April 2021 | View as Webpage
Campus Update: The Waterloo Regional Campus remains closed to all students and residents. The WRC staff and leadership team are still working virtually and are accessible to all questions and concerns via email. For a full list of contacts, please click here
Campus Staff/Faculty Updates
Please join us in welcoming Casey Kadwell to the WRC team! Casey will be covering Crystal Dawson's role during her career growth. Casey will be providing support for our pre-clerkship curriculum alongside Kerri Alves.
The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University - Waterloo Regional Campus is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Elena Poliakova as the Regional Education Lead UG/PG Emergency Medicine effective March 2, 2021.

Elena is an Emergency Physician at Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's in Kitchener.

Elena will be responsible for developing and coordinating clinical teaching opportunities in Emergency Medicine for both UG and PG learners at the affiliated teaching hospitals in the Waterloo-Wellington area. Elena brings to the role her leadership, experience in academics, and her passion for teaching learners of all levels.
COVID-19 Update
UW Pharmacy, Vaccination Clinic

Pictured here, Dr. Margo Mountjoy and two of our lovely C2023 learners; Gabrielle Herman and Fatima Mazher at the vaccine clinic on Friday, March 26, 2021. We hear from Gabrielle and Fatima and their experience with helping out the clinic!

We hear from Gabrielle, Fatima and Robert all of whom have volunteered their time at the mass vaccination clinic located at the School of Pharmacy:

"The gravitas of the moment was not lost on me, but the joy of it definitely was. Until I met the patients. The excitement from the members of the community was exuberant! I conducted at least two happy dances on my first shift, heard plans of all the things people would do (after their second dose of course), heard the sigh of relief when they finally got the dose. People barely listened to my caution of having a sore arm and a fever the next day, they were just so happy to finally have a shot at (get it?) beating this pandemic." - Fatima Mazhar, C2023

"I was thrilled and a little bit nervous to administer my first vaccine, but it got easier with every administration. The biggest reward was the excitement of the individuals coming in. The second community member I met was a retired nurse - when I vaccinated her, she started to cry! I was worried that I had hurt her and began to apologize, but she said she was crying from excitement; she was overjoyed that she could safely see her grandchildren soon(ish). " - Gabi Herman, C2023
“This photo was me at my first shift at the Health Sciences campus vaccination clinic. As a first-year medical student with low clinical experience, I am extremely excited and grateful to be included in the vaccine rollout. The first couple shots you give can be nerve-wracking, but I had awesome leadership there that guided me through and now I’m in the groove! Patients are very grateful and it was overall a very fun experience.” - Robert Dydynsky, C2023
McMaster's Waterloo Campus Assists with Vaccine Clinic Launch

Faculty, staff and students of the Waterloo Regional Campus helped with the launch of an onsite vaccination clinic, together with other community partners in downtown Kitchener.

The vaccination clinic will immunize between 1,000 to 2,000 people a day, seven days a week until the end of August, using the Pfizer vaccine.
Vaccines and Long-Term Care: Large McMaster Study Receives $5M in Funding

Congratulations to our very own Dr. Andrew Costa for being apart of this study!

Long-term care homes have been at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, with 70 percent of COVID-10 deaths having occurred in long-term care or nursing homes.

McMaster researchers are beginning one of the largest single studies focusing on long-term care homes in Canada to find out how well vaccination works in residents in long-term care, and which features of these homes may be directly linked with outbreaks.
We're Hiring!
Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University
PGME and UGME Programmes: Leadership Position

Simulation Lead - Limited Term

Applications are invited for the position of Simulation Lead. This will be a 8-month limited term. The WRC Simulation Lead for Medical Education will be tasked with developing and implementing simulation-based content, resources and activities for WRC UG and PG trainees. This will include ongoing acquisition and training of simulation experts, development of suitable simulation curriculum for UG and PG trainees, program implementation, and evaluation.


Interested applicants for this position should submit a cover letter and CV addressed to Dr. Margo Mountjoy, Regional Assistant Dean. This should be submitted to Margo Mountjoy (mountjm@mcmaster.ca) prior to April 12, 2021
Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University
PGME and UGME Programmes: Leadership Position

Regional Education Lead - UG Orthopedic Surgery

Applications are invited for the position of Regional Education Lead – UG Orthopedic Surgery at the Waterloo Regional Campus of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. The Regional Campuses of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine are distributed campuses for community/rural medical education. A primary goal is to ensure high-quality educational and clinical experiences for undergraduate and postgraduate medical trainees within the communities of Waterloo Wellington Region. The program must meet the standards and expectations of McMaster University and the accrediting bodies and will work to develop inter-professional education.


Interested applicants for this position should submit a cover letter and CV addressed to Dr. Margo Mountjoy, Regional Assistant Dean. This should be submitted to Margo Mountjoy (mountjm@mcmaster.ca) prior to May 5, 2021
WRC Program for Faculty Development
WRC Education Scholarship Team
This month, to compliment the first annual McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Symposium, we are featuring this scholarship resource: McMaster’s Health Professional Education Research (HPER) Course Module 1-3: Quality Improvement. You can find this embedded video in this Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqOMUbxmxA&t=17s  

In this 12min video, Professor Allison Brown of University of Calgary gives a foundational review of the concepts and methodology of quality improvement. At the end of the video, please answer the following questions: 
  • What are the 6 dimensions of quality in health professional education? 
  • What are some of the most common models used to frame quality improvement projects? 
  • What are the 3 areas of outcome measurement in quality improvement? 

To join the WRC community of educational scholarship, use this link by May 4th:   
Grab your lunch, or your popcorn and join us in this episode of the PFD watch party with WRC!
For the remainder of the academic year we will be streaming a selection of the best recorded webinars from MacPFD.ca, 12-1, on the last Monday of the month.

On Monday April 26, 2021, we will watch a short presentation followed by a guided case discussion on the topic of encountering racism in medical education.

Date and Time: Monday, April 26, 2021 – 12pm-1pm
Where: Zoom
Facilitation and commentary provided by WRC faculty: Catherine Tong, Sharon Bal and Isla Mcpherson

Recorded Past WRC Events:

Writing as a Craft during COVID

This COVID-inflected workshop provides craft-based techniques - the equivalent of the biomedical “skills-based” and “competency” models - to health practitioners in order to create beautiful written works that, in the creation, are acts of care for the creator. Through a series of guided prompts that teach specific techniques, and through the sharing of work in a safe space, the participants become better writers, self-carers, and also better physicians through the processing of their own experience. 
Faculty Development from Other Campuses
Chat Series: Leadership

CHAT stands for Conversations in Healthcare, Academia, and Teaching. This is a group-based discussion program that will feature key topics set for by a unified group of organizers on a given them. After a successful pilot in Fall 2020, we have decided to expand the CHAT series. The version of the CHAT program will be a series that focuses on common issues encountered by leaders in the FHS.

Each session will have a standard format:
  • Intro (10-15 min) - Short keynote to set the tone. This will be recorded for web content later on.
  • Breakout Rooms (30 min) - Guided discussion on key CHAT questions. These will NOT be recorded.
  • De-Brief & Work To Do (10 min) - Discussion of takeaways and how to implement / amplify learnings from the session. These will not be recorded.
  • Reflections (5 min) - Session leaders provide final reflections (This will be recorded for podcast & web video)

Date and times for this CHAT series:
Leaders: Team Wellness Starts with You
  • Thursday, April 8, 2021 - 8pm
  • Discussant: Dr. Mithu Sen & Dr. Mamta Gautam

Building a Data-Driven Organizational Culture
  • Thursday, May 13, 2021 - 12pm
  • Discussant: Zahave Uddin

Navigating Complexity to Align Teams and Drive Results
  • Thursday June 10, 2021 - 12pm
  • Discussant: Rebecca Repa
PBL Bootcamp Series
Problem-based learning is a staple of health professional education. It is resource intensive and requires a large number of skilled faculty members. It can be challenging for faculty members not familiar with the principles and techniques. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new challenges to PBL tutorials. A team of inter-professional experts have worked together to produce an updated series of PBL tutorial facilitation faculty development that address the needs of new tutors, virtual tutors, and experienced tutors.

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the basic principles and techniques of problem-based learning in health professional education
  • Apply best practice virtual facilitation skills to PBL tutorials
  • Develop an approach to difficult scenarios during tutorials

Dates and times for this series:
PBL Basics
  • Thursday, April 15, 2021 - 6pm
  • Discussants: Jocelyn Harris, Karen McAssey, Catherine Tong

Thriving in Virtual PBT
  • Tuesday, April 20, 2021 - 6pm
  • Discussants: Justine Hamilton, Maria Pratt, Sarrah Lal

Advanced PBL
  • Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - 3pm
  • Discussants: Eric Greenwald, Sharon Bal, Michael Lee-Poy

Accreditation Statement:
McMaster University, Continuing Health Sciences Education Program (CHSE) is fully accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME) to provide CFPC Mainpro+ and RCPSC Maintenance of Certification (MOC) study credits for Continuing Medical Education.

This Group Learning program meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has been certified by the McMaster University Continuing Health Sciences Program for up to 5.5 Mainpro+ credits, as outlined below.

This activity is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and approved by McMaster University, Continuing Health Sciences Education Program for up to 5.5 MOC Section 1 hours, as outlined below.

  • PBL Basic Principles - 2 MOC Section 1 hours / 2 Mainpro + credits
  • Thriving in Virtual PBL - 1.5 MOC Section 1 hours/ 1.5 Mainpro + credits
  • Advanced PBL - 2 MOC Section 1 hours/ 2 Mainpro + Credits
FHS's Women Symposium: Leading Healthcare and Beyond

Increasingly, we know that women are underrepresented in academia and healthcare settings. The 2021 Women’s Symposium will be a venue where we can bring together women and their allies to consider how we might close the gap over time.

This will represent the first of these events, which we are hoping will evolve into an ongoing annual conference over time.

All faculty members who identify as women and allies of women within the Faculty of Health Sciences (and beyond) are invited to join us.

Each session will have a mix of external speakers and FHS leaders interested in exploring key topics around how we might increase the number of women in healthcare leadership positions in both academia and clinical work.

Overall Learning Objectives:
  • List key issues facing women in academia, leadership, healthcare, and society;
  • Add new skills to your basic toolkit for approaching key barriers that women face in academia, leadership, health care, and society;
  • Create connections between women and allies across McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences and beyond.

Accreditation Statement:
McMaster University, Continuing Professional Development Office (CPD) is fully accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME) to provide CFPC Mainpro+ and RCPSC Maintenance of Certification (MOC) study credits for Continuing Medical Education.

This one-credit-per-hour Group Learning program meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has been certified by the Continuing Professional Development Office (CPD), McMaster University for up to 3.75 Mainpro+ credits.

This activity is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and approved by the Continuing Professional Development Office (CPD), McMaster University for up to 3.75 MOC Section 1 hours.

Through an agreement between the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Medical Association, physicians may convert Royal College MOC credits to AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Information on the process to convert Royal College MOC credit to AMA credit can be found at www.ama-assn.org/go/internationalcme.
CMPA Faculty Development Workshop

CMPA presents The Faculty Development Workshop intended for teaching faculty, program directors, and other individuals involved in postgraduate medical education. It complements the Prepped for practice: Medico-legal essentials for residents virtual workshop, with the goal of supporting residents as they develop lifelong competences that promote safe medical care.

Date and time:
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 from 12:30 to 3:00pm

Value of the workshop for faculty:
  • Learn how to help residents achieve patient safety-related CanMEDS competencies
  • Access tools and resources that support faculty in teaching medico-legal topics
  • Have your medico-legal questions answered by experts from the CMPA

Learning objectives:
  • List the top three themes identified from CMPA medico-legal files involving residents
  • Describe at least one key message from each of the following topics:
  • Documentation
  • Informed consent
  • Disclosure of a patient safety incident
  • Teamwork and delegation
  • Identify at least on strategy to support and sustain skills acquisition in your residency program

Accreditation Statement:
This 1-credit-per-hour Group Learning program has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada for up to 2.25 Mainpro+ credits.

This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by the CMPA. You may claim a maximum of 2.25 hours (credits are automatically calculated).
Call for Submission & Registration
1st Annual McMaster FHS - Quality Improvement & Patient Safety Symposium

Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) is being increasingly recognized as an essential element of medical practice. The CanMEDS roles within the postgraduate educational frameworks of the Royal College and the College of Family Physicians now recognized QI competencies. Hospitals across the Hamilton region are actively deploying QI systems and interventions within their organizations. There are provincial tables for QI discussions. There is legislation in Ontario mandating hospitals to undertake QI projects (ECFAA/QIP)

Despite this, there no longer exist local conferences aimed at expanding QI knowledge or showcasing QI scholarship since the shuttering of Health Quality Ontario and the end of the Health Quality Transformation conference. As such, there is a unique space to be filled to meet these community needs within the Hamilton basin.

Date and Time:
Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 8:00am - 1:30pm

Learning Objectives:
  • Identify that the improvement domain of Equity is an underserved domain within QI and develop an action plan to move forward.
  • Describe and utilize some of the core principles of QI science (Is this project amenable to a QI approach? and Data visualization in QI).
  • Apply knowledge from other improvement domains to augment QI as a broader clinical improvement science.

Accreditation Statement:
McMaster University, Continuing Health Sciences Education Program (CHSE) is fully accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME) to provide CFPC Mainpro+ and RCPSC Maintenance of Certification (MOC) study credits for Continuing Medical Education.

This Group Learning program meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has been certified by the McMaster University Continuing Health Sciences Program for up to 4.5 Mainpro+ credits.

This activity is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and approved by McMaster University, Continuing Health Sciences Education Program for up to 4.5 MOC Section 1 hours.

Through an agreement between the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Medical Association, physicians may convert Royal College MOC credits to AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Information on the process to convert Royal College MOC credit to AMA credit can be found at www.ama-assn.org/go/internationalcme
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