D4a Healing From The Inside, Out: Trauma Informed Mindfulness Training for PTSD 

Any questions regarding this Webinar can be sent to annu@annugaidhu.com

4. Mental health and addictions

• Release date: 

  • This webinar will be available for a limited time after the conference- don’t miss it on Wednesday October 12th during the conference!

• Style: Workshop (session is structure for interaction and/or hands-on learning opportunities)
• Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
• Target Audience: Leadership, Clinical providers

Learning Objectives

• Define trauma and identify principles of trauma-informed practice
• Recognize how trauma shows up in body and behaviours
• Practise scientifically supported mindfulness skills through grounding, sensory orienting, containment, self-soothing, resourcing, and self-compassion techniques
• Identify the most common ways mindfulness interventions can be re-traumatizing

Summary/Abstract
In this workshop, participants will develop their capacity to respond effectively to those who have a history of trauma by recognizing the impacts of trauma on an individual and collective level through trauma-informed training with mindfulness. While there is growing research that supports the use of mindfulness and meditative practices to be helpful for people with trauma histories; without conscious awareness of individual considerations and safeguards in place, interventions and training approaches can be harmful and unintentionally re-traumatizing. Becoming Trauma-Informed begins with an understanding of trauma and recognizing its long-term effects on the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities
 

Presenters

• Amandeep Annu Gaidhu, M.A-CYC., RAP., ERYT. Child and Youth Worker, Registered Ayurvedic Practitioner and Yoga Therapist 

Any questions regarding this presentation can be sent to phillip.ferguson@mail.utoronto.ca

4. Mental health and addictions

• Release date: 

  • This webinar will be available for a limited time after the conference- don’t miss it on Wednesday October 12th during the conference!

• Style: On-demand Webcast
• Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
• Target Audience: Leadership, Clinical providers

Learning Objectives

• To learn about an 8-week group intervention for adults with ADHD that can be implemented in a Family Health Team setting.
• To learn how interprofessional collaboration can enhance biopsychosocial treatment options available within a Family Health Team.
• To learn how the virtual group environment can be adapted to promote sustained engagement of adult patients with ADHD. 

Summary/Abstract
An interprofessional team at the St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team comprised of a psychologist, pharmacist, social worker, and learners co-facilitated an 8-week group therapy for adults with ADHD. The intervention, based on the Jeavons and colleagues (2018) Adult ADHD Treatment Handbook protocol, included psychoeducation, skills training, group discussions, videos, activities, and post-group chats. Treatment topics included understanding attentional and behavioural symptom impacts of ADHD and its common comorbidities, coping skills for managing ADHD-related impacts on impulsivity, mood, organization, time and money management, and interpersonal relationships. A pharmacist delivered a presentation related to the pharmacological management of ADHD. The program was delivered over Zoom, which offered both benefits and limitations that will be discussed. Results from a program evaluation and post-treatment outcome measures will be presented. Preliminary qualitative data from post-treatment evaluations indicated that engagement with peers and a neurodivergent facilitator helped participants better understand how their ADHD diagnosis impacted their lives and to feel hopeful, less isolated, and validated. Participants reported qualitative improvements in mood and quality of life, however quantitative analysis of preliminary data from the first two cohorts (N = 12) indicated non-significant changes in anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9) and ADHD (ASRS) symptoms. Perceived improvements in quality of life were consistent with statistically significant decreases in ADHD-related functional impairment (WFIRS) in life skills, self-concept, and work domains. This psychosocial group treatment shows positive trends in quantitative outcome measures as well as qualitative feedback and is feasible to deliver in a primary healthcare setting.
 

Presenters

• Phillip Ferguson, Ph.D. Student Clinician, St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team, OISE/University of Toronto   
• Juliana Tobon, Ph.D., C.Psych., Psychologist, St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team

D4 – Managing dementia at home: the Ontario Programs for Sustaining family caregivers

Any questions regarding this presentation can be sent to Joel.Sadavoy@sinaihealth.ca

4. Mental health and addictions

• Release date: 

  • This webinar will be available for a limited time after the conference- don’t miss it on Wednesday October 12th during the conference!

• Style: On-demand Webcast
• Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
• Target Audience: Leadership, Clinical providers

Learning Objectives

• Understand nature of emotional burden and resulting, psychiatric and physical vulnerabilities of family caregiver
• Learn practical office-based, effective methods of identifying caregivers ,  risk of impaired coping and decompensation (the D-CIG)
• Learn and understand key components of an effective model of interventions for family caregivers (the CARERS model)
• Learn method of successful community program scaling and accessibility models (The Ontario Enhancing Care for Ontario Care Partners Program)
• Learn where and how to access care for family caregivers 

Summary/Abstract
This presentation describes the highly innovative Ontario Enhancing Care for Ontario Care Partners (EC) Program, a unique intervention which is led by the Reitman Centre for Alzheimer’s Support and Training at Sinai Health Toronto. EC is designed to sustain family caregivers (CGs) in managing dementia at home and is scaled to serve CGs throughout Ontario. EC is unique in employing manualized methods of intervention (CARERS) the effectiveness of which are well-researched and published, innovative training of clinician leaders and a model of scaling to reach large numbers of CGs. A network of 12 community partner sites and 26 delivery locations together with extensive online resources ensures accessibility across Ontario. All interventions are designed for both virtual and in-person modes of delivery. The program rationale is based on research data that CGs, especially women, are the hidden second patients in dementia care. The current scope of dementia care needs in the community and the unique role and needs of family caregivers (CGs) will be reviewed including the disproportionate stress-induced physical, mental and social consequences of caregiving, often poorly understood in the health system. Key evidence-based interventions of CARERS will be described and demonstrated with video excerpts, including addressing the emotional impact of dementia caregiving,  manualized therapeutic methods of innovative, therapeutic simulation-based communication training and problem solving technique. The Reitman Centre Dementia Caregiver Interview Guide (DCIG) designed to assist primary care practitioners in assessing CG risk of impairment and the scope and location of programs and methods of accessing Ontario services will be described. 
 

Presenters

• Joel Sadavoy, MD, FRCP, Founder of Geriatric Psychiatry, Professor of Psychiatry, Medical Director Reitman and EC programs, Reitman Centre Sinai Health and University of Toronto
• Rhonda Feldman     PhD,  Clinician Reitman Centre     Reitman Centre Sinai Health

Authors

• Joel Sadavoy MD, Medical Director Reitman and EC programs 
• Cheryl Miller Manager EC community programs 
• Rhonda Feldman PhD clinician Reitman Centre 
• Gita Lakhanpal Educator and clinician Reitman Centre 

D1a -An Integrated Care Team for Older Adults: Embedding Geriatric Expertise in a FHT

Any questions regarding this presentation can be sent to adam.morrison@gmail.com

1. It takes a team: collaboration inside and out

• Release date: 

  • This webinar will be available for a limited time after the conference- don’t miss it on Wednesday October 12th during the conference!

• Style: On-demand Webcast
• Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
• Target Audience: Leadership, Clinical providers

Learning Objectives

• Learn about a pilot for an integrated care team that supports older adults living with complex and chronic health conditions in a FHT setting
• Observe an OHT-supported model of care based in primary care that includes interprofessional participation and geriatric expertise
• Understand the value of regional partnerships and inter-organizational relationship-building that includes specialized geriatric services as part of integrated care
• Receive resources and a roadmap for defining and measuring integrated care for older adults.
   

Summary/Abstract
This presentation describes the design, findings, lessons learned, and recommendations for a shared model of care that integrates specialized geriatric expertise into a team-based primary care setting. Attendees will receive tools and resources to consider how their FHT may adopt a similar shared model of care, with preliminary outcomes based on the quadruple aim framework.    The Interdisciplinary Care Team (ICT) Pilot was developed as a primary care-based intervention to support older adults waiting to see a geriatrician. At the time of the pilot, the Geriatric Medicine Complex Care Clinic (GMCC) at St. Mary’s Hospital had a waitlist of 445 patients, with an average wait time of approximately 140 days.    The ICT Pilot aimed to support older adults on the St. Mary’s GMCC waitlist by re-triaging them with the interRAI Check Up, a self-reported tool that supports risk stratification and management of older adults living with complex and chronic conditions. The ICT team met weekly to review patient information and Check Up outputs to develop care plans, initiate referrals, and support comprehensive geriatric assessment by a geriatrician. This approach favoured person-centred support of patients by identifying personal goals, managing symptoms, and advance care planning.    The ICT Pilot Steering Committee confirmed the model of care, location (New Vision FHT), health human resources (from primary care, acute care, home and community care, community support services, community paramedicine, GeriMedRisk clinical pharmacology, and hospice) and workflow (how the diverse partners would work together as one team) for six weeks of operations in Winter 2022.
 

Presenters

• Dr. Sarah Gimbel, Family Physician, New Vision FHT
• Adam Morrison, Regional Project Lead, ICT Pilot, Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington

Authors

• Dr. Éizabeth Côté-Boileau, Ontario Health Team Impact Fellow, KW4 OHT

D3 -“No Side-Effects from This” Implementing a Medication Reconciliation Program Post-Hospital Discharge That is the Best Medicine! (Audio Only)

Podcast style webinar

Any questions regarding this presentation can be sent to bteresa@starfht.ca

3. Sustainable solutions to primary care problems

• Release date: 

  • This webinar will be available for a limited time after the conference- don’t miss it on Wednesday October 12th during the conference!

• Style: On-demand Webcast
• Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
• Target Audience: Leadership, Clinical providers

Learning Objectives

• Program framework implemented to ensure accuracy of medication lists post-hospital discharge.
• Key actions to implement to adopt a similar model within a Family Health Team.
• Important metrics to capture to elucidate gaps and build measures to create sustained change.

Summary/Abstract
Building on a previous QI initiative, a project was commenced in March 2021, which would dedicate a team pharmacist to do Medication Reconciliation for patients recently discharged from the hospital. Bi-weekly EMR searches for all patients across the 3 clinics of the STAR FHT recently discharged from the hospital is performed and forwarded to the pharmacist. The pharmacist then commences a comprehensive review of all sources of information related to the patient to ensure a Best Possible Medication History (BPMH). This entails looking closely at the medication list in the patient profile, review of the admitted patient’s BPMH, reviewing the discharge summary, checking Clinical Connect, consulting with the patient’s main dispensing pharmacy and in some cases following up with the patient. Several metrics being tracked is revealing to the gaps that exist, elucidating where potential errors lie and potential areas for improvement. This information is valuable as we continue to move forward with this important program to ensure that all patients have an accurate medication list post-hospital discharge. It is not fully discernable, one year into the project, as to whether it has prevented readmissions to hospital,  we do know, that patient and provider feedback has been very positive.    Program framework and key actions to engage a complex system to ensure accuracy of the patient medication list:    A foundational piece to this framework is an EMR search tool that “finds” recently discharged patients, and generates a note with this list of patients to the team pharmacist. This search is performed x2/week. The pharmacist accesses the patient chart and reviews a number of valuable sources to ensure that there is no discrepancy of medication information that comes from the various sources (e.g. the patient upon admission, the patient profile sent from the FHT/facility, specialist notes, discharge summary etc.). In an effort to ensure an accurate medication list post-discharge the pharmacist in some cases consults with the patient’s main dispensing pharmacy and pharmacies out of the area in the case where the patient is seeing a specialist and is prescribing medication.  Clinical Connect is reviewed for patients who have had treatment/procedures outside of the area and subsequent medication has been prescribed. The team pharmacist documents a note in the patient EMR and in circumstances where  discrepancies or changes to medications have occurred the family physician is messaged.     A number of metrics are being tracked in this project, the results of which are providing valuable insight of where errors can occur, and what measures to put in place to mitigate. The consideration that there are many points in the patient’s journey from admission to discharge where there is potential for error in the patient medication list, suggests the importance for other primary care teams to embark on a similar project, challenging to engage complex systems to ensure an accurate patient medication list at all times.    
 

Presenters

• Teresa Barresi    Primary Clinical Team Coordinator, STAR FHT
• Kristy Adair, Pharmacist, STAR FHT

Authors

• Teresa Barresi  BSc RN MHS
• Kristy Adair BPharm     

D2 – Implementing Youth Advisory Councils in Primary Care Settings: The Importance of Acknowledging Youth Patient Voices

Any questions regarding this presentation can be sent to christina.jeon@mail.utoronto.ca

2. Health equity at the Centre

• Release date: 

  • This webinar will be available for a limited time after the conference- don’t miss it on Wednesday October 12th during the conference!

• Style: On-demand Webcast
• Focus: Practical (e.g. Presentation on how to implement programs and/or practices in the team environment)
• Target Audience: Leadership, Clinical providers

Learning Objectives

• Describe the steps for recruiting members into a Youth Advisory Council
• Understand how to implement social media in creating youth-centered content
• Understand how to maintain consistent patient relationships with youth

Summary/Abstract
The transition from being a child to a youth patient is complex and is often overlooked by the healthcare system. As young patients who understand the complex challenge of independently navigating our medical needs, the Youth Advisory Council at the St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team plays a vital role in being the voice that advocates for our rapidly growing community. As such, the Youth Advisory Council has begun the process of implementing diverse initiatives to establish a distinct youth presence within its hospital network, Unity Health Toronto. In this presentation, four youth members will identify the process of recruitment into a youth advisory council, taking into consideration the unique lived experiences of each member and their reasons for joining. We will then highlight the results of a project in collaboration with the Unity Health Toronto social media team, in which four youth advisory members participated in short videos posted on Unity Health Toronto’s Instagram, Twitter and YouTube social media accounts. An article was also published on the hospital network’s main website that was shared on Facebook and Linkedin. We will discuss the importance of utilizing existing social media resources to create content that is youth-centered and the outcomes we intend to observe in the future.
 

Presenters

• Christina Jeon    MSc., HBSc., Youth Council Member, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team
• Vanessa Anne Facinal, HBSc Student, Youth Council Committee Member, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team
• Seojin Lee, HBSc Student, Youth Council Committee Member, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team
• Griffin Cullen-Norris, HBA Student, Youth Council Committee Member, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team
   

Authors

• Christina Jeon, MSc., BSc., Youth Council Member, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team    
• Vanessa Anne Facinal, HBSc Student, Youth Council Committee Member, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team    
• Seojin Lee, HBSc Student, Youth Council Committee Member, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team    
• Griffin Cullen-Norris, HBA Student, Youth Council Committee Member, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team    
• Juliana Tobon, Ph.D., C.Psych., Psychologist, St. Michael’s Academic Family Health Team, Unity Health Toronto

D1 – Creation and Implementation of a Homebound Vaccination Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Any Questions regarding this presentation can be sent to maria.muraca@nygh.on.ca

1. It takes a team: collaboration inside and out

• Release date: 

  • This webinar will be available for a limited time after the conference- don’t miss it on Wednesday October 12th during the conference!

• Style: Workshop (session is structure for interaction and/or hands-on learning opportunities)
• Focus: Practical (e.g. Presentation on how to implement programs and/or practices in the team environment)
• Target Audience: Leadership, Clinical providers

Learning Objectives

• Describe the planning, implementation and impact of mobile vaccination strategies
• Investigate the applicability of such mechanisms beyond the pandemic to help address the health equity gaps our community
• Demonstrate how the collaboration between different health sectors led to the success of the program
• Investigate the sustainability and applicability of such mechanisms beyond the pandemic to our community.
   

Summary/Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, NYTHP identified the need to deliver vaccines to various patient populations with person-centered approach in order to reduce barriers in accessing care. One such population was our community’s homebound patients, a high-risk group who would benefit from timely access to vaccinations.     This presentation aims to provide insight into our organization’s journey of planning, developing, and implementing a vaccine strategy that addressed the challenge of equity in the delivery of health care.    An exploration into the process of implementing this program including challenges will be shared. Lessons learned will provide considerations for future vaccination related strategies, as well as insights into the scalability of increasing this program into the broader community.  

Presenters

• Maria Muraca, MSc, MD, CCFP, FCFP, Medical Director, North York Family Health Team
• Rebecca Stoller    MD, CCFP, FCFP, Co-chair, Primary Care Advisory Council, NYTHP    North York Family Health Team, North York Toronto Health Partners
   

Authors

• Jacqueline DeSousa Casal, Logistic Coordinator Vaccine Program, NYTHP, North York General Hospital
• Orna Hollander, Logistic Coordinator Vaccine Program, NYTHP, North York General Hospital
• Joyce Lo, Project Manager, North York Family Health Team
• Nureen Ladha, Clinical Manager, North York Family Health Team    
• Neil Shah, ED/CEO, North York Family Health Team    
• Kyla Behar, Manger, Community Vaccine Program, North York General Hospital/NYTHPINE