Program Information

• • GERIATRIC MEDICINE COMPETENCIES 

  • SSR TRAINING REQUIREMENTS IN GM

  • SPECIAL ADDENDUM

  • CBD POLICY REMEDIATION

• • SAFETY & FATIGUE RISK MANAGEMENT POLICY

  • ASSESSMENT & TRAINING EXPERIENCES GUIDELINES

  • GM ELECTIVE POLICY

  • GERIATRIC MEDICINE LEAD RESIDENT POLICY

  • ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES FOR CC & RPC 

• PGME POLICIES + PROCEDURES

• PGME FORMS

The Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta (PARA) is a non-profit association that represents physicians currently completing further training in a residency program.  

• PARA COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT

• 2024-2028 OVERVIEW OF CHANGES

• PARA FAQs

• BENEFITS AT A GLANCE

1. There are several Faculty, University, and Community resources that can be accessed by residents needing counseling for stress, financial or personal problems. See list of resources here: Student Wellness

2. Faculty resources include the Office of Advocacy and Wellbeing (OAW) and Resident Well Being Committee.  The OAW looks after issues pertaining to learner health, wellbeing and advocacy.  It is a safe and confidential place for a learner to receive support, counseling and/or referral for both academic and personal matters. The Resident Well Being Committee is a proactive committee, and the chairs can provide help or access to consultation for residents and their families.

3. University resources include the University Wellness Services (UWS) and its Psychological Services, Office of Safe Disclosure and Human Rights, and Health and Wellness Support.  The first 2 resources provide medical, psychological and counseling services, while the third resource is a one stop shop for health and wellness support for students.

4. Community resources include the Alberta Medical Association Physician and Family Support Program (PFSP) and Alberta Health Services Employee Assistance Program.  PFSP is a confidential service that provides assistance to residents and immediate family members.  

5. A comprehensive list of available resources can be found in the following OAW link: Office of Advocacy and Wellbeing

Residents Well-Being Committee

Agenda and minutes archives

• Residents Well-Being resources posted on PGME website

• THE OFFICE OF LEARNER ADVOCACY & WELLNESS (OAW)

• PHYSICIAN AND FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAM (PFSP) of Alberta Medical Association

• You and your immediate family members (spouse/partner, dependent children) may contact PFSP toll-free 1.877.767.4637, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. PFSP will cover the cost of up to six counselling hours for you over a 12-month period, and up to an additional six hours total per family.

• ACADEMIC SUCCESS CENTRE | CONTACT

Residents that are part of the PARA union are remunerated by Alberta Health Services (AHS) for each in-house, home call and weekend round assigned and worked.  Timesheets will be submitted for each block by our program administrator so that AHS can ensure the residents are paid accordingly.

If a resident has questions about whether he/she has been paid for a specific block, please email geriatri@ualberta.ca first to ensure that a timesheet had been submitted for you for that block.  If the timesheet has already been confirmed as received by AHS, the resident should then email PARAOnCall@albertahealthservices.ca to find out more information about when he/she can expect payment.

PARA residents are paid call stipends on the last pay date of the month.    

Protocol for call stipends administration

• • • Check Call schedule

    • On-call stipend submissions are handled by the medical education program coordinator (MEPC), Geriatrics.

    • Residents are to report the actual dates on-call for verification as soon as they finish their geriatric rotation/call to avoid delay in receiving the call stipend.

    • Article 35.05 (d) "Switch Call" of the PARA collective agreement states: 

"A Resident Physician who is scheduled on home call but who is required to work either:

a. more than four (4) hours in the Training Facility during the call period, of which more than one (1) full hour is past 2400 hours and before 0600 hours, or

b. more than six (6) hours in the Training Facility during the call period 

shall be remunerated at the rate for in-house call. The rate of compensation will account for pay differentials for weekends, Named Holidays (as set out in Article 21(a)), Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day. AHS shall have the right to implement reasonable rules to verify that Resident Physicians are entitled to be paid the in-house call rate for that call period. To be eligible for the post-call day, the individual would need to work after midnight.

• • • Reporting is required only if the conditions of Article 35.05 (d) of the PARA collective agreement are met.  

    • Email any changes needed to geriatri@ualberta.ca.  

Questions

• • • Contact Amanda Blouin, email: geriatri@ualberta.ca,

If you have further questions regarding the terms of the PARA union agreement, you can view the agreement on the PARA website here. You can also contact the PARA office directly at 780.432.1749.  Please note that the PARA office is not part of AHS.

Following a meeting of Division Directors and Site Leads and recent discussions over the quality of handover, we should like to suggest that the following should be the minimum quality standards to which we should all adhere in conducting our handover.

• • 1. It is the duty of the handing over physician to arrange to handover for the weekend.

    2. Normally handover should occur at 5:00 PM but by exception a mutually convenient time should be agreed.

    3. Usually a first attempt at communication should be made by pager. If there is no response after fifteen minutes then the cell phone contact number should be used. This number is held by each acute hospital switchboard.

    4. The primary source of information is the ward in-patient list. The location of these lists is specific to each ward and each physician should familiarize themselves with the method by which access is gained.

    5. The ward in-patient list should prioritize the following:

       1. • Jobs for the weekend or evening should be highlighted.

          • The sickest patients should be first on the list.

          • Should there be a sick patient, it is the incoming physician's responsibility to see the patient to assure themselves of the clinical situation upon taking over responsibility for that patient.

          • During the week there should be handover of new admissions and any significant change in clinical status of any in-patient requiring action that evening.

    6. No identifiable patient data should be sent outside AHS by any electronic route. Patient lists can be printed from Netcare to help facilitate handover. It is the responsibility of the on-call physician to respond to any call after 5:00 PM in the evening regardless of handover occurring or not.

    7. It is the duty of the on-call physician to certify death for any patient occurring out of hours during their on-call period.

    8. Hand-back - it is the responsibility of the on-call physician to call the physician on service regarding any event which requires significant action by the routine team on the following day by 0800h. The same mode of communication, firstly by pager and then by cell phone should be used.

    9. At 0800h on Monday or for hand-back or at the end of any long weekend, hand-backs should occur in a similar fashion to that conducted on Fridays.

Remember patient safety is paramount and all handover should be conducted in a considerate and professional manner.

ACCESS AND CREDENTIALING

STIPENDS

PAYROLL

AHS Q&A (ACCESS AND CREDENTIALING/PAYROLL AND BENEFITS/REIMBURSEMENTS)