It has been a privilege – connecting with you and representing family medicine in Ontario, especially in these last six months of confusion, anxiety and re-working the way we care for our patients and community. Here is a three-minute ‘Goodbye as President’ video, to you, my colleagues.
Please join us 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. ET on Friday, September 25 for an action-packed Annual Meeting of Members where we will go over the year’s activities, honour our Reg L. Perkin Ontario Family Physician of the Year, introduce our new President, Dr. Liz Muggah, and welcome six new Board members! If you’d like a pre-Meeting peek at highlights, here is a link to our Year in Review.
Some parting updates…
Schools – COVID symptoms, clearance, notes
Symptoms: This document lists the symptoms most commonly associated with COVID. Reminder – runny nose or nasal congestion are excluded if there are underlying reasons for these symptoms such as seasonal allergies, post-nasal drip, etc. In addition, clearance can occur in the context of chronic cough or post viral cough (see chart, pages 2 and 3).
The government has just announced that saliva testing (which is NOT a point-of-care test) will be available at a few assessment centres this week.
Clearance – return to school:
- COVID positive – public health unit will call and direct return to school
- COVID negative – return 24 hours after symptom resolution (note: the new school screening tool from the Ministry of Health (MOH) references symptoms ‘improving’, and we are seeking clarification from them regarding this discrepancy)
- COVID contact – 14 days isolation from time of exposure
Students should screen or be screened for symptoms every day before going to school.
Medical notes: From the MOH return to school guidance – “Barriers to return to school, such as requirement of medical notes or proof of negative tests, should be avoided.” We asked the MOH to reinforce this message with the school boards. Please let us know if you are aware of school boards requesting return to school notes, so that the MOH can follow up with them.
Flu vaccine
Updated influenza information from Public Health Ontario – on high dose, cell based and influenza strains!
- Offering flu clinics in novel ways – see the Centre for Effective Practice COVID tools, 'Vaccination clinics in primary care’ section.
- People will likely get vaccinated through a combination of our offices, pharmacies, community flu clinics, some family practices forming cooperative clinics with other local medical practices and nurse practitioner clinics, etc.
For those most at risk, including children 6–59 months of age, the OCFP will be advocating for a process to ensure the safe administration of the flu vaccine in large numbers, quickly and efficiently.
Results are NOT conclusive for protective immunity nor to rule out infection. This has come up because one lab has been offering it for a fee.
ONLY indications are:
- Pediatric patients suspected to have multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) with a negative, indeterminate, or inconclusive PCR test result or who were not tested;
- Other clinical scenarios of severe illness with negative PCR tests, where serology results may be helpful for clinical management and/or public heath action, will be considered.
Here is information for patients inquiring about COVID antibody tests (serology).
Below is a selection of COVID-related tools (but they are all great) – brief evidence reviews on pertinent family medicine issues from PEER. You can find others on the Emerging Evidence page of our COVID repository.
- #273: Virtual visits versus face-to-face: Diagnostic accuracy in primary care
- #267: What is the role of serology testing in the COVID-19 pandemic?
- #263: Finding COVID - How good is the test to detect it?
- #260: Are there tools to help assess dyspnea virtually?
- #258: What is the evidence for asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19?
- PEER Simplified Tool: Mask use by the general public and by health care workers
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It is with great confidence that I hand over the Presidency to Dr. Liz Muggah. Her expertise, insight and enthusiasm will represent you well. You can trust the OCFP with your investment in family medicine in Ontario.
Thank you for reading these messages, for your constructive and encouraging feedback, and for continuing to care for your patients and communities. Family medicine IS the bedrock of a high functioning healthcare system and that is you.
Jennifer