September
Sep 7th, 2012 by Martin Dawes
Welcome back those who have been away and I hope you have had enjoyable holidays. I was going to write that the summer was ending but as it is 29 degrees that is not really true! It is difficult not to make associations between the heat and the rapidly decreasing Arctic ice . That blue line is quite worrying and is definitely something to keep one’s eye on. This will be easier than watching the asteroid, attractively named QG24, predicted to make a near pass of earth this coming week. It will only be just over 1.7 million miles away and 800 feet across so you need a large telescope of more than 10 inches to see it clearly. However that is enough of potential climactic disasters. This summer was definitely not a disaster and in fact allowed me the opportunity to really appreciate primary care in British Columbia.
I had the opportunity to drive to the Kootenays. The purpose was to visit a practice in Trail who are working with us on a randomized controlled trial to prevent diabetes. On the way across I met with family physicians in Osoyoos. The trip gave me the pleasure of seeing the stunning beauty of the regions we passed through and an appreciation for the scale of the province. We came back through the Okanagan buying fruit, both fresh and fermented! A few weeks later I visited a practice in Chilliwack and one in downtown Vancouver, again for the purpose of the research trial. In all these practices I was impressed with the team, the buildings and equipment, the organization, and the enthusiasm for improving practice. This research project is giving me the privilege of visiting busy practices, speaking with the teams, and learning about their local solutions and how they provide high quality health care.
The summer was also busy writing grants. We were fortunate in succeeding at the letter of intent stage for a major team grant to study the use of genomic medicine within primary care. We now have to write the definitive grant as well as an operating grant to study how we store and use genomic information within the practice. The major operating grants are submitted in the middle of September so many researchers find their summers are occupied! However I did manage several days fishing in eastern Québec, a week in England, and will be taking a cruise up to Alaska once the operating grants are submitted so definitely time for relaxation as well.
We also have been working on the expansion of the residency program and I am delighted to announce the appointment of Diana Chang as the director of the expansion program. We are increasing the number of family medicine residents by more than 50% over 5 years. I realize this will increase the demand on faculty and administrators as we expand current sites and create new sites. At the same time we will have our college accreditation as well as introduction of the new curriculum and I want to recognize the work that everyone in the department, and particularly those working the residency program are undertaking to ensure success.
Enjoy the rest of the summer weather!
Martin