpro+ certified credits, or claim non-certified credits at one-credit-per-hour for their attendance at the workshop/program.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our January eNews poll. All correct answers were entered in a draw to receive a $25 Starbucks gift card, and five lucky winners were randomly drawn.

Congratulations to our December Winners!!

  • Dr. Laura Lu (Calgary)
  • Dr. Nicole Roper (High River)
  • Dr. Debbie Millard (Edmonton)
  • Dr. Tariq Alshawadbkeh (St. Albert)
  • Dr. Ettiene Groenewald (Camrose)

Win a Starbucks Coffee Card!

CFPC's Non-Compliance Policy

Members of the CFPC must submit a minimum of 250 credits in a five-year cycle. At least 125 credits must be ‘certified’ credits. The remaining 125 can be certified or non-certified. CFPC’s non-compliance policy will be initiatied if credit requirements are not met within your five-year cycle.

A grace period is allowed following your cycle end date allowing you to report any outstanding credits. If you do not meet the necessary requirements by the end of the grace period you will be placed into a two-year remedial cycle.

Vote below to enter your answer and for a chance to win* one of five $25 Starbucks gift cards!

How long is the grace period at the end of your five-year cycle in which you are allowed to submit outstanding credits?
What is the grace period given at the end of your 5-year cycle to submit outstanding credits?
Six weeks
Eight weeks
The answer will be published in the March edition of our eNews.

*Only correct answers will be entered into the draw. Five lucky winners will be notified by email and will have their names published in the November edition of our eNews.
Responding to Canada’s Opioid Crisis - We’d Like to Hear From You!
people_social_icons.jpg
The College of Family Physicians of Canada is hosting an opioid symposium on Monday, April 29 th in Edmonton, AB and would like to include innovative experiences and unique stories from our members. As stories offer the unique portrayal of experiences, we are inviting you to share your innovations and the differences you are making in your practice to address the opioid crisis. As an incentive, we will be providing funding to 2 members to attend the event and share their stories.

This event will focus on the needs of family doctors and the role in which family doctors can play in the opioid crisis. The round-table discussion topics will explore the needs and potential gaps that family physicians are challenged with in caring for patients who require appropriate prescribing of opioids and those who require opioid agonist on the road to recovery. We will share innovations that have been developed in family medicine environments and expressed through a lived experience lens. The purpose of the symposium will be for us to identify 3-4 goals/objectives that are pragmatic to provide an actionable work plan for the CFPC to support family doctors in caring for their patients and influence for positive change within the context of the opioid crisis.  

Please forward your written stories or a 5-10 minute video of you describing innovative ways in which you are providing a positive impact on the opioid crisis to Maureen Desmarais at mkd@cfpc.ca.  We look forward to hearing from you by March 1, 2019.
Alberta College of Family Physicians | www.acfp.ca | 780-488-2395