Ultimate Blogging Championship

Author: sitesuper

  • Hire a Student: Funding & Placement Programs

    Canada Summer Jobs 2016: Deadline Extended

    The deadline to apply for funding for a summer student through the Canada Summer Jobs Program has been extended to March 11, 2016.

    Private, public, and not-for-profit employers are eligible for this funding. Not-for profit employers can receive funding for up to 100% of minimum wage; public and private sector employers can receive funding for up to 50% of minimum wage. Additional funding is available to cover the cost of accommodating students with disabilities in the workplace. The job must provide meaningful work experience for the student, be full-time (3o-40 hours per week), and have a duration of 6-16 weeks. Students employed through this program are between 15 and 30 years old, were full-time students in the previous academic year, and intend to return to full-time studies in the next one. They must be legally entitled to work in Canada  — this includes Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and persons with refugee status; foreign students are ineligible. For more information and a step-by-step guide to the application procedure, visit the Canada Summer Jobs page at Service Canada. AFHTO members have had success hiring students for a number of different projects including clean-up of EMR data.  A number of them have gone on to work for our members permanently, including some of our QIDS Specialists!

    Related documents

     

    [original post & updates for D2D 3.0]

    Need help getting ready for D2D 3.0? Consider hiring a student!

    You will be able to submit data for D2D 3.0 from December 3 until January 15.   And you might want some help to get ready for that. Students can be a big resource for teams.  If you think you could use someone for nearly a week in Dec (14-18), please contact Barb Nayler with the Health Information Management program at St. Lawrence College.  Even though St. Lawrence is in Kingston, students are available across the province, especially in Toronto and Ottawa.  Several of our fabulous QIDSS are health information management professionals from this or similar programs, so there is a really good chance these students have the right skills to be helpful. If you think you need someone longer than 4 days, there are other options. Read on, and follow the links for more! You’ll find links to lists of student placement programs, provincial and federal government incentives, and guidelines on how to recruit, train, and support your visiting students.

    Hiring a Student: Overview

    Hiring a student to clean EMR data can be a really rewarding experience.  The incentive programs for physicians provide financial rewards for better coded data.  Teams will be better able to identify candidates for chronic disease management programs.  Everyone will be better able to track progress of patients with chronic diseases and make sure they are getting the kind of follow-up they need.  From a pragmatic perspective, it will be easier to do QIP reporting and participate in D2D, adding your voice to strengthen your association’s ability to advocate for what you need.  And you may learn something too! There are many students in health programs who both want and need placements as part of their programs – they can add their energy and fresh knowledge to your team.  And finally, hiring a student may give your team an advantage in recruiting future staff, physicians or otherwise. You don’t have to start from scratch with hiring a student.  Several teams have been doing this for years, assigning students to help clean up EMR data, doing things like reconciling the roster with MOHLTC, making sure chronic diseases and risk factors like smoking are coded in the appropriate problem lists etc.  AFHTO has compiled a tool kit based on these experiences to share the learnings with other members of AFHTO.  It includes step by step guidance, starting with how to make the case for better EMR data with physicians and other decision-makers and estimating the costs and benefits of the project right down to posting and filling the position and creating the training handbook for the students.

    Checklist for Hiring A Student

    The following are the steps to consider when planning a student placement:

    Planning and Funding

    Decide that you want to clean up your historical data.

    • Why should you do this? What’s Important to YOUR Practice?
    • Budgeting and Incentive Programs
    • Sample draft physician agreement note
    • Consider the different types of students potentially available

    Recruiting A Student 

    1. Determine the specific activities you want the student to undertake and form your job description around this.
    2. Start the recruitment process: This varies according to choice of student and school.
    3. Interview and select candidates.

    Training and Hosting the Student

    1. Enroll your team to participate in/send a student to an orientation session:
    2. Prepare to host the student:
    3. Mentor/monitor student (support to be developed)

    Evaluating the Impact of the student work (More information to come) To ensure that teams are receiving value in the projects undertaken by students it is important that teams evaluate the outcomes of the  projects e.g. a clean roster, better coding of data leading to improved billings, to the time and cost of bringing in a student. For more information please contact Catherine Macdonald.

  • Data to Decisions eBulletin #31: 7-day follow-up indicator changes

    You are not alone in seeing a big drop in your team’s 7-day follow-up. The definition has changed – click here for more information. Need more data for your QIP or AOP?

    • Group-level Primary Care Practice Reports: new version online with more information than was available in December, for those who signed up before October 31st. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can still sign up for the next iteration.
    • AFHTO’s program planning template and indicator catalogue can help you increase consistency in selecting program indicators for your AOP submission.
    • 2015/16 QIP Analyses: Insights into Quality Improvement summary report from last year’s Primary Care QIPs now online (with many success stories).
    • HQO has developed resources to assist you with the new “equity” indicator in the QIP Navigator. If you haven’t received e-mail updates about this, please contact QIP@hqontario.ca.
    • Other quality improvement resources for members are available here.

    AFHTO 2016 Conference: Join a working group to shape the conference program by March 25. THANK YOU for telling us how D2D is working for you. Interviews are underway with Dan Wagner (MSc student). Contact Carol Mulder for more information.

    Help spread the word about D2D – invite others to sign up for the e-Bulletin online.  Getting too many emails? Scroll to the bottom of the original email for the unsubscribe link.

  • Central Lambton FHT Expanding Mental Health Services in Petrolia

    BlackburnNews.com article published on Mar. 16, 2016. Article in full pasted below. Stephanie Chaves, BlackburnNews.com Local Mental Health Services Expanding A new walk-in site in Petrolia will provide mental health services to local youth. St. Clair Child and Youth Services has teamed up with the Central Lambton Family Health Team to provide the clinic at the Englehart Health Park site. St. Clair Child and Youth Services Executive Director Sue Barnes says this is one of four new walk-in sites made possible due to additional provincial funding recently announced. She says the partnership is part of the agencies expansion into rural Lambton. The walk-in therapy clinic offers quick access to a single session of services for families with children from birth to 17-years-old. Click here to access the article on BlackburnNews website.

  • “Better Choices, Better Health®”: Free Online Chronic Disease Self-Management Program

    What is the program? Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program is now offered online to individuals across Ontario. This evidence-based program was designed to help people with chronic health conditions overcome daily challenges and take control of their health. Easy-to-follow content is consistent with that of the in-person classes. Details of the program are as follows:

    • A FREE 6 week, evidence-based and highly-interactive online workshop
    • Groups of about 25 participants
    • Led by two trained peer facilitators per workshop
    • New lessons added each week
    • Participants log on at their own convenience 2-3 times per week for a total of about 2 hours per week
    • Confidential and anonymous, the program takes place on a dedicated, secure website
    • Participants set their own goals and make a step-by-step action plan to help them feel better and start doing the things they want to do again

    Who can participate? Adults with any type of long-term health condition as well as their friends and loved ones are welcome to participate. The program is broadly accessible, allowing individuals with any level of computer skills to participate from any computer with an Internet connection, even a dial-up connection. What is the cost? Participation is FREE and all participants receive a copy of the course book, Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions, 4th Edition. When is the workshop available? Workshops are now underway and we are accepting registration! Please visit www.selfmanagementontario.ca/ for more information and to register.

  • HQO Patient and Family Council Guides

    In consultation with patients and providers, Health Quality Ontario, has developed a series of guides aimed at helping advisory councils in any health sector get started and maintain momentum. By providing practical tips and tools, the guides assist patient and family advisory councils in focusing on

    For links to other resources available to help create and sustain an effective patient and family advisory council, visit Health Quality Ontario’s hub of patient engagement tools and resources.

  • Member News: members in the media, clinical resources and free training opportunities

    Below are relevant updates and items for AFHTO members, including free resources and tools:

    Updates Relevant to Primary Care

    Clinical & Patient Engagement Resources
    • Providers asked to promote Census 2016 recruiting to patients: Statistics Canada is hiring 35000 people to collect the 2016 census and has a Community Supporter Toolkit with resources to share with patients.

    Events and Learning Opportunities

     

     

  • Keeping healthy requires a whole team |Cochrane Times Post

    Cochrane Times Post article published on March 8, 2016. Article pasted in full below. Gone are the days that family doctors show up at your door and heals all possible ailments both mental and physical. Now there is a whole team of people to offer help in what ails you. According to Cochrane Family Health Team (CFHT) coordinator Laurie Bouvier, Family Health Teams help to facilitate access to interdisciplinary professionals working collaboratively to provide coordinated, health care services to the community. Through education, health promotion and proactive interventions patients acquire the knowledge they need to make informed choices regarding their health. When these clients become empowered to take responsibility for optimizing their health and are supported in their efforts, through a coordinated health team approach healthy change occurs. The CFHT is happy to announce the addition of Lee-Ann Boucher, a Registered Social Worker (RSW). Lee-Ann has her Masters in Social Work (MSW) with 20 years of experience in the field. As a Franco-Ontarian, she is able to offer services in both English and French. Boucher is not a stranger to the community as she says she got her start in Cochrane and has had a few stints of service here over the last 20 years. She has joined the Family Health Team and is working out of the local medical clinic two days a week. Boucher is committed to filling the social work service gaps in the community by providing social work support and service navigation to registered clinic patients of the CFHT. She is currently working on four different programs to support clients with chronic disease self-management: Living Well with Diabetes, Chronic Pain Management, Memory Clinics, and Information Sessions on Grief are all available. The Living with Diabetes program is dedicated to those who suffer from diabetes and who cannot get it under control. Patients are referred to the program and are followed by the social worker, nurse practitioner, dietician and diabetes educator. The Chronic Pain Management program uses a trained facilitator from out of town, thanks to telemedicine technology, with Lee-Ann’s support to participants. The Memory Clinics offers assessment and screening to those who notice deterioration in their cognitive ability, to facilitate early detection of dementia. Patients are referred via other medical professionals. Boucher is also offering a two-part series on grief. The two information sessions are designed to assist anyone who has suffered a significant loss (death, job loss, separation/divorce, illness etc.) and those who support them. Part one of the workshop will be offered on Monday, March 14 at 4:30 at the Minto Centre boardroom, the second half will be held on March 21 at the same time and place. Those interested, in this Free program, are asked to pre-register by calling Lee-Ann at 705-272-4200 ext. 2117. The CFHT offers a range of programs to assist patients with screening, prevention and management of chronic diseases. Other programs offered are the Living Well with COPD program- which is a series of classes aimed at COPD self-management; Spirometry Clinics- which help to identify individuals at risk for airway obstructive disease; INR Program- which follows clients on blood thinners to make sure they stay in therapeutic range; Blood Pressure Clinic – which is held every Wednesday form 9-11am, to help clients manage their high blood pressure or to identify those at risk for high blood pressure and lastly the Preschool Screening Clinic- which assesses development and allows for early intervention if needed. Clients of the Cochrane Family health Teams require appointments to see the physicians and nurse practitioner. However, the Team does offer same day/next day appointments for non-emergency acute visits like ear, throat and urinary tract infections. The CFHT has been in the community since 2009 to help better serve the residents of Cochrane. Over the years they have evolved to offer different programs and services improving on chronic disease prevention and management. Click here to access the article on Cochrane Times Post website.

  • CORE Back Tool- now updated

    In 2012, the Centre for Effective Practice (CEP) was engaged by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care as part of their provincial Low Back Pain Strategy. To address the healthcare provider education component of this strategy, CEP developed a toolkit for primary care providers, provided in-person education sessions as well as an online education module. The Clinically Organized Relevant Exam (CORE) Back Tool was one tool included in the toolkit. It was developed in response to the needs identified by primary care providers and was designed to assist with the assessment and management of patients with low back pain in primary care settings. As a result of the overwhelmingly positive feedback received from health care providers using the tool, CEP decided to undertake an update to the tool. The purpose is to increase awareness and knowledge of evidence-based, best practice for the assessment and management of low back pain. This tool was developed under the clinical leadership of Dr. Julia Alleyne (M.D., Toronto Rehabilitation Institute) and was designed for day-to-day use in a typical primary care setting. Relevant Links

     

  • Provincial Guidelines for Epilepsy Surgery Referrals in Ontario

    Critical Care Services Ontario has recently released the Provincial Guidelines for Epilepsy Surgery Referrals in Ontario. This provides recommendations to referring physicians on appropriate evidence-based diagnostic and therapeutic referrals for patients who are determined to have medically-refractory epilepsy. It defines evidence-based indications for epilepsy surgery with careful consideration given to the paediatric population. This document was produced by Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO), in collaboration with Provincial Neurosurgery Ontario (PNO), and the Epilepsy Implementation Task Force (EITF), a provincial initiative to implement an integrated system for epilepsy care in Ontario.

  • AFHTO 2016 Conference: Join a working group to shape conference program by March 25

    Announcing the theme for the AFHTO 2016 Conference Leading primary care to strengthen a population-focused health system

    You can play an important role in shaping the conference by joining a working group today. Through your participation you will be among the first to learn about exciting developments in the field, influence the development of conference programming and discover the thought leaders in your chosen area. Working group members also earn a $50 discount off their registration fee. Please pass this invitation along to your patients, colleagues and staff. Having a variety of voices, especially patients, in the working groups helps us build a diverse and relevant program.

    Conference Themes

    Working groups are being set up for each of the seven concurrent streams and for the Bright Lights Awards program. The seven concurrent streams will focus on:

    1. Planning programs and fostering partnerships for healthier communities
    2. Optimizing access to interprofessional teams
    3. Strengthening collaboration within the interprofessional team
    4. Measuring performance to foster improvement in comprehensive care
    5. Coordinating care to create better transitions
    6. Leadership and governance in a changing environment
    7. Clinical innovations to address equity (Click here for descriptions)

    Working Group Details

    Concurrent program working group members: The task requires a total of 4-10 hours of effort between April and May, specifically:

    • April 4 to May 5: AFHTO staff will manage the call for proposals process.
    • Week of April 4th working groups will have an initial teleconference to brainstorm ideas on specific topics and speakers to contact/encourage to submit a presentation abstract.
    • May 6 to 24: each working group member individually reviews and scores presentation abstracts for their program.
    • May 25 to 31: working groups will teleconference to review scores and determine the program for this theme.

    Sign up by March 25, 2016 to confirm participation and select your conference theme. “Bright Light” Awards Review Committee: The task requires a total of 6-12 hours of effort in July and August, specifically to individually review and score nominations followed by a group teleconference to determine the award winners. Sign up by March 25, 2016. Registration Fees for Conference Working Groups:

    • Conference working group members and presenters receive a $50 discount off their registration fee.
    • We understand patients face additional financial and time pressures and do not want the registration fee to limit participation in a working group. Patients participating in full in a conference working group will be eligible for complimentary registration (to be determined once the working group task is complete).
    • AFHTO members still receive a 50% discount on conference registration fees.

    Conference key dates:

    • April 4, 2016: Applications for concurrent session and poster abstracts open
    • May 5, 2016: Deadline to submit concurrent session and poster abstract
    • Late June 2016: Conference registration opens
    • October 17 & 18, 2016: AFHTO 2016 Conference

    For more information you can contact us by phone (647-234-8605) or e-mail (info@afhto.ca).