This series is hosted by the Alberta Health Services Provincial Addiction & Mental Health team. Each quarter, a guest speaker presents their latest findings from an evaluation, research, or quality improvement project relevant to addiction and mental health, with implications for practice. The next event is on Wednesday, March 27, 12:05-12:50pm MST. Dr. Zahra Goodarzi will present “Helping Older Adults Living in Long Term Care Experiencing Depression”. This event is free to attend remotely over MS Teams or phone. Register here: https://redcap.link/KnowledgeBites.

Date: Wednesday, March 27th 2024

Time: 12:05-12:50pm 

Location: MS Teams/Phone (https://redcap.link/KnowledgeBites)

Contact: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca//info/Page16241.aspx 

The French-speaking population is a minority on the Canadian Prairies (AB, SK, MB). Access to health services offered in French is infrequent. We hypothesized that this aspect was certainly exacerbated during the SARS Cov2 pandemic. Very few studies have examined the impact of the pandemic on these populations. This presentation will focus on the impact of the pandemic on French-speaking families with children in the Canadian prairies, and on the factors influencing the post-pandemic needs of this neglected population.

More information and register at https://www.ualberta.ca/medicine/about/social-accountability/globalhealth/rounds/gnidehou.html

Date: Tuesday, April 16th 2024

Time: 12:00-12:50pm 

Location: Zoom

Contact: ghfomd@ualberta.ca

Along with important preparations to begin negotiations with the provincial government, PARA advocacy this year has also involved discussions around the resident physician agreement, EDI initiatives, and resident wellness. Two assembly meetings have been held including recent elections for the executive board. Medical student engagement is always valued so please reach out with any ideas or concerns.

Sr. PARA Rep Ryan Reinders (rreinder@ualberta.ca)

Jr. PARA Rep Giselle Tucker Belliveau (tuckerbe@ualberta.ca)

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

Based on feedback provided in the Negotiations Survey (only available to residents), the Negotiation Committee has identified four areas that continue to be a priority for resident physicians:

1. Compensation

2. Benefits

3. Duty hours

4. Maternity/parental support

The Negotiations Committee will now work to develop associated “Asks” to bring forward to negotiations. Official negotiations have yet to begin, but based on historical dates, a possible timeline would have negotiations starting in Spring 2024 and completed or ratified by the summer. Any changes to this timeline will be communicated.

ELECTION RESULTS

The following 6 executive board positions were voted upon by assembly members:

President: president@para-ab.ca

VP Community & Internal Relations: vpcir@para-ab.ca

VP Leadership & Education: vple@para-ab.ca

VP Operations & Finance: vpof@para-ab.ca

AMA Ambassador: amaa@para-ab.ca

Edmonton & Northern Alberta Ambassador: enaa@para-ab.ca

Please see above PARA Memo for election results.

*Note: No candidates were nominated for Calgary & Southern Alberta Ambassador during the initial nomination and election period, so a separate election will be held.

EDI COMMITTEE UPDATE

A recent workshop on February 15th titled “Language and Unconscious Bias - How to Mitigate Weight Stigma in Practice” was well received and more events are in the process of being planned.

RESIDENT WELLNESS

Resident wellness events have been planned and hosted in both Edmonton and Calgary. The snack fund for residency programs has been extremely well received and is currently working on securing additional funding.

MATCH DAY

There was an open discussion in the most recent meeting focused on PARA’s potential involvement in future Match Days. Members seemed concerned with this prospect for two reasons: 1) the overwhelming nature of the day may hinder ability to engage with students and 2) PARA would be unable to engage with students coming from out of province at this time. It seems like PARA funding may instead be used towards involvement in residency orientation events, however, discussions are ongoing.

OTHER RESOURCES

Check out PARA’s monthly newsletter PARAscope to stay up to date.

Check out the PARA blog.

Contact: Sr. PARA Rep Ryan Reinders (rreinder@ualberta.ca) or Jr. PARA Rep Giselle Tucker Belliveau (tuckerbe@ualberta.ca) 

We invite you to take part in a national survey of medical nutrition education. The following survey will take approximately 10 minutes. Your responses are anonymous. The purpose of this survey is to understand Canadian medical student perceptions, attitudes, and opinions regarding nutrition education in undergraduate medical education. These results will be used to inform the development of nutrition curriculum in Canadian schools and educational resources for Canadian medical students. If you are a Canadian medical student currently in clerkship (typically third or fourth year) please consider completing this survey.

EN: https://forms.office.com/r/cfq4JrfBce

In French:

Perceptions des étudiants en médecine canadiens sur leur formation en nutrition au premier cycle 

Nous vous invitons à participer à un sondage national sur la formation médicale en nutrition. Le sondage suivant prendra environ 10 minutes. Vos réponses sont confidentielles. Le but de ce sondage est de comprendre les perceptions, les attitudes et les opinions des étudiants canadiens en médecine sur la formation en nutrition lors des études en médecine de premier cycle. Ces résultats serviront à l’élaboration d’un programme de formation en nutrition dans les écoles canadiennes et de ressources éducatives pour les étudiants canadiens en médecine. Si vous êtes un étudiant canadien en médecine actuellement en externat (habituellement à la troisième ou à la quatrième année), veuillez envisager de répondre à ce sondage.

FR: https://forms.office.com/r/nzhrmBjwm9

We are looking for medical student volunteers to join Heart Heroes Camp, a medically supervised camp for children with congenital heart disease, which will be held at Camp Kindle, about 1 hour northwest of Calgary from July 5th to 7th, 2023. This video will give you a better idea of what our camps are like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1f6jpM3jzE. More information is available on our website at www.littleheartheroes.ca 

Contact: heartheroescamp@gmail.com 

The Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University is pleased to announce a new program, Wellness4MDs, available to all physicians, residents, and medical students in Canada.

Wellness4MDs is a bilingual, evidence-based, cost-effective program that supports the mental health of physicians, postgraduate medical trainees, and medical students in Canada using daily supportive text messages. Text messages in English or French will be delivered to anonymous subscribers for six months at no-cost.

Subscribe to the program by texting “WELLMD” for access in English or “BIENMD” for access in French to 1-855-947-4673. Subscribers can opt in to participate in the program evaluation by completing surveys when they begin the program and at designated follow-up times.

Contact: vn602367@dal.ca

Kids Cancer Care is a charitable foundation dedicated to helping families affected by childhood cancer. We offer free weekend and summer camps to kids across Alberta, so they have a chance to escape the rigours of cancer treatment for outdoor fun and adventure. This is a great way for your students to gain volunteer experience and earn volunteer hours as they interact with kids of all ages and diverse backgrounds. You can also visit our website for more information on the foundation Kids Cancer Care.

Contact: KBradbury@kidscancercare.ab.ca

Medical students and residents in Canada are invited to submit reflective essays, prose, poetry, plays, or graphic novellas exploring the intersection of mental health and the humanities to the Dalhousie Department of Psychiatry Annual Student Writing Competition. Submission Deadline: May 1, 2024.

Entries can be sent as PDF attachments to the Department of Psychiatry Medical Humanities Coordinator, Dr. Leigh Meldrum, at psych.education@dal.ca. Please indicate in your email whether you are a medical student or a resident/fellow.

Need funding for student held events? Request support from the FoMD Alumni Advisory Council for activities that connect students and alumni.

We will:

• Help student groups find alumni volunteers for their activities!

• Provide up to $500 to support activities that connect alumni and students!

If you are interested, please visit: https://www.ualberta.ca/medicine/alumni/resources.html.

Funding is just one click away!

Contact: fomdalum@ualberta.ca. Or one of our alumni association students reps at: maggie1@ualberta.ca, pineau@ualberta.ca

The students and instructors for SOC 415 are researching how the new SPOT surveys were implemented. By participating, respondents will have the chance to win one of four $50 gift cards. If interested, click on the URL link provided to access the survey

Contact: Dr. Michelle Maroto; maroto@ualberta.ca

Welcome to the exciting world of summer school! The Mega event EXEGYPT Intercontinental Summer School” is not just a place for academic enrichment; it’s a dynamic and vibrant community where students come together to expand their knowledge through our fascinating scientific program & social program

Contact: summerschool@exegypt.org

The CFMS is launching the Electives and Interviews Databases - reviews for rotations and interview experiences at schools across Canada.

Electives: cfms.org/databases/electives

Interviews: cfms.org/databases/carms-interview

Please send in your reviews! 

Contact: Taylor Dennison - odl827@usask.ca