Month: May 2012

A wet and cold weekend after two weeks of sunshine. I hope your Victoria weekend has not been too dampened.

Congratulations: We are celebrating  Dr. Andrew McLaren from the Island Medical Program, Family Practice who received The UBC Faculty of Medicine Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Practice Teaching . Andrew has been instrumental in the development of the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Human Factors Lab and Simulation Program.

Postgraduate Expansion: We have had two meetings about expansion of the postgraduate program. Already we have increased the program in response to federal and provincial requests for more international medical graduates and more distributed training. Now we are working on the strategy for expansion and will be hiring a director and project manager over the next few weeks.

Palliative Care: As some of you may be aware, Dr. Patricia Boston, long-time member of our Department and Director of the Department of Family Practice Palliative Care program will be stepping down as Director of the Palliative Care program as of June 30, 2012.

Dr. Patricia Boston has been a tireless leader in Palliative Care over the years and has grown the Division with her wisdom, insights and passion.  Thankfully , this is not a good-bye as we are happy to report that Dr. Boston will be remaining in the Department as a Clinical faculty member to pursue her passions and interest in research.  We thank Dr. Boston for her many years of leadership and look forward to working with her in her new capacity.

To replace Dr. Patricia Boston, the Department of Family Practice is delighted to share that Dr. Peter Kirk has been offered and has accepted the position of Interim Director of the Department of Family Practice Palliative Care Program.  This is a six month position that commences in May 2012 to provide overlap with the current Director, Dr. Pat Boston.  Dr. Kirk is charged with providing leadership to the Palliative Care Program and for developing a strategic plan for Palliative Care for the Faculty of Medicine.

We are delighted to be welcoming Dr. Peter Kirk back to UBC and to the Department of Family Practice.  We expect him to continue the legacy of strong and effective shown by out-going Director, Dr. Pat Boston.

Martin Dawes

Yesterday was a great day for the department.

The University of British Columbia’s Midwifery Program – bolstered by increased funding from the Province of British Columbia – will double in size.

Minister of Advanced Education Naomi Yamamoto and Minister of Health Michael de Jong, surrounded by mothers and children,on May 4 announced the doubling of UBC’s midwifery education program. Starting this fall, first-year spaces in the Midwifery Program will grow from 10 to 20.  UBC will receive $1.914 million in one-time funding, and an increase of $833,920 in ongoing operating funding for the phased expansion.

“UBC’s midwifery education program is part of government’s commitment to educating health professionals in British Columbia,” said Minister of Advanced Education Naomi Yamamoto at an announcement today at UBC’s Vancouver campus. “This funding means more students can pursue their chosen field at UBC, and more midwives will graduate, helping to serve the needs of B.C. families.”

Saras Vedam must take a lot of credit along with all the faculty and staff who have worked so hard over the last 10 years. They demonstrated clearly that this academic program was training midwives to work in BC and meet an increasing demand for midwifery care from mothers to be. That demonstration of success led to the successful negotiation for sustainable funding and expansion. To see the academic performance of the program one just has to look at the Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice (Winter Spring Issue) to see the many contributions from several faculty. Congratulations to everyone.

Other news is the successful OSCAR electronic medical record meeting being held in Vancouver this weekend. This is more about the added value of the EMR rather than technology. Just glimpsing some of the incredible work done by David Page, John Yap and others is incredibly impressive. If you want an example try this link to David Page’s Chronic Kidney Disease form. You don’t have to have an EMR – just open the page in your browser to see what sort of decision support is available. This meeting really helped us think about how we practice with so many patients with multiple morbidities.

Pie Palooza

Finally many of us are suffering from an over indulgence of pies. After tasting, and scoring, fourteen pies  we were all overcome with great tastes and even more calories. Thank you Shelagh for arranging, Anita, Roy and others for helping run it. A great party.

Martin