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Message from the Chair

Last month, we welcomed 75 incoming PGY1 residents to our new “Bootcamp block” which was held over five days throughout block 1. This new block is a pilot in which all PGY1 residents were scheduled in Family Medicine during block 1 to ease integration into their clinical environments. The design of the Bootcamp helps lay the foundation for skills required in family medicine, allowing residents to begin their learning in their home units. A big thank you to all of the preceptors whose dedication to family medicine enabled a smooth transition for our incoming residents.

I would like to invite you to register for the Departmental Assembly on Thursday, October 24, 2024. We will be providing an update on our department and there will be some opportunities to engage on topics relevant to our work. A more detailed agenda will be available in the next month. For questions, please contact Rebecca Celestin at rcelesti@uottawa.ca. 

November will be a busy time for faculty as they plan on attending the Family Medicine Forum (FMF) in Vancouver. Please watch this space for more information regarding our presence at FMF. We anticipate highlighting our work through presentations, booths and poster sessions.

The Family Medicine Grand Rounds (FMGR) will resume in September 2024. An updated schedule will be coming soon. Information will also be available on the FMGR webpage.

We are recruiting a Full-Time Academic Physician position at both the Riverside Family Health Team and the Bruyère Family Health Team. Please consider applying and sharing these job postings within your networks. These positions will remain open until they are filled.

I wish you a relaxing and enjoyable remainder of your summer.

Please enjoy the following update on Montfort's activities from Dr. Stefan de Laplante, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Marjorie Pomerleau, Assistant Professor, Co-Directors of our Montfort site.

Hello everyone,

Exciting things are happening at Montfort! We've had a busy year. From renovations to curriculum updates and learning opportunities, there is always something happening here.

Clinic Expansions and Updates

The doctors and administrative staff at the Montfort Academic Family Health Team (MAFHT), as well as those at the St-Isidore Medical Center, have been very busy. Both clinics are expanding and modernizing their facilities to better serve the community and enhance their teaching capabilities.

MAFHT remains committed to education, continuing to support the minor procedures clinic. Under the leadership of Dr. Dominique Miron, Lecturer, this clinic celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Several residents have gained valuable skills and clinical experience through this initiative. Congratulations to all!

MAFHT plans to establish a gender diversity clinic in October 2024, led by Dr. Stefan de Laplante. We would like to thank the Centertown Community Centre and the Riverside-Civic academic team for their support and guidance in developing this program. Finally, the MAFHT’s contraceptive clinic, headed by Dr. Kay-Anne Haykal, Associate Professor, now offers contraceptive implant insertion as part of its services. 

The Montfort Hospital teaching site will organize its annual half-day wellness initiative for residents in the fall of 2024. Dr. Steve Truong and Dr. Justin Kahalé will lead this outdoor activity. It remains to be determined whether the mountain bike activity will be part of programming this year. 

Dre Chantal D'Aoust Bernard

New Preceptors

We also welcome Dr. Alain Rémi Lajeunesse, Lecturer, and Dr. Mélanie Lalonde to the family medicine residency preceptor team. These highly motivated preceptors bring years of experience and a passion for family medicine. Welcome to both of you!!

Curriculum Update

From a curriculum standpoint, we will continue to offer once again this year the Point of Care Ultrasonography (POCUS) training. Thank you to Dr. Nicolas Chagnon, Dr. Mélanie Le May, and Dr. Hétoum Misirliyan from Montfort Hospital, who have mastered this technology. The curriculum, entirely in French, spans over two half-days and is now in its second iteration. This initiative, launched in 2023, has been greatly appreciated by residents. The results of this initiative were presented during the ICAM conference in Vancouver in April 2024, the Journées Montfort in April 2024, and the Family Medicine Ground Rounds in May 2024.

Publication of Research Article

Dr. Kay-Anne Haykal, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Student Services had a very busy 2024! She completed her MBA with the Australian Institute of Business and published an article in a scientific journal. We invite you to read the article: Haykal, K.-A., Zombre, I., Laprade, S., Duquet, M., & Joseph, J. (2024). A Quantitative Analysis of Mandatory Wellness Assessments for 1st and 3rd Year Medical Students at the University of Ottawa. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3970771/v1

On-Call Schedule Changes

Residents have noticed the changes made to the on-call schedule of family medicine residents. With the help of Montfort Hospital, we made some changes to increase in-practice exposure and reduce on-call duties. Furthermore, first-year residents will now have a residency block with no on-call duties, allowing them to fully immerse themselves in the family practice environment.

We are truly privileged to work with such a dedicated team of coordinators and preceptors. We look forward to the upcoming academic year and can’t wait to witness the changes and successes at the Montfort teaching site.

Thank you for taking the time to read! We wish you a relaxing summer filled with activities and good weather.

Stefan de Laplante and Marjorie Pomerleau

Residency Program Co-directors, Montfort Teaching Site

Department of Family Medicine, uOttawa

Nominations for the 2024 Faculty of Medicine Support Staff Awards of Excellence opened on Thursday, August 8. In recognition of the outstanding work of our support staff, consider nominating someone who goes above and beyond to support the ongoing work of our department.

Submission Deadline: 11:59 PM, September 24, 2024

For information on the award categories and the nomination process, please access the Support Staff Awards of Excellence webpage.

Primary care providers are being called upon to share their perspectives in a one-hour interview. Montfort’s research team is studying how barriers to care experienced by older adults in their community result in frequent emergency department use. The project title is “Identifying barriers to integrated and equitable care for older adults with complex care needs and high emergency department use.”

For more information, or to participate, access the recruitment flyer, or contact Paul Loudovski at paul.loudovski@uottawa.ca.

The PRIME program, offered by the Department of Family Medicine, aims to support research projects led by junior researchers/junior clinician investigators in our department's academic and community-based practices. Funded projects must be relevant to primary care and align with the Department of Family Medicine's Strategic Plan.

Submission Deadline: Submit the Letter of Intent and accompanying documents to PRIME@uOttawa.ca by Thursday, October 31, 2024.

The grant is for a maximum of three years, a maximum of $40,000 per year, non-renewable, allocated as follows:

• A maximum of $30,000 per year for locum or salary support for 30 protected-research days per year.
• A maximum of $10,000 per year for project operational costs, including research advisory and research assistant support.

Please refer to the Terms of Reference for eligibility criteria and additional information. Download the Application Form to apply.

The Equity in Health Systems (EqHS) Lab is inviting individuals interested in advancing equity and social justice in healthcare environments across the country to join the Health Equity Adaptive Mentorship Network. If you are interested in discussing health equity, social determinants of health, measurement in the context of equity, and challenges in designing and implementing initiatives to advance equity in health systems, consider joining.

Complete this survey to participate in this mentorship network as a mentee. A member of the EqHS team will contact you to connect. Feel free to share this invitation within your networks.

Read the full call-out for mentees to learn more about this opportunity.

Audry Robert Iradukunda joined the PMO team at the beginning of August as a full-time intermediate software developer and will oversee our innovation portal and provide technical support to our other technology initiatives. Audry has been working for the DFM since May 2022 as a co-op student and was instrumental in the development of Dr. Lindsay Bradley’s MSK eLearning project. He will bring this experience to the development of future eLearning initiatives and their integration within the MedCORE application. He can be contacted at airaduku@uottawa.ca.



Xavier Toussay joined the Department of Family Medicine Research team at the beginning of August. He holds a PhD from the University of Bordeaux in France and completed his postdoctoral research studies at McGill and Sorbonne Universities. His portfolio will include OPEN (Ottawa Practice Enhancement Network), implementation and delivery of the new Essential Research Skills Program for faculty and residents, and the DFM Research Community of Practice and Family Medicine Grand Rounds programs. He can be contacted at xtoussay@uottawa.ca or Recherchedfm@uottawa.ca.

The International Summit on Leadership Education for Physicians (TISLEP)

TISLEP 2024 is a one-day summit in Ottawa on September 18, 2024. The focus of the summit will be the “Ethical Integration of AI in Health Education.” The summit examines the impact of the implementation of AI in healthcare on the education of healthcare professionals. TISLEP is a pre-conference event to the International Conference on Residency Education (ICRE) 2024. Follow the link to learn more or to register for the TISLEP Summit.

Préceptorat 101

Are you interested in working as a clinical preceptor? Registration is now open for Préceptorat 101, which will be offered in French, in person at ESFAM (Suite 101 - 745 Montréal Road) on Thursday, September 26 and Friday, September 27, 2024. Follow this link to register or contact Affaires francophones at fmc@uottawa.ca for more information.

uO Medical Choir (GAD7s)

Mark your calendars for the GAD7s' first rehearsal of its third season, which will be held on Thursday, September 12, 2023, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., at 600 Peter Morand, Room 103. For more information, please contact erika.lee.tanner@gmail.com.

Family Medicine Forum (FMF)

Registration is now open for the Family Medicine Forum, which will take place this November 6-9, 2024, in Vancouver, B.C. Click here for information and early bird registration.

NAPCRG 2024

NAPCRG's 52nd annual meeting will be held in Québec City, from November 20-24, 2024. NAPCRG is a great opportunity to attend the largest primary care research conference in the world and to meet and hear from primary care researchers from across the globe. Early bird registration is open until October 18th. Follow this link to register. If you have any questions about the conference, please contact Doug Archibald, Director of Research and Innovation, and Chair, 2024 NAPCRG Program Committee, at darchibald@bruyere.org.