Ultimate Blogging Championship

Author: sitesuper

  • AFHTO Members on the 2016 Minister’s Medals Honour Roll

    Several AFHTO member teams were honoured as honour roll applicants for the 2016 Minister’s Medals in Health Quality and Safety , announced at today’s Health Quality Transformation conference.

    About the Minister’s Medals and the Honour Roll

    The 2016 Minister’s Medal is a competitive, annual program designed to recognize the excellent work that health care providers do every day. The Minister’s Medal provides an opportunity to recognize system champions who place the patient at the centre of the circle of care and have demonstrated exceptional work in collaboration and achieved sustainable results, while promoting system value and quality in the health care system. The teams named below demonstrated outstanding performance across the Medal criteria. Their applications made it to the final stages of the review process and are recognized as honour roll applicants.

    Congratulations to the 2016 Recipients

    The Carefirst Family Health Team  was named to the Team Honour Roll for developing the  Seamless/Timely/All-Inclusive/Right-Scaled (STAR) program – a care coordination and integrated hub that enables the Scarborough Hospital to discharge patients to a virtual ward composed of community care services within the community. The Carefirst FHT is partnered with the Scarborough Hospital, the Scarborough Doctors Family Health Organization and the Central East community care access centre to support patient transitions through the program. STAR provides access to home and community care, primary care, chronic disease management, short-stay respite care, and acute care. The Champlain BASE™ eConsult service was named to the Team Honour Roll for Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation. The service, developed by Drs. Clare Liddy and Erin Keely of The Ottawa Hospital Academic Family Health Team is a secure, web-based tool that allows primary care providers quick access to speciality care for their patients, often avoiding the need for the patient to be referred for a face-to-face visit. The eConsult service helps improves timely access to specialists; connects primary care providers and specialists; informs and supports patients, primary care providers and specialists; and protects patients by improving patient safety. Drs. Liddy and Keely were recognized with a 2016 AFHTO Bright Lights Award for this program. Suzanne Singh, a pharmacist with the Mount Sinai Academic Family Health Team, was named to the Individual Champion Honour Roll for being a passionate advocate of optimizing medication management in primary care through collaborative partnerships with patients and health care providers. She steers patient care initiatives focused on vulnerable patient populations at risk of medication-related problems and provides clinical expertise related to managing high-alert medications. She has also chaired the Mount Sinai Academic Family Health Team’s Complex Patient Care Rounds and the Interprofessional Health Provider Committee. One key example of this is her leadership in developing the Brown-Bag Medication Check-Up Program, for which the Mount Sinai Academic FHT won an AFHTO Bright Lights Award in 2015.  

  • AFHTO 2016 Conference: Presentations have been posted

    “What leaders really do is prepare organizations for change. Leaders, by definition, work in the realm of unknowability and wrestle with complexity.”
    – Colleen Grady and Marion Howell, Iris Group, at Physicians in the Lead workshop

    “It is exciting and re-energizing that the focus is back on primary care – and it’s back on things that our members have been doing for years: focusing on population health.”
    – Kavita Mehta, incoming AFHTO CEO, during opening plenary remarks

    “We need to be bold enough to truly own the vision of our organizations; we need to ensure that we are equipping clinical leaders well; and we need to allow for comfort with uncertainty, to create safe spaces for experimenting and learning, and do more celebrating of success.”
    – Dr. Sarah-Lynn Newbury, OCFP President, during closing plenary remarks

    “Our members are already developing initiatives that work. When we spread these initiatives, we’ll be leaders in the province.”
    – Dr. Rob Annis, incoming AFHTO Vice President, at Governance for Quality workshop

    Over 850 people took part in the AFHTO 2016 Conference, Leading primary care to strengthen a population-focused health system.

    Effective leadership requires a willingness to move forward in the context of uncertainty; and it is in the context of change and uncertainty that leaders shine brightest. Throughout the conference, we explored the question of what it will mean to lead the transformation to population-focused primary care, and we considered the role of a leader as one in helping others navigate change.

    To lead effectively, we must continue to measure the effectiveness of our work, using what we learn to drive our improvement efforts, and we must connect with colleagues within and beyond AFHTO to ensure the spread of successful innovations. And we must not forget that leadership is a collective responsibility we all share.

    In examining the nature of population-focused health, we were reminded of our shared vision for all Ontarians to have access to coordinated, comprehensive primary care rooted in life-long relationships. An equitable system is one in which access is not measured in the number of people who can get to a doctor but in the degree to which everyone’s needs can be met.

    The value of the AFHTO 2016 Conference continues.

    Click below to access resources from the conference:

    The AFHTO 2016 Conference is accredited by the Canadian College of Health Leaders for up to 7.5 Category II credits and by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Ontario office for up to 16.25 Group Learning credits. Download the application for your certificate of attendance here.

    Looking ahead

    AFHTO’s annual conference is the best learning and networking opportunity for people who work in and with primary care teams. Please help us to continue, and to continuously improve:

    Congratulations to the AFHTO 2016-17 Board of Directors

    Our 2016 conference marks the beginning of the term for our new Board of Directors. Special congratulations to our incoming president and chair, Marg Alfieri from the Centre for Family Medicine FHT.

    Thanks to our volunteers, sponsors, and exhibitors

    Thank you once again to the volunteers who contributed to the success of the AFHTO 2016 Conference – speakers, working group members, program hosts, IHP community of practice leads, and registration desk volunteers. Thank you as well to our sponsors and exhibitors. It’s truly an honour and pleasure to work with so many highly talented, enthusiastic and committed people across the AFHTO community.

    We look forward to seeing you next year – October 25 & 26, 2017!

  • 2016 Poster Gallery

    Thank you to all of our poster presenters who came to the AFHTO 2016 conference. Posters were submitted by interprofessional health teams across the province. Like the concurrent session presentations, they represent the full breadth of professions within collaborative primary care and showcase evidence-based, impactful innovations that will be useful to other teams.

    2016 Posters Displays

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  • 2016 Concurrent Sessions Slides & Materials

    Thank you to all of our concurrent session presenters who came to the AFHTO 2016 conference. We will be uploading the concurrent session slides we’ve received within the next two weeks. Our concurrent session presentations are organized into six 45-minute timeslots (3 per day) and seven themes. We have arranged the sessions by timeslot and theme in the table below.

    [table id=63 /]

    Concurrent Session Selection

    Concurrent session presentations were chosen by working groups consisting of AFHTO members across Ontario, representing the full breadth of professions within collaborative primary care. Submissions were chosen for reflecting the conference theme, usefulness/applicability to interprofessional primary care teams, innovativeness, evidence of impact, and clear learning objectives.

  • AFHTO 2016 Conference on October 17 & 18

    Leading primary care to strengthen a population-focused health system

    “What leaders really do is prepare organizations for change. Leaders, by definition, work in the realm of unknowability and wrestle with complexity.” – Colleen Grady and Marion Howell, Iris Group, at Physicians in the Lead worksho “It is exciting and re-energizing that the focus is back on primary care – and it’s back on things that our members have been doing for years: focusing on population health.” – Kavita Mehta, incoming AFHTO CEO, during opening plenary remarks “We need to be bold enough to truly own the vision of our organizations; we need to ensure that we are equipping clinical leaders well; and we need to allow for comfort with uncertainty, to create safe spaces for experimenting and learning, and do more celebrating of success.” – Dr. Sarah-Lynn Newbury, OCFP President, during closing plenary remarks “Our members are already developing initiatives that work. When we spread these initiatives, we’ll be leaders in the province.” – Dr. Rob Annis, AFHTO Vice President, at Governance for Quality workshop

    Over 850 people took part in the AFHTO 2016 Conference, Leading primary care to strengthen a population-focused health system.

    Effective leadership requires a willingness to move forward in the context of uncertainty; and it is in the context of change and uncertainty that leaders shine brightest. Throughout the conference, we explored the question of what it will mean to lead the transformation to population-focused primary care, and we considered the role of a leader as one in helping others navigate change. To lead effectively, we must continue to measure the effectiveness of our work, using what we learn to drive our improvement efforts, and we must connect with colleagues within and beyond AFHTO to ensure the spread of successful innovations. And we must not forget that leadership is a collective responsibility we all share. In examining the nature of population-focused health, we were reminded of our shared vision for all Ontarians to have access to coordinated, comprehensive primary care rooted in life-long relationships. An equitable system is one in which access is not measured in the number of people who can get to a doctor but in the degree to which everyone’s needs can be met.

    The value of the AFHTO 2016 Conference continues.

    Click below to access resources from the conference:

    Accreditation

    The AFHTO 2016 Conference is accredited by the Canadian College of Health Leaders for up to 7.5 Category II credits and by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Ontario office for up to 16.25 Group Learning credits. Download the application for your certificate of attendance here.

    Looking ahead

    AFHTO’s annual conference is the best learning and networking opportunity for people who work in and with primary care teams. Please help us to continue, and to continuously improve:

    Congratulations to the AFHTO 2016-17 Board of Directors

    Our 2016 conference marks the beginning of the term for our new Board of Directors. Special congratulations to our incoming president and chair, Marg Alfieri from the Centre for Family Medicine FHT.

    Thanks to our volunteers, sponsors, and exhibitors

    Thank you once again to the volunteers who contributed to the success of the AFHTO 2016 Conference – speakers, working group members, program hosts, IHP community of practice leads, and registration desk volunteers. Thank you as well to our sponsors and exhibitors. It’s truly an honour and pleasure to work with so many highly talented, enthusiastic and committed people across the AFHTO community.

    We look forward to seeing you next year – October 25 & 26, 2017!

    Future AFHTO Conferences:

    For the forward planners, AFHTO’s conference dates for future years are listed below. Click on the dates to add these to your calendar:

     

  • Announcing the AFHTO 2016 Bright Lights Award Winners!

    AFHTO has named eight innovators as winners of the organization’s annual Bright Lights Awards for their work in making meaningful improvements in patient health, how patients experience their care, and how efficiently healthcare resources are used. The awards recognize individuals for their leadership and for the work being conducted to improve the value of services delivered by primary care teams in Ontario. The winners were selected by a panel of judges from more than 60 nominations. The Bright Lights Award recipients are listed below. Click on the links to read a summary of each of their achievements. 1. Manitoulin Central Family Health Team Award category: Planning programs and fostering partnerships for healthier communities Achievement: Mobile Teleophthalmology Program – Successful implementation of innovative technology to conduct diabetic retinopathy screening in a rural location

    2. Centre for Family Medicine Family Health Team Award category: Optimizing access to interprofessional teams Achievement: Obstetrical Clinic – Identified a real need for pre- and post-natal care in rural communities and put together an interprofessional team to run an obstetrical clinic

    3. Couchiching Family Health Team Award category: Strengthening collaboration within the interprofessional team Achievement: School Success Program – Created partnership among parents, caregivers, healthcare providers and schools to ensure classroom success for children with mental, physical or behavioural difficulties

    4. Mount Sinai Academic Family Health Team Award category: Measuring performance to foster improvement in comprehensive care Achievement: Healthy Living with Pain Program – Using best practices, put a program in place to identify opioid abuse and improve treatment

    5. Clare Liddy and Erin Keely, Champlain Base eConsult Team, The Ottawa Hospital Academic Family Health Team Award category: Coordinating care to create better transitions Achievement: Online eConsult System – Created an online system that allows patients prompt access to specialists, now adopted across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom

    6. Cathy Faulds, London Family Health Team Award category: Leadership and governance in a changing environment Achievement: Engaging Patients with Online Communications – Dr. Faulds introduced an online communications initiative that allows patients to have a real relationship with their physicians and team members and offers them access to curated information about their health concerns

    7. Couchiching Family Health Team Award category: Clinical innovations to address equity. Achievement: Digital Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Screening – Introduced a comprehensive, universal screening process that also allowed for demographic data collection

    8. Espanola & Area Family Health Team; Powassan & Area Family Health Team; City of Lakes Family Health Team; Great Northern Family Health Team; East End Family Health Team; Temagami Family Health Team Special recognition for collaboration across interprofessional teams to foster improvement Achievement – Technology-based Falls Prevention Program – Collaborated to incorporate a falls risk assessment into the electronic medical records, along with links to prevention and education programs

    All eight award winners will receive education grants from the Bright Lights sponsors – Boehringer-Ingelheim Inc. and Merck Canada Inc. This year the AFHTO Board also presented two awards. These awards recognize significant contributions to Ontario’s primary care teams: – Theresa Agnew, Angie Heydon, Adrianna Tetley Achievement – Earning a Commitment and Seeing It Through: Primary Care Compensation – Advocated for improved compensation for Ontario’s primary care teams, leading to the Government of Ontario’s commitment of $85 million over three years to ensure that they “can effectively recruit and retain qualified interprofessional staff in primary care settings.”

    –  Dr. Ross Baker Achievement – Primary Care Governance – Authored a groundbreaking study, which formed the basis for the toolkit and curriculum – Effective Governance for Quality in Primary Care – that AFHTO has used to train hundreds of primary care team board members over the past three years

    The Bright Light Awards were presented during an awards dinner on the evening of October 17, as part of AFHTO’s 2016 Conference, “Leading Primary Care to Strengthen a Population-focused Health System.” The dinner was attended by more than 240 people including AFHTO members, senior representatives from government, key agencies and associations. The call for nominations for the 2017 Bright Light Awards will go out in June 2017. All AFHTO members are welcome and encouraged to participate. For additional event photos, please contact info@afhto.ca. [envira-gallery id=”26353″]

  • Physicians in the Lead……Developing Capacity

    Sunday, October 16, 2016

    Workshop: Physicians in the Lead……Developing Capacity

    • Time: 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
    • Style: Workshop (session is structured for interaction and/or hands-on learning opportunities)
    • Focus: Practical (focus is on how to implement programs and/or practices in the team environment)
    • Target Audience: Leadership (ED, clinical lead, board chair, board member, etc.), Clinical providers

    Learning Objectives

    Physician participants will be introduced to key concepts in leadership and enhance their capacity to impact their own organizations, and ultimately, the system of care. Using case studies, brief exercises and opportunities for discussion, participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own capacity in leadership and learn from colleagues about new strategies.

    Summary / Abstract

    This workshop is designed for physicians who recognize their need to enhance their leadership capacity, whether a leader with a titled position or not.  Family Health Teams are in the midst of substantial change as the entire system will be influenced by new legislation, regional healthcare restructuring, and an unfolding new type of relationship with Ontario’s doctors. This workshop will provide practical approaches to increase your self-awareness as leader, understand better the dynamics of change and encourage you to use systems thinking in order that you can help to navigate the changing landscape of primary care. Participants should be prepared to be fully engaged in the exercises and contribute to group discussion. You will be able to take new knowledge and strategies for leading more effectively back to your own organizations before you even leave the AFHTO Conference!

    Materials

    Slides from the presentation have been posted here.

    Speakers

    Colleen

    Colleen Grady: Colleen is a researcher with a special interest in physician leadership development and complexity science. She brings to her work several years of leadership experience in healthcare, social services and local government and has supported organizations both large and small in how they encourage and cultivate the talent within.  In the last several years her leadership work has been primarily focused around physicians which has been the most fascinating journey of all. She has worked with, and presented to, physicians in B.C. and Ontario in order to support them in the challenges they face working in a complex system with constantly-shifting priorities.  She has had the privilege of working with physicians in both acute care and primary care, including 3 years as Executive Director of a Family Health Team.  Colleen currently holds the position of Research Manager with the Centre for Studies in Primary Care, Department of Family Medicine, at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. 

    Marion

    Marion Howell: Marion serves the Canadian health care sector with a passion for making a difference in the lives of physician leaders.  She is grounded in principles of how to lead in complex systems and works with her client to apply these in challenging real work situations.  Her experience with physician coaching and facilitating has provided her the opportunity to understand the unique roles and constraints associated with physician leadership.

    As a facilitator, Marion understands the importance of bringing practical application of academic models in order to enhance the performance of leaders.  The Iris Group’s workshop design is grounded in research that helps leaders better understand how to lead in complex change. As a coach, Marion has logged 3,200 coaching hours and delivered coaching in leadership programs at the Rotman School of Business, the Schulich School of Management, and Interior Health Authority in BC.  In particular, Marion has been a coach and facilitator for all six cohorts of the Physician Leadership Development Program (PLDP).  Marion brought her program design experience to the working group for the CMA’s Coaching Connections pilot and subsequently delivered coaching to physicians across Canada. For more information about other physician education sessions happening around the AFHTO 2016 conference, check out the Physician Clinical Education Sessions. To find out more about what else is on the agenda, check out our conference schedule.

  • Minister Hoskins has signed compensation funding letters

    Today the Minister’s Office confirmed that funding letters regarding the compensation increases promised in the 2016 provincial budget are signed and will be going out within the next week. Click here to read the Minister’s announcement. Dates for web briefings with Ministry staff are being arranged. We expect to have further information out to you shortly.

    Previous: Minister Hoskins commits $85 million over three years to interprofessional primary care

    FEBRUARY 25, 2016 “To ensure these clinics (CHCs, NPLCs, FHTs, AHACs and nursing stations) can effectively recruit and retain qualified interprofessional staff in primary care settings, Ontario will invest an additional $85 million over three years.”  This is quoted from the 2016 Ontario Budget, released today. (p.115) The Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC), the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) and the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario (NPAO) representatives have just emerged from the Ontario Government’s budget lock-up where we learned exciting news about compensation for staff in AHACs, CHC, FHTs and NPLCs. In the budget lock-up, senior ministry officials committed to meet as soon as possible to work out the details on how the funds are to be allocated.  To put this into perspective, the AFHTO-AOHC-NPAO proposal called for a total of $122 million in additional funds spread over four years; this commitment could potentially fund the first three years of the implementation. We are pleased to have this financial commitment in place. We look forward to moving quickly to work through the implementation details.  The AFHTO-AOHC-NPAO proposal continues to be the direction we are pursuing. We will keep members informed as these discussions progress. Given the tough fiscal climate, we appreciate the fact the Wynne government prioritized this new funding in this year’s Ontario Budget. This was no small task when “the government has also succeeded in bringing down annual spending growth on health from about 7% to about 2% while continuing to improve access to care.” (p.113) Today’s news comes after years of relentless advocacy by AFHTO, AOHC and NPAO.  We have commissioned evidence informed reports, met with dozens of politicians and government officials, and worked collaboratively with our members who have taken up the torch with zeal and dedication. Your efforts have played a key role ensuring we secured this important win. We particularly want to acknowledge the work and support of the Dietitians of Canada who have also played an important role making the case for fair and equitable compensation. Other professional organizations such as the OPA and RNAO have joined the chorus of voices demanding fair and equitable compensation for our staff. “Today, we are thrilled to hear that the Wynne government and Ministers Hoskins and Sousa have heard our collective voice. Within the 2016 Ontario Budget there is an investment that will help CHCs, FHTs, NPLCs and AHACs retain staff so as to better serve clients and communities. This investment shows that our interprofessional health provider team-members are valued” says Theresa Agnew, Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario. “With this new funding, the government has clearly committed to strengthen primary care as the foundation of Ontario’s health system,” says Angie Heydon, Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario. “This investment now puts interprofessional primary care teams onto more equal footing to attract and keep the skilled professionals needed to deliver better care, better health and better value for Ontarians.” “We are very heartened that the Government has finally taken a step in the right direction to correct a serious imbalance in improving access to interprofessional primary health care.  This is especially important because it will enable Ontario to do a better job ensuring people who face barriers to health can access the services they need from interprofessional teams.” says Adrianna Tetley, Association of Ontario Health Centres. Sincerely,

    Adrianna Tetley Association of Ontario Health Centres of Ontario Angie Heydon Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario Theresa Agnew Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario

     

  • FREE Primary Care Day October 19 – Limited space still available

    HQO’s Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Forum  is a special Primary Care Quality Improvement event focused on opportunities to support Practice Improvement in primary care and connect with other primary care practitioners.

    Date: October 19, 2016 Time: 8:15am – 4:30pm Location: Metro Toronto Convention Centre

    This event will feature breakout sessions where practitioners can network and discuss practice-based improvement approaches. These approaches and the networking opportunity will help strengthen our capacity for quality improvement as a sector. Participants will also have the opportunity to attend a Keynote address by Dr. Helen Bevan on Leading Change that Sticks. Dr. Helen Bevan is the Chief Transformation Officer at the National Health Service and is internationally known for her leadership in large scale change initiatives that advance system transformation.

    There are still a few spaces left!

    This is a great opportunity to extend the value of the AFHTO 2016 conference. Access the online registration form here.   Use access code QIPSF2016 and select Primary Care in the drop-down menu.

    Need more information?

    For more information, including details and descriptions of the breakout sessions, please visit the QIPSF2016 event page. If you have any questions, please contact david.kaplan@hqontario.ca.

     

  • Registered Nurse (Term) – Markham FHT

    Position:  Registered Nurse, Full Time Maternity Leave Term Position

    The Markham Family Health Team (MFHT) serves over 27000 patients and has three sites in the Markham area. Our team consists of 19 Physicians and a wide variety of Interdisciplinary Health Professionals and Administrative Professionals. (See website for more MFHT information).

    General Qualifications and Requirements:

    Education and Membership Requirements:

    • Member in good standing with the College of Nurses of Ontario
    • RN diploma or BScN
    • Current membership with RNAO and evidence of liability insurance

    Skills and Knowledge:

    • Excellent interpersonal skills re: patients and their families
    • Must be team focused and flexible; works collaboratively with the multidisciplinary team
    • Excellent communication skills
    • Ability to multi-task, work under pressure, and meet deadlines
    • Effectively uses the EMR for documentation
    • Proficient computer skills
    • CPR certification

    Experience:

    • Preference given to those with at least 2 years of Primary Care experience
    • Practical experience with EMR’s preferred
    • Candidates must have a valid driver’s license and own vehicle.

    Qualified applicants please send your resume by October 31st, 2016 by email only to: david.marriott@markhamfht.com While we appreciate your interest, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.