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Campus Update: The Waterloo Regional Campus is now open to all students and residents. The WRC staff and leadership team are currently working hybrid and are accessible to all questions and concerns via email. For a full list of contacts, please click here

Chief of Staff - Cambridge Memorial Hospital Announcement

Congratulations to Dr. Winnie Lee for her new role as Chief of Staff at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. Winnie is a WRC faculty member in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology. She is a tireless advocate of improving the patient journey, and was an exemplary leader during the "dark days" of the pandemic and beyond.


Winnie is a true champion of medical education at CMH. Under her leadership, clinical teaching opportunities have flourished. On behalf of the undergraduate and postgraduate learners at WRC, we send our sincere congratulations and look forward to continuing our partnership in medical education.

New Faculty Announcement

Zena Alyashae - Family Medicine

Maria Casale - Family Medicine

Meghan Garside - Family Medicine

Danusha Jebanesan - Family Medicine

Manu Kaushik - Family Medicine

Pooja Kaushik - Family Medicine

Jonathan Martins - Family Medicine

Karen Tam - Family Medicine

Joel Schmidt - Family Medicine - Addictions Medicine

Ahmed Rateb - Family Medicine - Emergency Medicine

Rhonda Taylor - Family Medicine - Emergency Medicine

Gurbir Sekhon - Medicine

Rola Zamel - Medicine

Marcello Schmidt - Critical Care Medicine

Brandon Howell - Dermatology

Avijeet Sarker - Gastroenterology

Khuloud Nuri - Infectious Disease

Qazi Zain Sohail - Nephrology

Shelley Kuang - Oncology

Colin Adams - Respirology

Jason McConnery - Pediatrics

Olubunmi Awoniyi - Psychiatry

Christopher Clarkstone - Psychiatry

Jay Kothari - Psychiatry

Naomi Mudachi - Psychiatry

Saadia Nosheen - Psychiatry

Angela Park - Psychiatry

Matthew Goetz - Psychotherapy

Alina Kislenko - Psychotherapy

Tabitha Tse - General Surgery

Katrina Buma - Social Worker

David King - Social Worker

Brianne Schinkel - Social Worker

Health Innovation @ McMaster University

The Communitech event was an opportunity to welcome the Honorable Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry to Communitech and the Health Innovation @ McMaster (HI@Mac) space. During Minister Champagne’s visit, we had the pleasure of sharing the collaborations and activities of McMaster in the health technology and innovation space. One such innovation demonstrated was the Cobionix (“COBI”) autonomous robotic arm, developed by a WRC Medical Graduate – Dr. Tim Laswell (c2022). This robotic arm was developed to conduct remote ultrasound and echocardiography. During the pandemic, it was designed to administer COVID-19 vaccinations. The HI@Mac space also welcomed Sean van Koghnett (Associate VP (Students and Learning) and Dean of Students, as well as Jeremy Hirota, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, and Canada Research Chair in Respiratory Mucosal Immunology, in addition to medical and engineering students and WRC Faculty. HI@Mac was warmly welcomed to our new home at Communitech by Chris Albinson, CEO and President, along with the Communitech Staff. We look forward to supporting students and faculty and partnering with the health technology companies in the ecosystem to improve health care delivery and patient outcomes locally, and globally. 

Changes to library off-campus authentication - McMaster University Libraries

McMaster students, faculty, and staff, when prompted right before accessing a library e-resource, will use their Office 365 login credentials to authenticate and gain access from off-campus. The upgrade will enable single sign-on (SSO) for a seamless experience and multi-factor authentication (MFA) for an added level of security.


Meanwhile, individuals who have been granted access to e-resources as an Alumni, Courtesy, or Retired Faculty patron will access available e-resources using their My Library Account email and password.

There will be minimal change to how library patrons access e-resources. However, in some cases, saved bookmarks will be affected, such as bookmarks pointing to alumni resources or bookmarks pointing to the library's soon-to-be-decommissioned login page (libraryssl.lib.mcmaster.ca).

For More Information

Indigenous Faculty Study Information and Consent Form

My name is Patricia Farrugia and I am the Chair of Indigenous Health, McMaster Undergraduate MD Program. I have had the pleasure of meeting some of you already. Since my appointment to this role in 2021, I have enacted many changes to increase educational content and programming for UME students regarding Indigenous Health. Collaborating alongside Dr. Karen Hill and members of the Indigenous Health Curriculum Committee of the UME program, we continue to work towards calls to action 23 and 24 of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (2015).


The loss of our sister Joyce Echaquan and other stories of racist care amongst Indigenous patients are direct results of medical colonialism. Health care providers require increased education about Indigenous Health and the histories of our people to begin to work towards an environment of cultural humility.  This is not an easy task, but it should not be an impossible one. The Indigenous Health Elective Proposal is a program designed for the educational needs for both Indigenous and non-Indgineous medical students. Non-Indigenous Medical Students will be required to complete the University of Alberta Course (Coursea), Indigenous Health, consisting of 12 modules before being considered for any Indigenous Health elective experience. Indigenous Medical Students will be provided opportunities to work, observe and liaise with Indigenous Health Care team members. Both groups of students will meet with myself, the Chair, prior to any elective approval for discussion of learning objectives and goals. Involvement of specialized preceptors and educational experiences will be different for each group of students. By working and observing traditional Indigenous care practice with different members of the health care team, the importance of community connection can be experienced by Indigenous Medical students.  


A needs assessment will be conducted over the next year to determine the feasibility and logistics of this proposal. The identification and involvement of local health care providers involved in Indigenous Health is paramount. The needs assessment would identify resources and individuals which could enrich the learning opportunities of students interested in Indigenous Health. The purpose of this needs assessment is to highlight the differences in educational needs of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Medical students. Funding for alternative preceptors (other than physicians) is an objective of the inquiry.  


I am currently recruiting Indigenous Physicians and Traditional Medicine Practitioners to participate in a one on one interview. I will be conducting these interviews in person or via zoom. Please contact me if you would like to participate in this project via email - patricia.farrugia@medportal.ca. Please see attached study information forms for more information.


Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.  

Miigwech,


Patricia

Study Information and Consent Form

Resident Appreciation Week - February 6 - 10, 2023

Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC) hosts a weeklong campaign to celebrate the vital work undertaken by residents for patients and healthcare in Canada. The 2023 campaign will be the fourth year that McMaster PGME has run a coinciding event. Resident Physician Appreciation Week is February 6 - 1, 2023.


The following are the plans that are in place for the event:

  • Focus: This year our focus is on STRENGTH. The definition of strength in a person includes positive traits and skills, such as knowledge, abilities, and talents. Our residents and fellows have shown strength over the last year in multiple ways, including their focused training and patient care, their advocacy for wellness, displays of leadership, and the support offered to each other during difficult times.


  • Swag - PGME will circulate buttons for all residents, fellows, faculty, and PAs with #ResidentStrong and Mac Loves Our Fellows. Programs will each receive a package of stress balls in the shape of a barbell (representing strength), and we hope the trainees and programs will use these to spark some Instagram fun with @mcmasterpgme


  • Social Media - Last year’s Instagram video was a huge hit thanks to all the program directors and administrators who submitted short video clips. Programs are encouraged to submit videos (recommend max 10 seconds long), talking about the strength your trainees have displayed, and PGME will create a reel for Instagram again. NEW THIS YEAR, PGME has prizes to raffle off to trainee’s during the campaign who submit/share/participate in the Instagram buzz.


  • Gift card - A $7 Everything e-gift card will be emailed to all trainees as a thank you for their hard work. The Everything card offers 100’s of options to choose from.


  • MessagingTrainees will receive messages through MedSIS from leadership and PARO representatives throughout the week, acknowledging and thanking them for their strength, hard work and dedication to medicine.


  • Hospital Lobby Banners - Once again, the roll-up banners provided by PGME will be displayed in various HHS and SJHH lobbies during the week of the campaign, highlighting what it means to be a resident.


The Waterloo Regional Campus and teaching sites will be participating with the campaign, if you have any quotes or photos you would like to share, please send them to Jennifer Tran, tranj56@mcmaster.ca by clicking the button below.

Contact Jennifer Tran

2022 Quality Assurance Awards

Quality Assurance is a test of whether things are being done as well as they could/should be. It compares current practice with current standards/best practices. It does not consider a completely new treatment, but tests the adherence to a treatment that is considered to be best practice. Awards are given each year to recognize the best work done in complete quality assurance projects.


This year, Dr. Kazim Mirhadi (Psych PGY4) and Daniel Weiss (Psych PGY4) from the Waterloo Regional Campus was awarded one of the Quality Assurance Awards for their work in "Improving Quality of Care through Patient Centered Documentation in Dementia"


Drs. Weiss and Mirhadi identified a significant gap in interprofessional communication on the inpatient service that they worked in during their geriatric psychiatry core rotation during their PGY3. They showed initiative and perseverance in multiple ways during this project.


Quote from Dr. Daniel Weiss: "Working with Dr. Mirhadi, Dr. Benjamin and the rest of the GRH team was integral to our success on this project. I can not understate my thankfulness for the opportunity to collaborate with such a supportive team. This experience has helped shape the mindset that we can always seek to improve patient care systemically and to keep our eyes open for these sorts of opportunities."


Quote from Dr. Kazim Mirhadi: "Daniel and I were privileged to work on the completion of this project under the guidance of Dr. Sophiya Benjamin. The staff at Grand River Hospital were very supportive and we benefited from the excellent faculty members at WRC McMaster. We hope that the new mental status form will serve our patients well."

As 'synapses' become 'protoplasmic kisses': Symmetry across clinical reasoning and poetry

Alan Bleakley, Shane Neilson (Family Medicine)

 

We argue that biomedicine at root is not primarily instrumental, but shares aesthetic, ethical and political values with poetry. Yet an instrumental bias in medical pedagogy can lead to frustration of biomedicine's potential. Such unfulfilled potential is exposed when making a comparison with poetry, a knowledge system that expressly engages a range of value systems. To continue reading the article, click here.

UGME COVID Communication:


Health and Safety:


Mistreatment:


Professionalism:

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