Dear Colleagues,
Each week brings new realities to each of us, new challenges and hopefully new successes in your ability as a family physician and as a community to respond to this pandemic. Our population is doing its part as the first line of defense in its physical distancing. Our critical care capacity has not been exceeded.
Significant problems have been revealed in long-term care and group homes, and this has been difficult for many of us who provide care in these settings for some of our most vulnerable patients. Many of our colleagues are not getting paid and this is not acceptable. And in our offices, we struggle with getting PPE. Such radical changes in four weeks.
And yet, our profession continues to innovate in the midst of these challenges. Learn more about what your colleagues are doing to adapt to "practice in COVID times". The OCFP is pleased to partner with the University of Toronto's Department of Family and Community Medicine to host a new Community of Practice for Family Physicians, the first of which was today (April 17).
New resources on our repository
COVID illness - clinical pathways and evidence from Hamilton Family Medicine.
Office cleaning infographic - a two-page infographic on Environmental Cleaning and Disinfectants for Physicians' Offices from the BC Centre for Disease Control | BC Ministry of Health.
For rural generalists - thank you for all the roles you play in your communities. There are some particular challenges in preparing for surges in your hospitals. From our COVID-19 landing page, access curated information compiled by Drs. Sarah Newbery and Elaine Blau through information shared by the Rural ListServe.
Advance care planning and palliative care - a dedicated section of the OCFP COVID-19 repository offers curated resources to support frontline providers during the pandemic, such as a conversation guide from Providence Health Care for high-risk COVID-19 patients, and an advance care planning tool from JAMA.
Chronic disease management virtually - these checklists are for managing diabetes and CHF, collated by Dr. John MacFadyen, Medical Director of Heart Function Program and Adult Diabetic Program at Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital. These can be integrated as stamps into some EMRs.
And, guidance from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society on differentiating CHF exacerbation from COVID-19 and tips and pitfalls caring for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Prenatal and immunizations - the interim schedule for pregnant women and children during the COVID-19 pandemic, developed by the Department of Family and Community Medicine at St. Michael's Hospital, was updated and further reinforces the continuation of well-child vaccines during the pandemic. As well, the interim prenatal schedule has been updated to include the recent SOGC guideline on temporary alternative screening strategies for gestational diabetes during COVID-19. Please refer to the up-to-date visual and you can also read the full, updated article here.
Community supports for our vulnerable populations - consider referring seniors, people with disabilities and others in need of assistance to 211 Ontario (or by dialing 211 or 1-877-330-3213 toll free), where they can be connected to essential services in their community at any time. Some communities have a specific form that physicians can use to refer.
As well, through this website , SPARK and the Government of Ontario are connecting volunteers with community organizations supporting seniors and people with disabilities during COVID-19.
New COVID-19 repository for primary care providers - the Centre for Effective Practice has developed a repository of guidance and evidence-based supports to assist family physicians and nurse practitioners in assessment and testing, management, operations, PPE, infection protocol and other areas impacting primary care due to the pandemic.
Workforce matching portal - the Government of Ontario has launched an online portal to match available healthcare workers (such as those who work part-time or have retired, residents and medical graduates) with employers, and help support activities such as case and contact management. This is in addition to the BookJane matching service offered through the OMA (see OMA website).
Advocacy - WE HEAR YOU
We sent an Open Letter to the Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, making the case for appropriate PPE in family physician offices to allow us to safely care for the non-COVID needs of our patients. We are calling on the Ministry to immediately streamline the procurement of PPE for primary care through Ontario Health/regions, and not leave primary care clinics to have to find PPE on their own . Our letter was co-signed by the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario and the Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario.
Together with the OMA Section on General and Family Practice (SGFP), we sent a letter to OHIP asking for more expedient payment of billing codes set up for virtual care. When we sent the letter, the date for implementation was May 5. Days after sending our letter, we now understand many of you won't be paid until June or July. We are appalled to hear that many family physicians are facing layoffs of staff and forced office closures. Although compensation is not within the OCFP's remit, we will continue to advocate for you and the issues that impede your ability to serve your patients and thrive in your practice.
So once again, thank you, thank you, thank you. You are adapting to change, responding to need. You are showing resilience and hope, and venturing into areas of challenge for the greater good. Please let us know how we can help you meet those challenges and know that we will do our best to do so, as you are doing yours.
Yours, in being Leaders for a Healthy Ontario,
Jennifer
Dr. Jennifer Young
OCFP President