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Patient Compass

September 2016

Medical Students and Health Emergencies

One of the biggest health care stories of 2015/16 has been outbreak and spread of the Zika virus throughout the Americas. Cases of the disease were showing up in Florida by early August; and with this year’s Summer Olympics taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the concern is now that athletes could be infected and taking the disease home with them, giving Zika an even wider global reach.

So the timing is apt that the CPSO has begun reviewing its Physicians and Health Emergencies policy, and will be running an open consultation on the document throughout the fall. As a response to the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, our policy was developed to reaffirm the profession’s commitment to the public during health emergencies. It discusses, among other things, the circumstances in which doctors may have to provide medical care outside their scope of practice, and it obligates physicians to be aware of relevant federal, provincial and local emergency plans, especially as they pertain to medical care.

But what about med students? If you’ve already received some medical training, you may feel compelled to put those skills to use during a major public health emergency. But what are your obligations? Where can you turn to for guidance?

About 10 years ago, the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) released a publication called An Ounce of Prevention: Ensuring Canadian Medical Student Preparedness for Disaster & Emergency. It discusses the (strictly voluntary) mobilization of medical students during a health crisis, and provides some valuable examples of how medical students have been used as contingencies when health care resources were scarce during a crisis. As well, it details how emergencies could cause a significant disruption to your medical education. (For example, during the SARS crisis in 2003, student access to Toronto hospitals was suspended for the majority of the outbreak.)

Although the CPSO expects physicians to provide medical care during a health emergency, medical students are not obligated to participate. Students who choose to volunteer during health emergencies must remember that they are to provide care that is appropriate for their level of training and that controlled acts, as defined in section 27 of the Regulated Health Professions Act, are not undertaken without proper delegation from a licensed physician.

Other documents that may be useful to you include the article, Willingness to volunteer during an influenza pandemic: perspectives from students and staff at a large Canadian university, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of PEI statement, Pandemic: Practising with Risk to Self.

We encourage all medical students in Ontario to review these publications as well as our policies on Health Emergencies and the Delegation of Controlled Acts. And as always, we welcome your feedback on the consultation to help us strengthen our position on the role Ontario doctors can play in a health emergency.

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Ontario Medical Students’ Association (OMSA) handbook

Not sure the difference between the CPSO, CMPA and the CMA? This handy guide will help you keep the different organizations straight.

If there’s one thing our profession loves, it’s acronyms. As a medical student, you’ve no doubt noticed that there are various organizations that you will interact with as an Ontario doctor, and it’s not always easy keeping track of which body does what. To help, the Education Committee of the Ontario Medical Students’ Association has put together a handbook that describes the various groups in the medical profession and what impact they will have on your practice of medicine.

Shreya Jalali (Ottawa, 2019) and Sherwin Wong (Queen’s, 2019) led the effort to combine contributions from provincial and national organizations to help familiarize students with the groups they will interact with throughout their training and their career. The CPSO is thrilled to support this important project, and we’d like to extend a special thank you to Tavis Apramian (OMSA Director of Education 2015-2016) and Rishad Khan (OMSA Director of Education 2016-2017) for their energy and support. You can view the full handbook here and check out the CPSO’s entry on page 21.

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New Video: Making a Sexual Abuse Complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario

Sexual abuse by Ontario doctors has been an ongoing topic here at the CPSO (see two recent articles we ran in Medical Student Update: Let’s Talk about Boundaries and Sex Abuse and You) and it’s an issue we want medical students to be aware of throughout their students. As part of our ongoing efforts to provide support to those making a sexual abuse complaint about a physician, we have produced a video that answers some common questions about our process for investigating doctors in these cases.

In the video, we introduce Pam Greenberg, our Sexual Abuse Intake Coordinator. Pam is the first point of contact for anyone wanting to make or thinking about making a sexual abuse complaint. In addition to outlining the investigation process, Pam also explains her role in providing complainant and witness support during the investigation.

We encourage all medical students to watch this video and to share with classmates, colleagues, friends, and, most importantly, patients. We all have a role to play in ensuring that Ontarians know where to turn for help if they’ve been the victim of sexual abuse by a doctor.

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Professionalism and Practice Program

The CPSO has launched a new webpage providing faculty and students with important learning materials on issues of professionalism.

As many of you may know, the CPSO travels to universities across the province every year to deliver presentations on professionalism to Ontario’s medical students. In response to several requests, we have now developed a Professionalism and Practice Program webpage where students and faculty can access these presentations and draw on them as part of their professionalism curriculum.

This new webpage has the following modules ready for download (with more on the way soon):

  • Boundaries and Sexual Abuse
  • Medical Records

These modules include PowerPoint presentations, case examples and supporting materials on each topic. We are committed to providing students with useful advice and support while they are learning about their professional expectations.

We also welcome students or faculty to contact us if they’d like us to present on these or other professionalism topics at their medical school. Let us know which professionalism issues you’re most interested in learning about by emailing professionalism@cpso.on.ca or calling toll free 1-800-268-7096 ext. 552 or 765. 

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150th Anniversary Vignette: Medical Students Cause a Ruckus in 1879

The following story was uncovered by CPSO staff as part of the 150th anniversary celebration of our founding in 1866. Because it involves med students, we thought it might be fun to share with you.

Until the Medical Council of Canada was formed in 1912, the College was responsible for examining medical students to license them for practice. The Council minutes from 1879 state that a fracas broke out among the students during the exams that year:

“The Registrar read the report of the Board of Examiners relative to the work performed during the recent examinations. The report was particularly severe upon the conduct of the students who acted so disorderly lately, when they attacked the building in which the examiners held their meeting.”

After presumably interviewing witnesses, members of Council presented a report noting that “one cause of dissatisfaction arose among rejected students, that a few were intoxicated and became unruly, and that the accommodation was not sufficient for so large a number of students.”

Consequently, Council passed a resolution that “any pupil at any examination detected using notes, giving or receiving assistance, under the influence of liquor, using insolent language to examiners, or destroying the property of the Council shall lose his examination and have not less than one year added to the length of his curriculum.”

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Open consultations

We are conducting two consultations on issues that affect both the safety of patients and physicians. The first is a review of our Physicians and Health Emergencies policy. Even though this policy is being considered within its regular five-year schedule, the current increase of Zika virus cases and rise in other infections globally makes this a very timely assessment that we hope will stimulate new conversations.

The second is a request for feedback on a proposed amendment that will provide us with the authority to inspect premises where fertility services are performed, regardless of whether anesthesia is used. Including these clinics in the College’s Out-of-Hospital Premises Inspection Program is an important step in our continuous quest to protect patients and maintain a standard of practice.

We encourage all medical students to participate in the open consultations the College is currently running. Your perspectives are just as important as the feedback we receive from our membership, other health care professionals and the general public. The deadline for our current consultation is November 25, 2016.

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Upcoming events

Have you registered for OMSW 2016 yet? The CPSO is pleased to be participating in this year’s Ontario Medical Students’ Weekend, hosted by Western University in London (October 14 -16). Come visit our booth at the sponsor’s fair. See you there!

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We want to hear from you!

 
Do you have an idea for the next issue of Medical Student Update?

Are you looking for a CPSO policy expert or medical advisor to provide a guest lecture at your school? Let us be a resource for you. Contact us to arrange a presentation, or get more information about our range of seminars.

Contact our Outreach Team:
80 College Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 2E2
416-967-2600, Ext. 552
Email: outreach@cpso.on.ca

Our quarterly magazine contains important updates on policies, topics of interest, as well as a summary of recent disciplinary findings.
Read the latest issue here.
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