Weekly Newsletter: November 7, 2022

Dear HFAM Colleagues,

Happy November everyone! As Halloween decorations come down and Winter Holiday decorations go up (as well as FLU and other respiratory illnesses…), we hope you are able to plan some time off to enjoy the holidays with your families and friends. We also hope you enjoyed your extra hour on Sunday as the clocks fell back!

This week is Veteran’s week, with Indigenous Veteran’s Day tomorrow and Remembrance Day on Friday. While we recognize the political associations, romanticization, and atrocities of war, we also recognize the importance of learning and honouring those who fell, the sacrifices they made, and the horrors they faced. Please take a moment to learn about Indigenous Veterans here.

Brian, Cathy, Dee, Kati, Scott, Tammy,

Your GHHN Primary Care Executive

Newsletter Highlights:

Educational Update
- HFAM Rounds for November 2022
- Infection, Prevention and Control in Primary Care (HFHT)
- Managing Respiratory Illnesses in Kids (OCFP/UofT)
OCFP and Ontario Health Memos
- President’s Message on Clinic Readiness, In-person Care, Vaccines, Boosters, Primary Care in Focus and more
- Supports for a Challenging Fall Season
Choosing Wisely Viral Infection Prescription Pads
Flu Shot Campaign Materials
Primary Care Digital Health Caucus: Member Recruitment
HFAM Newsletter Archives
HFAM Town Hall Summary and Recording

Educational Update:

HFAM Rounds Schedule - November 2022

Wednesday, November 9:
- PREP for HIV
- Presented by: Dr. Rob Kerr
Wednesday, November 16:
- Update on Cystic Fibrosis
- Presented by: Dr. Sophie Corriveau
Wednesday, November 23:
- Insomnia - Focus on non-pharmacologic approaches (Part 1)
- Presented by: Rachana Bodani
Wednesday, November 30:
- Modifying Your First and Second Trimester Approach - Populations that benefit from different care
- Presented by: Dr. Amie Davis

Click here to view/download the schedule with Zoom Link information.

NOTE* - For us to accurately track attendance, please ensure your full identity (first and last name) is included in your display name If you need instructions on how to update your display name, please click here.

Infection, Prevention, and Control in Primary Care: Spread Prevention — Not Infection

The Hamilton Family Health Team’s Patient and Provider Safety committee has planned a virtual IPAC information session for primary care with presenters from PHO and Hamilton Public Health Services. This educational opportunity is 90 minutes and is focused on the following aspects:

Current epidemiology and surveillance trends for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases
How IPAC best practices can be applied and reinforced in clinical office settings
Clinical office setting strategies to manage respiratory infection risks (e.g., COVID-19, influenza, RSV) for patients and staff, including appropriate selection of PPE
IPAC lapses related to improper reprocessing of reusable equipment/instruments in clinical office settings

Event Details:

Date: November 23, 2022
Time: 12:30 - 2:00PM
Location: Zoom
Learn more here or register here.

Managing Respiratory Illnesses in Kids

The OCFP and U of T continue their COVID-19 Community of Practice for Ontario Family Physicians with their 52nd “Changing the way we work” session focused on managing respiratory illnesses in kids. With respiratory viruses on the rise, join them to discuss strategies in managing paediatric respiratory illness in the community setting. There will be an infections disease expert to provide updates on COVID-19 including new variants, vaccines and more and leave plenty of time to answer questions. You can learn more and register here.

OCFP and Ontario Health Memos

In case you missed it, the OCFP and Ontario Health released important guidance documents to help primary care prepare and manage the increase in respiratory illnesses and additional strain our health system will face. Please review the following memos:

Choosing Wisely Viral Infection Prescription Pads

It’s Viral Infection Season!

Outside of the resources shared above, Choosing Wisely has developed a prescription you can share with your patients for viral infections and a helpful one-pager on why your patient didn’t get antibiotics.

The Hamilton FHT has developed these resources into custom forms, available here (please select the “Miscellaneous" tab and scroll down to “Choosing Wisely - Rx for Viral Infection”).

Download a copy of the RX in PDF format here.

FLU Shot Campaign Materials

Do you use social media?

As we continue to see a rise in respiratory illnesses, including the FLU, it is more important than ever to encourage our patients to get vaccinated.

HFAM and the GHHN, in partnership with St. Joe’s, Hamilton Health Sciences, and the City of Hamilton have developed a social media campaign to help educate the public. Please feel free to use any of the graphics and pre-written captions through your social media channels, ScreenScape, etc.

Download Campaign Materials Here

Primary Care Digital Health Caucus

Additional Members are Needed!

And no - you don’t have to be a Digital Expert! In fact, we need providers with a wide range of expertise to help us build resources and supports that benefit the whole community.

What can you expect? The Primary Care Digital Health Caucus meets the Third Tuesday of the month from 1:00 - 2:00PM. We estimate participants spend 2-3 hours/month on this work (1-hour meeting inclusive). There are also additional opportunities for Caucus Members through working groups, such as the Online Booking Working Group.

Interested in Joining or Learning More? Email us!

Newsletter Archives

As we’ve switched over to MailChimp to send out HFAM communications, we are aware that these emails may be going to your junk folder or being blocked as spam. Please ‘safe list’ these emails so you continue to receive them direct to your inbox.

In an effort to make these newsletters easier for you to find, we’ve also added a Newsletter Archives page here.

Town Hall Summary and Recording

In case you missed it, we had our November Town Hall last week. You can find all the information you may have missed here.