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Can we make “the gentle ask?”
Chris MacNearney, MD MSPEI CME Committee Member
As a long practicing family physician, it has often occurred to me, sometimes related to tragic circumstances, that my working knowledge of the issues surrounding organ donation in PEI is sorely lacking. Through Medical Staff discussions in preparation for our most recent accreditation process, and during a subsequent meeting of MSPEI’s CME Committee, I learned that we are all “in the same boat.” What is expected of physicians when it comes to organ donation? What tissues can be harvested in PEI? Are any of us truly knowledgeable about the protocols and procedures needed in our province to support transplant programs? To assist in providing answers to these and other medical questions relating to organ transplant, I am pleased to announce Halifax’s Transplant Team will present at the upcoming MSPEI Clinical Day, Friday, June 3rd. Please refer to Mark Your Calendars, event listings, on the following page. Further to this issue, I urge you to read the CMAJ article, ‘The gentle ask,’ written by Denice Klavano, a certified tissue bank specialist at the Regional Tissue Bank, Capital Health Authority in Halifax, NS. http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/181/9/618;
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Mark your Calenders! Medical Society Events MARCH
March 29 - April 9, 2011 Medical Society Members’ Art Show: RIGHT BRAIN, RELEASED The Guild Gallery, Grafton Street, Charlottetown Submissions due: 9:00 a.m., Monday, March 21, 2011 Gala opening: Evening - Thursday, 7pm, March 31th,
MAY
Wednesday to Friday, May 4-6: PMI Department heads and Board members will be receiving an invitation to the 2011 PMI (Physician Management Institute: Leadership Development for Physicians). This is an accredited leadership development program designed uniquely for physicians. Lakeview Loyalist, Summerside, PE
JUNE
Friday, June 3rd: Clinical Day - Everything You Wanted to Know About Organ Transplants Credit Union Place, Summerside, PE, 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. The Transplant Team from Halifax will be presenting a full day on Organ Transplants. Speaker and specific topic information will follow. Saturday, June 18th - Golf & CME Fox Meadow Golf & Country Club CME Session: 10:00 a.m. - Noon, Topic TBA Golf: 1:00 p.m. Shotgun Start Fun Night: 6:00 p.m. Lobster/Beef buffet Entertainment: Lazy Jacks
JULY
Friday, July 15th - MSPEI’s Annual Student Welcome BBQ All members, residents and medical students welcome, Medical Society Gardens, 2 Myrtle St., Stratford 12:00 noon until 2:00 p.m. - Hosted by MSPEI and Health PEI
SEPTEMBER
Saturday, September 10th - AGM - Shaw’s Hotel, Brackley Beach Breakfast: 8:00 a.m. CME Session: 8:30 - 9:30 a.m., Topic TBA General Session: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Spouses/Guest Luncheon at The Dunes in Brackley (tentative): 12:30 p.m.
Heart & Stroke PEI Stroke Clinical Day. Saturday June 4th, 2011, from 8:00am -12:30pm. They have an exciting line-up of both speakers and topics. Registration brochures highlighting speaker, topics, and registration fees will be distributed at the first of April and will also be available on the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Prince Edward Island website. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Prince Edward Island - Sara Crozier, at 902-892-7441 or at healthpromotion@hsfpei.ca.
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Open Letter to Medical Society Members: In this edition of The Pulse, the Medical Society has included two lists of member names outlining all members invoiced the 2008 Negotiation Levy, and a separate list outlining those members honouring their levy payment. This decision was made at the most recent Board meeting, after much deliberation. The decision to avail interested members of the delinquent member names came after the request of many members, and insistence of some, that have paid the additional $40 covering the 2008 Levy shortfall. We feel it is the right of any member making additional payment, covering non-paying colleagues, to make such request. The names of the delinquent members had not been revealed to the Board or membership to minimize conflict in any relevant decision making process. In essence, Board members have been made aware of those non-paying members in the same manner that the members are being notified. In 2008, a levy was imposed on all members to cover costs incurred for the most recent Master Agreement negotiations. This contract was considered to reflect fair compensation to PEI Physicians, overwhelmingly supported by our voting membership, and offered fair return to Government in services rendered. It was in effect, a very successful contract negotiation, accomplished with great effort; our negotiating team spent hundreds if not thousands of hours. Not every contract will fulfill every Physician group’s expectations, and this one is no exception. Not all expectations are fully reasonable. Our Medical Society’s greatest strength is in our unity. Seven physician members of our collegial society have resisted repeated attempts to collect payment to cover their share, we believe their fair share, of the Negotiation expenses. This issue has potential to be very divisive. It is embedded in principle, fraught with emotion, and has potential to divide our Society membership. It is for this reason that the Medical Society administration has not previously allowed the identity of the delinquent members to be known. It is a fair presumption that all non-paying members have done so in principle. Many members that have paid the original $1000 levy have objected, also in principle, to paying the additional $40 to cover the non-paying members. A motion has been put forth at our most recent board meeting, at the request of several members, to present to the general membership the option of legally pursuing the members still delinquent in their outstanding Levy payments. This motion was tabled to our April board meeting to discuss further. Thank You. Patrick Bergin MD FRCPC FACP Treasurer of PEI Medical Society
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MEMBERS INVOICED FOR 2008 NEGOTIATION LEVY ADAMS, LENLEY AJISEBUTU, TEWOGBOLA ALANSARI, NABEEL ALSALIH, HALA AL-SHAAR, WASAN AMANULLAH, SHABBIR ANG, LEI ARSENAULT-SAMPSON, NADINE ASHBY, JENNIFER BADER, JEAN-FRANCOIS BANNON, DAVID BARBRICK, N. ELIZABETH BARKHOUSE, LANA BECK, ANGUS BECK, GORDIE BERGIN, PATRICK BERROW, PAUL BETHINE, MARGARET BETHINE, PETER BIGSBY, KATHRYN BOSWALL, GUY BRANDON, BRADLEY BRODIE, BEVERLY CAMERON, SCOTT CAMPBELL, D. SCOTT CAMPBELL, G. STEWART CAMPBELL, JOHN CAMPOS, ALFREDO CARMODY, DOUGLAS CARRUTHERS, GEORGE CASSELL, KRISTA CELLIERS, ANDRE CHAMPION, PAULINE CHAMPION, PHILIP CHAMPION, STACY CHRISTENSEN, PAUL CLARK, DONALD COADY, KENNETH COLOHAN, DESMOND CONNORS, SHELAGH COOKE, RAYMOND COULL, ROBERT COX, WAYNE CRASWELL, JEFFREY CRONIN, TERENCE CUNNIFFE, JILL CUSACK, PAUL DADA, NADEEM DEMARSH, JOHN DEWAR, CHARLES DHILLON, HARMINDER DICKIESON, HERBERT DRYER, DAGNY DUBOIS, JEAN-YVES DUFFY, CHARLES ESTEY, FRANK FARAG, HANI M e d i c a l
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FARMER, STEPHEN FERGUSON, SHAUN FITZPATRICK, TIMOTHY FLANAGAN, BARB FLEMING, D. A. BARRY FOLEY, COLIN FONG, MICHAEL FRIEDRICH, CARL GANDY, ALAN GILLIS, ALEX GOODWIN, JOHN HAMBLY, DAVE HAMILTON, ANDREW HANNA, ADALA HANSEN, PHILIP HARNOIS, BRYAN HARRIS-EZE, AYODEJU HARRISON, EDMUND HENDER, KIMBERLEY HENDERSON, ROSEMARY HOARE, CONSTANCE HOFFMAN, CHRISTINE HOLLAND, BERNARD HOOLEY, PETER HOVE, EUNICE HUNT, BARRY HUTCHINGS, REGINALD IRVINE, MICHAEL JABER, ZAID JAIN, TREVOR JAY, ROBERT JOHNSTON, GERALDINE JOHNSTON, JULIE KASSNER, RACHEL KEIZER, HEATHER KEIZER, W. STIRLING KELLEY, ROBERT KELLY, PAUL KENNEDY, AMBROSE KHALID, TAHIR KHAN, FARAZ KHANAM, HUMAIRA KIM, DAE TONG KLEIN, JEAN-MARC KONTOR, JURGEN KOZMA, DAVID LAFTAH, ABDULRAHEM LANTZ, CHRIS LANTZ, BRODIE LAUKKANEN, ETHAN LECOURS, MIREILLE LING, T. DON MACDONALD, FRANCIS MACDONALD, KATHRYN MACDONALD, LINDA MACFARLANE, AMY MACKEAN, PETER
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MACKENZIE, DAVID MACKINNON, RANDY MACLEOD, ANDREW MACNEARNEY, CHRISTINE MACNEILL, STEVEN MADIGANE, JOYCE MAGENNIS, W. TERRY MCCARTHY, KENNETH MCGINN, JOANNE MCLEAN, GARY MCMILLAN, COLIN MCNALLY, KATHERINE MCNEILL, MONICA MEEK, DOUG MIDLEY, JANET MIDGLEY, PETER MILLER, STEPHEN MOLYNEAUX, HAROLD MOLYNEAUX, LLOYD MONTGOMERY, ROY MOORE, ANNE MORAIS, ALFRED MORRISON, HEATHER MORRISON. KATHRYN MOYSE, CYRIL MUHAMMED, ISHTIAQ MIULLIGAN, MICHAEL NEILSON, DOUG NEILY, DON NEWMAN, STANLEY NEWSON, KRISTY NGUYEN, HUY NICHOLSON, RONALD NOONAN, PETER O'HANLEY, GERALD O'NEILL, STEVEN OLUYEDE, OLUMAYOKUN PEACOCK, EDITH PETROVIC, MIROSLAV PETROVIC, ZIVKA PHELAN, PAUL PINEAU, FRANCIS PRICE, PAUL PROFITT, ALLEN RECK, MONA REID, DAVID REID, IAN REISCH. HELGA RIZK, SOHA ROSS, MARY-ANN SALAMOUN, WASSIM SAMPSON, JOHN SAUNDERS, GEORGE SAUNDERS, KRIS SCANTLEBURY, BILLY SCHAEFER, PAUL SEFAU, SULEIMAN
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MEMBERS WHO PAID 2008 NEGOTIATION LEVY ADAMS, LENLEY AJISEBUTU, TEWOGBOLA ALANSARI, NABEEL ALSALIH, HALA AL-SHAAR, WASAN AMANULLAH, SHABBIR ANG, LEI ARSENAULT-SAMPSON, NADINE ASHBY, JENNIFER BADER, JEAN-FRANCOIS BANNON, DAVID BARBRICK, N. ELIZABETH BARKHOUSE, LANA BECK, ANGUS BECK, GORDIE BERGIN, PATRICK BERROW, PAUL BETHINE, MARGARET BETHINE, PETER BIGSBY, KATHRYN BOSWALL, GUY BRANDON, BRADLEY BRODIE, BEVERLY CAMERON, SCOTT CAMPBELL, D. SCOTT CAMPBELL, G. STEWART CAMPBELL, JOHN CAMPOS, ALFREDO CARMODY, DOUGLAS CARRUTHERS, GEORGE CASSELL, KRISTA CELLIERS, ANDRE CHAMPION, PAULINE CHAMPION, PHILIP CHAMPION, STACY CHRISTENSEN, PAUL CLARK, DONALD COADY, KENNETH CONNORS, SHELAGH COOKE, RAYMOND COULL, ROBERT COX, WAYNE CRASWELL, JEFFREY CRONIN, TERENCE CUNNIFFE, JILL CUSACK, PAUL DADA, NADEEM DEMARSH, JOHN DEWAR, CHARLES DHILLON, HARMINDER DICKIESON, HERBERT DUBOIS, JEAN-YVES DUFFY, CHARLES ESTEY, FRANK FARAG, HANI M e d i c a l
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FARMER, STEPHEN FERGUSON, SHAUN FITZPATRICK, TIMOTHY FLANAGAN, BARB FLEMING, D. A. BARRY FOLEY, COLIN FONG, MICHAEL FRIEDRICH, CARL GANDY, ALAN GILLIS, ALEX GOODWIN, JOHN HAMBLY, DAVE HAMILTON, ANDREW HANNA, ADALA HANSEN, PHILIP HARNOIS, BRYAN HARRIS-EZE, AYODEJU HARRISON, EDMUND HENDER, KIMBERLEY HENDERSON, ROSEMARY HOARE, CONSTANCE HOFFMAN, CHRISTINE HOLLAND, BERNARD HOOLEY, PETER HOVE, EUNICE HUNT, BARRY HUTCHINGS, REGINALD IRVINE, MICHAEL JABER, ZAID JAIN, TREVOR JAY, ROBERT JOHNSTON, GERALDINE JOHNSTON, JULIE KASSNER, RACHEL KEIZER, HEATHER KEIZER, W. STIRLING KELLEY, ROBERT KELLY, PAUL KENNEDY, AMBROSE KHALID, TAHIR KHANAM, HUMAIRA KIM, DAE TONG KLEIN, JEAN-MARC KONTOR, JURGEN KOZMA, DAVID LAFTAH, ABDULRAHEM LANTZ, CHRIS LANTZ, BRODIE LECOURS, MIREILLE LING, T. DON MACDONALD, FRANCIS MACDONALD, KATHRYN MACDONALD, LINDA MACFARLANE, AMY MACKEAN, PETER
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MACKENZIE, DAVID MACKINNON, RANDY MACLEOD, ANDREW MACNEARNEY, CHRISTINE MACNEILL, STEVEN MADIGANE, JOYCE MAGENNIS, W. TERRY MCCARTHY, KENNETH MCGINN, JOANNE MCLEAN, GARY MCMILLAN, COLIN MCNALLY, KATHERINE MEEK, DOUG MIDGLEY, PETER MILLER, STEPHEN MOLYNEAUX, LLOYD MONTGOMERY, ROY MOORE, ANNE MORAIS, ALFRED MORRISON, HEATHER MORRISON. KATHRYN MOYSE, CYRIL MUHAMMED, ISHTIAQ MIULLIGAN, MICHAEL NEILSON, DOUG NEILY, DON NEWMAN, STANLEY NEWSON, KRISTY NGUYEN, HUY NICHOLSON, RONALD NOONAN, PETER O'HANLEY, GERALD O'NEILL, STEVEN OLUYEDE, OLUMAYOKUN PEACOCK, EDITH PETROVIC, MIROSLAV PETROVIC, ZIVKA PHELAN, PAUL PINEAU, FRANCIS PRICE, PAUL PROFITT, ALLEN RECK, MONA REID, DAVID REID, IAN REISCH. HELGA RIZK, SOHA ROSS, MARY-ANN SALAMOUN, WASSIM SAMPSON, JOHN SAUNDERS, GEORGE SAUNDERS, KRIS SCANTLEBURY, BILLY SCHAEFER, PAUL SEFAU, SULEIMAN
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SETHI, BALDEV SEVIOUR, PAUL SHARPE, JONATHAN SHEA, DAWN SHETTY, KARUNAKARA SILVERBURG, DAVID SINGH, ARVIND SLIVKO, TATIANA SLYSZ, GARTH SPEARS, BENJAMIN STEWART, CHRIS STEWART, D. G. STEWART, D. I. STEWART, SUSAN STEWART, TRINA STULTZ, TIMOTHY SWART, HENRY SWEET, LAMONT TESCH, MARVIN THOMPSON, JASON TOMA, TAMER TRIANTAFILLOU, MARK TWEEL, DOUG VEALE, ANN VEER, ADRIANA VICKERSON, DONALD VISSER, HENDRICK WALKER, WILLIAM WHALEN, RON WHITE, ED WOHLGEMUT, ANDREW WONG, DAVID YOUSIF, HAYTHEM ZELIN, JENNI ZELMAN, MITCHELL
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Health PEI and Medical Staff Bylaws
Submitted by Dr. Ben Spears
The soporific effect of serial reorganization of PEI’s health care system should never be underestimated as a potent weapon of tactical success. As physicians, one by one, awaken from their torpor and read the new medical bylaws of Health PEI signed into law on 12th February 2011 by the Minister of Health they will encounter the magnitude of the imposed changes and their revolutionary character. The cardinal prerogatives of a profession, self-regulation and autonomy have been commandeered in what might be described as a putsch which exploited our naivety and indifference; the College has been reduced to a secretariat acting in the service of Health PEI with the license to practice now no more substantial than an enabling certificate for application for privileges; the Medical Society’s function is diminished to that of a trade union. The profession, in brief, has been conscripted to the government’s service without a frank and open debate despite an important public interest. The presence of six physicians on the Bylaws Working Group, three nominated by the Medical Society and three appointed by Health PEI invokes more embarrassment than reassurance. The unusual circumstances of the Minister’s signing which revealed the spuriousness of the Medical Society’s involvement, with the exception of the insertion, with the assistance of CMPA, of procedures of defense in the face of internal indictment exposed the Medical Society’s contribution as scribal rather than authorial. The power of veto resided with and was exercised by Health PEI. The outcome was determined from the beginning. There being no discussion or debate concerning the larger rationale of the Bylaws, the devil, of course is to found in the details. Curiously, it is the technicality of the universal requirement for the possession of privileges within the province that the takeover of the College function rests instituting a system of double jeopardy. Sentencing which varies in degree from the mild to the extreme is to be administered at Health PEI’s own timeline and will be unguided by precedent. But the most striking feature of the bylaws is that describing in pedantic, repetitious and unnecessary detail the range of medical misdemeanors and crimes open to indictment. The exhaustive detail is achieved by the limitless expansibility of Health PEI’s jurisdiction – to comic proportion when it appears , on the face of it that a physician, fortunate enough to be attending a medical conference in Paris, after a couple of cocktails is reported for making uncomplimentary comments about a Board member and finds himself or herself on the mat after returning home- and a colonization of the Medical Act mere persistence shielding it from irrelevance, redundancy and eventual formal repeal. Perhaps Health PEI should trouble to ask itself whether or not it has debased its own currency in confronting the physician body with so watertight and draconian a front representing a rebarbative managerial manifesto . To have done so confers a taint on the entire document particularly when it is compared with the equivalent section of Alberta Health Bylaws, a civilized piece of work self-evidently the issue of a collaborative process. What is interesting is that the paragraph on the legitimacy of physician advocacy has been taken word for word by the Working Group from the Alberta Bylaws where it reads as a reasonable and sensible tract, while in the PEI Bylaws it is replete with menace; unmistakably, public statements by physicians must first be submitted to Health PEI’s censors. For physicians now to cry foul would be not only futile but unseemly. Denied a ratification vote, unlike Alberta physicians, it is hard to know where we stand. With the proportion of salaried physicians standing at 46% of the entire complement in November 2010, the public silence of half our group is to be expected as it would be imprudent for those on salary to hazard their purported independent contractor status against the ire of the employer. But does silence with respect to the bylaws represent approval, indifference, incomprehension or a misleading conveyal of assent where none exists? Alberta Health engaged in a personal correspondence with each physician
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Health PEI and Medical Staff Bylaws - continued forwarding personally successive drafts of the bylaws and ultimately receiving convincing ratification. In PEI the drafts were left haphazardly in various hospital quarters to be largely ignored as turgid and uninviting reading matter. Any ratification of the Bylaws individual or collective was a matter of indifference to Health PEI to judge by the tawdry process under which they chose to operate. In defiance of precedent, a well primed Corpus Sanchez report 2008 recommended the re-establishment a governing health authority sounding the trumpet-call of integration of services. Many will remember the Health and Community Services Agency which blazed across the sky like a meteor to crash rather abruptly with the outgoing Government that had set it up in the 90’s. Fewer will remember the PHSA which had a slightly longer tenure which was abolished around 2005 because it was intrinsic to a very expensive administrative systems which included the Regions. For Government establishing Health PEI seems to be a case of “third time lucky”: to which physicians might add the rejoinder, “three strikes and we’re out”. Can physicians recover from the type of surgery they have just undergone, the effects of which are ordinarily permanent, and resurrect their former professional status? Well. Perhaps: the omens for the future of Health PEI are not especially propitious to judge by what is happening in England where a new coalition government is intending to dissolve the Primary Health Care Trusts on the grounds of disproportionate costs of management given that what happens in the NHS usually precedes developments in the Canadian health system by a few years. The rhetoric of health care integration bespeaks a cooperative coming together of the elements into a harmonious unity permitting of a rational division and disposition of resources leading to an overall sustainability. The actuality is about raw power, the power to centralize control, which is in large part the explanation of the decision to nationalize a medical profession obviously regarded as a barrier to change. But integration can exist both for better and worse and carries the disadvantages of tendencies to stagnation, demoralization in the workforce with reduced productivity. Groups deprived of administrative influence usually forfeit their imagination and initiative. But the shoal on which Health PEI’s ship is most likely to run aground is that of accountability. Physicians eager to serve as leaders ought to bear in mind the fact that our liberal profession achieved its zenith in the liberal democracies and has never fared particularly well when associated with institutional autocracies. Without a democratic accountability of its own, Health PEI will be subject to the provincial electoral process and risk shipwreck with the government with which it is most identified. In the founding Health Governance Advisory Council’s report, there is no reference to the need to create a mechanism for public censure such as democratically elected committees for external scrutiny without which accountability will be ersatz. The HGAC’s failure to identify their resource personnel to whom it refers in the appendix is particularly troubling as that group are Government’s messengers and the omission of their mention conceals potential vested interests in certain types of governance which are prone to diminish the board’s operation to a rubber stamp function. Perhaps Health PEI which has put a profession’s house in order in keeping with its own vision will be receptive to receiving from the same profession an acquaintance with an early approbation to transparency, a saying of Francis Bacon, a lawyer, statesmen, and scientist: “The best governments are always subject to be like the fairest crystals, when every icicle or grain is seen, in which in a fouler stone is never perceived.” Without the transparency, there can be no accountability. Without a vote at some level, there can be no democratic accountability and Health PEI’s engagement with the public no matter how high handed will devolve into tendentious conversation fortified by spin and glossy handouts. Anyone may be forgiven for wondering whether will Health PEI really be at liberty to choose between becoming a fair crystal or a foul stone?
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At a Glance
Name: Bob Burke Occupation: Senior Financial Consultant, MD Management Family: Wife Sandy, son: Josh (Stratford ON), daughter: Amy (Truro NS) with one granddaughter from each. Education: High School in NB, College in ON (Arts & Theology) and Industry Specific. Favourite Food: A good steak and ceaser salad: Shoe Size: 10 1/2 If you were a car, what model would you be? Mustang 5.0 Biggest pet peeve?: Folks who take Canada for granted. How many hours of sleep do you get a night?: 7 Golf or “a good walk spoiled”?: Golf for sure What soothes your soul?: Glenn Gould playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations Most recent place traveled/visited?: Disney with our 10 year old granddaughter If you were not a financial consultant, what would you be doing?: Teaching Last or current book read?: Ken Follet’s “World Without End”. Pets? None now but a golden lab at some point in the future Favourite website?: TED.com What are you listening to in your car stereo?: Sirius Satellite – CBC Radio One, Classic Rock, Classical
“Don’t Have A Stroke” - Clinical Day that was on February 23 at the Best Western Charlottetown. Photo Left: Graham Miner (left), Registrar of Motor Vehicles, presented, “Medical Fitness & Age-related Driving”; and Dr. Tim Stultz (right), Geriatrician, spoke on “The Elderly and Driving with Dementia”. Both hosted a panel discussion on “Driving” Photo Right: Dr. Huy Nguyen welcomes Dr. Gregg MacLean to the “Don’t Have a Stroke: Miss Daisy’s Still Driving” Clinical Day, where he spoke on Embolic Stoke and MS. It was a wintery February day for the Family Sleigh Ride, but all enjoyed the ride and farm animals. Afterwards in the warm hospitality cabin, hot chocolate and cookies were very much appreciated!
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PHYSICIAN RECRUITMENT UPDATE December, 2010 - March, 2011
NEW PHYSICIANS Dr. Heather Austin Dr. Scott Wotherspoon
Family Medicine - Summerside Orthopedics
January 2, 2011 February 8, 2011
Committed to Begin Practice (Signed letters of offer) Dr. Megan Miller Palliative Care (.6 fte) Dr. Johann Vlok Family Medicine - Cornwall Dr. Tahir Rafiq Emergency Medicine - Summerside Dr. Owen MacAusland Emergency Medicine - QEH (.25 fte) Dr. Rory Porteous Radiology Dr. Chris King Family Medicine - Charlottetown Dr. Aziz Jamal Family Medicine - Charlottetown
March 1, 2011 April 1, 2011 April 1, 2011 June, 2011 June, 2011 Fall, 2011 May 1, 2011
SITE VISITS Dr. Mohamed Hassan Dr. Julian Loke Dr. Selvaraj Vincent Dr. Zia Rahman Dr. Don Roux
February 10-13, 2011 February 10-14, 2011 February 24-27, 2011 February 24-27, 2011
Anesthesia - Summerside Anesthesia - Summerside Psychiatry Psychiatry Family Medicine - Tyne Valley, Souris and Charlottetown Family Medicine - Montague (Locum as well)
Dr. Sofian Al Samak
March 9-13, 2011 March 8-18, 2011
Dal Medical Students in Concert at Bonshaw Hall, April 2 - 7pm
Some folks think an apple a day is good for what ails you, while others claim that laughter is the best medicine. Another school of thought maintains that there is a strong link between music and good health. This latter opinion is one held strongly by the students participating in the Music-in-Medicine program at Dalhousie University. A musical demonstration of this theory will be presented on Saturday, April 2 at the Bonshaw Hall, at a special concert given by Dal Med students. While miracle cures are by no means guaranteed, this spirited performance by a talented group of young doctors-in-training should be an ideal way to help cure the spring blahs. The Dalhousie Medical School has a long tradition of offering a strong Humanities program to its medical students, encouraging them to read, paint and sing as they learn to suture, diagnose and treat. Returning to the Island to perform again this year are two student vocal groups: the TestosterTONES (men) and the Vocal Chords (women). Over the past few years, these groups have toured in the Maritimes and abroad, including performances in New Zealand in 2010. Their music includes a mix of everything from Maritime traditionals to classic pop tunes with both the full groups and solo performers. The Bonshaw concert will represent a home-coming for TestosterTONE member and Bonshaw native, Keith Baglole. Also performing at the concert will be special guest Susan Holmes, a jazz singer from Tracadie Bay. The concert begins at 7:00. Admission is $10.00. This is a benefit concert for the Bonshaw Hall Co-op.
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Signing Death Certificates Physicians and Coroners in Prince Edward Island must complete medical certificates of death and stillbirth. These certificates are important legal documents that provide the details about causes and circumstances of death. Death certificates are an indispensable source of statistical information used in public health monitoring, medical research, medical education and public health promotion. The value of the statistical data derived from death certificates depends on the certifierís care and judgement in recording complete and accurate information. When signing “Registration of Death” certificates, Sections 24 through 36 are imperative to complete (if applicable). Please enter the immediate “Cause of Death” (section 25), i.e. the disease, injury or complication that caused the death, in Part I, Line A. Do not enter the mechanism of dying, such as heart failure, cardiac or respiratory arrest. Thank you for your cooperation. Dr. Charles Trainor, Chief Coroner, Province of PEI
Canadian Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine Académie canadienne de médecine du sport et de l’exercice CANADIAN ACADEMY OF SPORT AND EXERCISE MEDICINE PRESENTS THE CANADIAN SPORT MEDICINE CONFERENCE ON THE EASTERN EDGE Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland St. John’s, NL, July 14-16, 2011 The CASEM Sport and Exercise Medicine Conference will strengthen the clinical skills of sport medicine physicians or family physicians with an interest in sport medicine. It will maintain and enhance the knowledge of health care practitioners in the field of sport and exercise medicine. It will strive to improve the quality of care provided to athletes of all ages and performance levels. CASEM offers a pre-conference two day FIMS Team Physician Development Course (International Federation of Sport Medicine). The goal of the course is to prepare physicians to provide medical care to athletes. The target audience is a physician of any specialty, with or without a CASEM diploma in sport medicine, who wishes to develop and enhance knowledge and skill in th4e care of the athlete and the role as team physician. This course may also be of interest to Allied Health Professionals who are involved with the care of athlete or sports teams. Conference and Team Physician Course will be CME accredited. More Information and detailed Preliminary Program available at www.casem-acmse.org click on events
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAMILY PHYSICIANS Health PEI is seeking an "expression of interest" from any family physician in the province who may have an interest in becoming involved with Addiction Services, the Pain Clinic, Medical Oncology, or Radiation Oncology. Part-time and fulltime work is available in these various positions. Beach Grove Home is seeking a House Physician to provide 24 hour, 7 days a week "on-call" coverage for 131 long-term care beds. Prince Edward Island is seeking a physician to provide 24 hour, 7 days a week " on-call coverage" for 11 convalescent/restorative care beds. Training assistance may be available from Health PEI if necessary. If you have an interest in any of these positions, please contact Sheila MacLean, Physician Recruitment Coordinator at (902) 368-6302 or
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Don't let emotions dictate your investment decisions by MD Physician Services
Making investment decisions can be stressful, even under the best of market conditions. For years, much of economic and financial theory has been based on the idea that people act rationally and consider all available information in the decision-making process. Research, however, indicates this is not necessarily the case. Behavioural finance—a branch of economic and financial analysis that applies scientific research to human social, cognitive and emotional factors in an attempt to understand the financial decisions that people make—challenges the notion of rational decision-making and proposes the idea that people are, more often than not, irrational. Behavioural finance helps identify three main biases that people tend to display when investing: 1
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Anchoring. Anchoring describes the common tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor”, on one trait or piece of information when making decisions, even though it may have no logical relevance to the decision at hand. For example, investors will often cling to a subpar investment waiting for it to break even, to get back to the value they paid for it. This can be a costly decision, however. If you realize a loss, it’s better to use it to offset realized gains. Recency effect. “Recency effect” is a bias that places disproportionate emphasis on recent events. It is a tendency to remember recent events or observations more vividly, giving them more weight than historical information. A recency bias can cause investors to abandon a long-term strategy and hinder their ability to make rational decisions. For example, investors often react to a stock market drop by pulling money out of mutual funds, rather than riding out the volatility with a long-term investment approach designed to smooth out the bumps. Confirmation bias. “Confirmation” describes our tendency to look for evidence that confirms our beliefs, but ignores evidence that contradicts it. For investors, this selective thinking is associated with focusing on information that supports a preferred investment idea.
No one can predict the future, but we can sometimes predict how we would react under a given set of circumstances. When we think of the lagging returns seen in global markets, many investors, quite naturally, express disappointment and a desire to avoid investing outside Canada. Unpredictability in the markets is a given, but we can be fairly certain that Canada will not be the leader year in and year out. We can also be certain that taking a more strategic, and less emotional, view of investing can lead to portfolios that are focused on achieving financial goals and carefully managing risk along the way. Allowing news and recent events to drive an investment strategy is never a good idea. Becoming more aware of how emotional biases can affect decision-making can help investors make better investment choices—a financial advisor can help investors stay focused, by incorporating appropriate risk tolerance and asset allocation to create a portfolio that can weather market volatility.
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Inclusion of this article does not represent an endorsement by the Medical Society of PEI of the Relative Costs of Medications Comparison Tool. Rather, it is intended to inform and alert members of its distribution to physician offices. As noted, the Comparison Tool does not consider specific drug plans and has not been influenced by pharmaceutical companies.
“'Do you have a drug plan?”' Why do we, as physicians, ask this question when prescribing? If all else is equal when prescribing a medication for your patient, and two or more products are available, would knowing their cost play a role in which one you prescribe? When affordable options can be selected without detriment to health outcomes, it benefits your patients and the employers providing their health coverage. Did you know that the cost of group drug plans (employer plans) are rising on average at a rate of 6 to 10% per year? With several biologics and oral cancer medications coming to market in the next ten years, drug plan costs will undoubtedly continue to increase. By knowing drug costs and prescribing accordingly, your patients’ out of pocket costs for prescriptions are minimized. It has a positive impact on their rising health premiums and the long-term viability of employer sponsored health plans. For those individuals, particularly retirees, with health insurance plans, many may be paying 100% of their premiums for those plans or cost-sharing with their employers (i.e. 50/50 cost-sharing). Here on PEI, some retirees are paying more than $3,000 annually to maintain their private drug plan. So even if the answer is ‘“yes” to insurance, many times individuals are the ones paying directly out of pocket for this coverage in terms of significant annual premium increases. In 2007, the South East Regional Health Authority in New Brunswick partnered with Medavie Blue Cross to develop the Relative Costs of Medications Comparison Tool to increase awareness about the cost of drugs and to assist physicians in making informed choices when they prescribe drugs. This comparison tool was recently updated with the help of physicians associated with Horizon Health Network and the Dalhousie University School of Pharmacy. Holland College –a large employer in Prince Edward Island, and Murphy’s Pharmacies – a chain of independent pharmacies and provider of workplace wellness services, saw great value in this tool. These parties have partnered with Medavie Blue Cross to bring the Relative Costs of Medications Comparison Tool to physicians in Prince Edward Island. The comparison tool is a quick reference guide that will visually identify lower cost drugs within a class. The tool comprises several of the most commonly prescribed diagnostic categories, which are subdivided into drug classes. All products are colour coded by cost that ranges from lower cost (green), to moderately high (yellow), to very high (red). Each colour stands for a price range that is included with the drug classes. This tool is not based on drug coverage for any specific plan and is not influenced by pharmaceutical companies. An electronic version of the comparison tool is available in the Health Professionals section of the Medavie Blue Cross website at. Hard copies will be distributed to physician offices across Prince Edward Island for use in your practice.
Passport to Health Launched The Community Hospitals and Primary Care Division of Health PEI has launched a new booklet for the general public and patients entitled "Passport to Health". The purpose of the resource is to emphasize prevention by increasing awareness of risk factors for chronic disease and by providing a useful tool for the public and patients to track their own personal health information such as blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI etc. It was developed in collaboration with representatives from primary care, acute care, community organizations as well as the Department of Health and Wellness. The booklet will be available across the health system in health centres, hospitals, physicians offices, mental health and addictions, provincial diabetes program and other venues. Health care providers are encouraged to use the resource with their patients as a teaching tool when appropriate. If any physicians would like to receive copies to distribute to their patients, please call Dawn Watson, Community Hospitals and Primary Care Division, Health PEI, at 368-6171. Pat Charlton Special Projects Officer, Community Hospitals and Primary Care Division - www.healthpei.ca
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