News & Releases

CAIR is pleased to announce the winner of the 2011 Dr. Derek Puddester CAIR Resident Well-Being Award.

The Dr. Derek Puddester CAIR Resident Well-Being Award honours those who have contributed to improving resident well-being in Canada. The Award is named after Dr. Derek Puddester, a former CAIR President, who worked to improve resident well-being and to ensure CAIR would continue its role in improving the lives of residents. The CAIR Board created this award in honour of his achievements.

Dr. Puddester is a Director of the Behavioural Neurosciences and Consultation-Liaison team at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. He is one of Canada’s leaders in the promotion of well-being at all levels of medicine.

The 2011 recipient of the Dr. Derek Puddester CAIR Resident Well-Being Award is Dr. Steve Beerman, Nanaimo Site Director for the UBC Faculty of Medicine, Postgraduate Family Medicine Residency Program.

Dr. Steve Beerman is a graduate of the University of British Columbia medical school and family medicine residency program. He also holds degrees in Science (Biochemistry) and Rehabilitation Medicine (Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy). He has been practicing Family Medicine in Nanaimo, British Columbia since 1987. He has been the Nanaimo Site Director for the UBC Faculty of Medicine, Postgraduate Family Medicine Residency Program since 2006. He is chair of the University of British Columbia Department Family Medicine Residency Resilience Committee.

He has, over a number of years, “created a culture of resident well-being that has defined the program” in Nanaimo. Initiatives include:

• Ensuring residents are able to familiarize themselves with the Nanaimo area from the start with a month-long family medicine rotation,

• Implementation of academic weeks in place of academic half-days,

• Replacing 24-hour call with a call model designed to better balance call/clinic requirements with rest periods.

• Promotion of a culture of wellness by ensuring residents look after themselves.

In 2010, Dr. Beerman received the Resident’s Advocate Award from the Professional Association of Residents of BC. In addition to his medical duties, Dr. Beerman is the current President of the International Lifesaving Federation. In this role, he holds a seat on the International Olympic Committee as the Lifesaving representative. Through this role, he advocates for drowning prevention through a variety of World Health Organization and United Nations initiatives.

The Awards presentation will take place at the CAIR Board of Directors' dinner on Saturday, February 11, 2012. Congratulations to all our winners, and thank you to all who submitted names for consideration!

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CAIR is pleased to announce the winner of the 2011 Dr. Joseph Mikhael Medical Education Award.

The Dr. Joseph Mikhael Medical Education Award recognizes those who have contributed to improving undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Canada. Dr. Joseph Mikhael, was a former CAIR Board Director, who worked tirelessly to improve the quality of medical education for residents. His efforts re-focused CAIR’s role in medical education and this award is in honour of his achievements.

Dr. Mikhael is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scarsdale, Arizona, where he practices hematology and oncology.

The 2011 recipient of the Dr. Joseph Mikhael Medical Education Award is Dr. Lara Cooke, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Cooke earned her BSC in Physiology from the University of Western Ontario. She is a graduate of the medical school at the University of Calgary. She completed her residency in Neurology at the University of Calgary in 2005. Despite being in the early stages of her career, Dr. Cooke already wears many hats: Clinician, Program Director for Neurology at the University of Calgary, and Clinician Educator on the CanMEDS team for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Dr. Cooke has a strong and positive impact on Resident Physician Medical Education in terms of both her own clinical teaching and the education she offers to help others teach better. She organized a “Resident as Teachers” workshop which introduced skills and tips that empower resident physicians to feel comfortable teaching learners with different needs in a wide range of settings. Dr. Cooke also works to encourage preceptors to offer targeted teaching around the CanMEDS roles through “CanMEDS Moments” and through a neurology book club where resident physicians read and discuss books written about leadership and management. At the 2011 International Conference on Residency Education (ICRE), Dr. Cooke presented seminars focused on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment tools that are available to medical educators.

Dr. Cooke has received a number of teaching awards, including the 2011 A.B. Baker Award for Teaching in Neurology, American Academy of Neurology and the 2011 Association of Faculties of Medicine (AFMC) Award for Distinguished Contribution to Faculty Development in Canada.

The Awards presentation will take place at the CAIR Board of Directors' dinner on Saturday, February 11, 2012. Congratulations to all our winners, and thank you to all who submitted names for consideration!

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CAIR is pleased to announce the winner of the 2011 Lois Ross CAIR Service to Residents Award.

The Lois Ross CAIR Service to Residents Award recognizes non-physicians who have contributed to the betterment of resident life in Canada. For many years Lois Ross served as Executive Director of CAIR and the Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario (PAIRO), where she worked tirelessly to advance resident life in Canada. In recognition of her countless contributions to resident well-being, the board has created this award in her honour.

The 2011 Recipient of the Lois Ross CAIR Service to Residents Award is Carmen Frese, Post-graduate Program Co-ordinator for the University of Calgary Family Medicine Residency Program.

Ms. Frese has been a “permanent fixture” in the Department of Family Medicine. She began her long journey of service to the Department of Family Medicine in 1974, at a time when only two Family Medicine Training Programs existed in Canada. She later became the program coordinator for the Calgary General Hospital Family Medicine Program (one of three residency programs in Calgary). When the three existing residency programs merged in the early 1990s, Carmen was appointed program coordinator for the combined program. Serving resident physicians and the department in this capacity, Ms Frese continues to be an extremely competent, experienced, hard-working, enthusiastic, nurturing, and passionate member of the family medicine team.

In recognition of her long-standing commitment to the discipline of Family Medicine and for her dedication to postgraduate education at the University of Calgary Department of Family Medicine, Ms. Frese was awarded with an Honorary Membership with the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2009. That same year, she received a “U Make a Difference” Award from the University of Calgary.

The Awards presentation will take place at the CAIR Board of Directors' dinner on Saturday, February 11, 2012. Congratulations to all our winners, and thank you to all who submitted names for consideration!

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“Like” CAIR on Facebook and you could win an iPad2!

Go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/CAIRACMR any time between February 1 and March 31, 2012, click on the “Like” button, and you’ll be entered into a random draw to win one of these prizes:

• Apple iPad 2 16GB ( $520 value)

• PEPID Subscription ($250 value)

• Portable Pulse Oximeter ($100 value)

Rules:

The contest runs from 0001hrs Wednesday February 1 to 2359hrs Saturday March 31, 2012. All times are in Eastern Standard Time.

Entrants must be members of CAIR to be eligible to win prizes. CAIR Employees, Board Members, Committee Members, and the relatives of the aforementioned are not eligible to win any CAIR contests.

Winners must provide CAIR with their phone number, mailing address, email address, year, university, and specialty. Prizes will not be shipped to the winners until their status as a member of CAIR is confirmed by the CAIR Office.

Winners must agree to have their name and/or image released upon winning a prize. Collapse

Call for abstracts - CREATING SPACE II: Taking narrative and reflection to the next level in health professional education, research and practice

Date: Saturday, April 14, 2012

Location: Banff, Alberta

Abstract (500 word) submission deadline: January 15, 2012

Sponsored by: Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in Medicine (AHSSM) Educational Interest Group (CAME/ACÉM)

We are organizing a one-day, single-track symposium on narrative and reflection that will be held on April 14th, 2012 in conjunction with the Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME). We are inviting clinical and medical educators, students, practitioners, creative writers and artists, and scholars from different humanities disciplines, to participate in a day-long conversation focused on exploring a diversity of narrative and reflective practices across the continuum of learning, including interprofessional learning.


FEATURED KEYNOTE - Lynn Monrouxe, PhD

We are delighted to share that Dr. Lynn Monrouxe from Cardiff University has agreed to be our keynote speaker. http://medicine.cf.ac.uk/en/person/dr-lynn-valerie-monrouxe

ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS

Various presentation approaches may be suggested. Individual and panel presentations, and other creative approaches such as reflective dialogues; reflective readings/ performances, etc. may be proposed. Presentations may be described that involve oral and written narratives, visual narratives, audio, and other performative genres. Submissions for poster presentations are also welcome.

We encourage submissions on a diverse range of topics relevant to health professional education. Abstracts are invited in relation to three broad themes:

1) Innovative pedagogical conceptualizations and strategies that advance understanding of the contributions of narrative (e.g., narrative reasoning)

2) Papers that are conceptually well-grounded and explore theoretical, or ethical, and/ or related research questions regarding the role and contributions of narrative and reflective practice in undergraduate, postgraduate or continuing health professional education.

3) "Best practice" educational initiatives in this area that have been introduced to advance compassion, caring and empathy in healthcare (NB: these will most often be considered in relation to a poster presentation)

Maximum length of abstract: 500 words, not including title, and listed authors. Indicate if you want your submission to be considered: 1) for a paper/ panel/ performance presentation only (specify), or 2) as a poster, or 3) indicate if you are open to considering either presentation format category. Proposals should be of interest to a diverse audience of healthcare educators and scholars, and serve as a departure point for lively discussion. All co-authors listed should have knowledge of the submission.

Please include a short biographical statement for the presenting authors (maximum 100 words). One author should be identified as the corresponding author. All communication regarding the submission will be directed to the identified corresponding author. Please submit your abstract in a Microsoft Word document by email attachment to Pamela Brett-MacLean and Tom Rosenal at abstracts@ahssm-eig.ca

SUBMISSION DEADLINE/ REVIEW

The deadline for abstract submissions is January 15th, 2012.

Abstracts will be considered in relation to fit and contribution (e.g., addresses at least one of the symposium themes, contributes well to the overall programme; substantive contribution to education, practice ore related research involving narrative &/ or reflection); as well as quality (organization and coherence).

We anticipate completing our review of the submissions by the end of January, with a decision communicated to the corresponding author by early February regarding the outcome of the review process (i.e., if the abstract has been accepted as a paper or poster, or if their submission has not been included in this year's programme).

The conference programme will be posted online by mid- to late-February on the AHSSM EIG website at www.ahssm-eig.ca (which is currently under construction).

REGISTRATION

Space is limited. Check back soon for registration details! To sign up to be notified via email when this information becomes available go to http://www.mailman.srv.ualberta.ca/mailman/listinfo/ahssm-came.

NB: This symposium is being held in conjunction with the Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) - see http://www.mededconference.ca. To attend this symposium, it is necessary to register for the CCME conference (either one-day, or partial/ full registration if you are planning on attending the CCME meeting for a longer period of time. Please refer to the Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) - see http://www.mededconference.ca for travel and accommodation information.

Join us in Banff! We look forward to connecting with you in this culturally rich, creative and inspiring mountain setting! Collapse

The TiPs pages have been enhanced to include a new splash page, and a page with more information about the program. Just click on the TiPS logo to find out more! Collapse

CAIR is pleased to announce the following winners of the 2011 CAIR Awards:

Dr. Steve Beerman, Site Director for the Nanaimo Family Medicine Residency program for the Dr. Derek Puddester Well Being Award

Dr. Lara Cooke, Associate professor of Neurology at the University of Calgary for the Dr. Joseph Mikhael Medical Education Award

Carmen Frese, Post-graduate Program Co-ordinator for the University of Calgary Department of Family Medicine, for the Lois Ross Service to Residents Award

The winners have been invited to join the Board at the February Board of Directors Saturday dinner to recive their award.

More details to follow!

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The CAIR Office will be closed from December 23 2011 to January 3 2012.

The staff have made a playlist with some of our favourite Christmas songs. Enjoy it here:

[www.youtube.com]

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Cheryl, Rani, Beth & Shirley

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Our latest Resident Spotlight features Family Medicine! Click below to read more!

Resident Spotlight

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Call for Posters for Taming of the Queue 2012 ‐ Looking back, going forward:
Reframing timely access as part of health system transformation

The Taming of the Queue Conference Steering Committee invites health care providers, students, researchers and others interested in improving timely access to care to present a poster at the 2012 Conference in Ottawa on Thursday, March 29th, 2012.

The Conference Steering Committee is making space available for a limited number of posters to share information about innovative Canadian work on improving timely access to care consistent with the 2012 conference theme and the following criteria:

1) Demonstrated impact on improving:
a. timely access to care for a population across a program, organization, region or jurisdiction (increasing the spread); or
b. the measurement or monitoring of timely access to care for providers and or patients.

2) Ability to demonstrate lessons learned and recommended actions going forward (e.g., to increase opportunities for adopting your innovation elsewhere).

Your poster should allow a reader to have a complete picture of your initiative, irrespective of whether or not they have an opportunity to speak with you. Abstracts should include a title, a description of the issue or problem, the setting, the methodology/approach, the results/outcomes, and how you know it made a difference following its implementation. For this poster display we are looking for completed projects that ideally have an evaluation component.

Poster abstracts must contain the following elements:
• Title of your poster
• Poster authors; at least one must register for and attend the conference
• Organizational affiliation of the poster author(s)
• 150 word abstract (English or French) with a description of the innovation and key outcomes
• Poster size: The poster display boards are 4 ft high x 8 ft wide and your poster must fit in this space, whether as one piece or as several smaller pieces.

To accommodate as many posters as possible, please indicate whether your poster can fit in a 4 x 4 space.
The display area will also include a small table for material and a chair. It will not include electricity or internet access. To maximize exposure, poster exhibits should be staffed with knowledgeable communicators during conference networking breaks on Thursday March 29 and can be showcased in the language of your choice.

Conference organizers will cover the registration fee for one author per accepted poster.

Please email your submission to Brenda Trepanier (brenda.trepanier@cma.ca) by January 27, 2012.

Qualifying posters will be notified of selection by February 17, 2012. Collapse

CAIR is your voice – Representation & Accreditation

CAIR provides resident representation on several national bodies including the CMA, RCPSC, CFPC, and World Medical Association. CAIR also trains residents to accredit residency programs. Collapse

This year’s Resident Awareness Day is February 21, 2012. CAIR has chosen the theme “What is a Resident Physician?” Stay tuned for Resident Wellbeing Day contests and events in your local hospitals! Collapse

The CAIR Awards Deadline has been extended to December 15th!

Do you want to acknowledge an individual or organization who has made a difference to your residency? Nominate them for one of the following CAIR Awards!

• Dr. Derek Puddester CAIR Award for Resident Well-Being

• Dr. Joseph Mikhael CAIR Award for Medical Education

• Lois Ross CAIR Award for Service to Residents

To download a copy of the Call for Nominations, including detailed criteria for each award, click here.

Nominations may be submitted, accompanied by suitable documentation, by any member of the Canadian Association of Internes and Residents, provincial housestaff organizations, or organizations associated with CAIR.

Necessary documentation includes:

1. Description of Nominee

Provide a maximum 2-page personal profile describing the nominee’s candidacy for the award. Suggested content of the nomination letter includes:

a. the contribution of the nominee in resident well-being / medical education / service to residents;

b. impacts and outcomes of the nominee’s actions;

c. who has benefited from this initiative;

d. how the nominee’s actions have inspired others;

e. the innovative aspects of the nominee’s actions

2. Letter of Support

Include one or more letters of support from separate individuals or organizations familiar with the nominee’s activities.

3. Current Curriculum Vitae of Nominee

The deadline for nominations is December 15, 2011.

Please send nominations to:

Chair, CAIR Awards Committee
c/o CAIR
412 – 151 Slater Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 5H3
cair@cair.ca
Fax: 613-234-5292

Nominations may be submitted electronically (e.g., fax or email). Hand written submissions will not be accepted.

To see a list of previous CAIR Award winners, click here. Collapse

CAIR is advocating – Examinations

This year, the Royal College proposed a pilot to
change the timing of the written certification examinations in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine. CAIR responded by successfully advocating for
residents and the pilot which was to be implemented in the Fall of 2012, was placed on hold. The 2013 exams is proceeding in the traditional way with the both the written and oral examinations held in the spring of that year. CAIR is currently in discussions with the Royal College on future written before oral pilot models for these disciplines. Please view the news section of the CAIR website for further information.

In September, we were informed that the timing of the written component of the Royal College Obs-Gyn exam for 2012 had changed to early April. Residents expressed their concerns that they were informed very late in the year and even though the structure and content of the exam was not changing, the change in date effectively shortened prep time by 5-7 weeks at the least and would result in unanticipated changes to master rotation schedules, call schedules and protected allocated study time. CAIR successfully advocated for residents and the Royal College re-adjusted the timing of the written component moving it to May 1-2, 2012. Collapse

Attention Family Medicine Residents!

The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) has developed a new initiative to support family physicians in their first five years in practice.

Consisting of members from each region in Canada, the First Five Years in Family Practice committee is focusing on areas that are important for new family physicians, and may serve as a resource to the CFPC whenever the opinions of new family physicians are sought.

A needs assessment was conducted in the fall of 2010, and new family physicians’ greatest area of interest was practice management. While there is some practice management teaching in Canadian residency programs, new family physicians felt that their greatest time of practice management need is when they are actually in practice.

During 2011, the First Five Years in Family Practice committee collected a large number of already-available practice management resources. Rather than re-inventing the wheel by creating additional resources, a webpage was created with links to existing resources:

http://www.cfpc.ca/FirstFiveYears

Please join our Facebook group: “First Five Years in Family Practice – Canada”.

You can also send us an email with your ideas and questions at:

firstfive@cfpc.ca (English)

cinqpremieres@cfpc.ca (en français)

We look forward to hearing from you,

Dr. Jonathan Kerr

Chair – First Five Years in Family Practice committee, College of Family Physicians of Canada Collapse

CAIR is taking action – Resident Sleep and Work Hours

With the recent introduction of 16-hour shift limits in Quebec (after an arbitrator ruled that 24-hour shifts are a human rights violation), and with recent articles on work hour limits in CMAJ and CFP, this issue is pressing. Harvard sleep expert Dr. Charles Czeisler and the FMRQ presented to CAIR at the November Board Meeting. CAIR has reviewed the evidence on patient safety and work hour limitations, and is working on a strategy to respond to this – set for early 2012. Collapse

CAIR's Booth at the 2011 Family Medicine Forum was a great success, with many people dropping by to find out more about CAIR and to pick up some of our cool swag.

We asked participants to fill out ballots telling us what they love about Family Medicine. Their responses will be up on our website soon.

These ballots were then entered into a random draw for a pulse oximeter. Congratulations to our winners:

• Dr. Ian Kirby (PGY1, McGill),

• Dr. Jamie McIntyre (PGY2, University of Alberta), and

• Dr. Tesha Casella (PGY2, University of Toronto)!

Thank you to everyone who participated, and we'll see you next year in Toronto! Collapse

The Primary Healthcare Research Unit of Memorial University of Newfoundland is pleased to invite you to the third annual Primary Healthcare Partnership Forum: People, Practice, and Policy.

This conference is presented in partnership withThe Atlantic Practice Based Research Network, The Centre for Rural Health Studies and the Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Location: Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland, St. John's
Date and Time: 1 - 2 December 2011

Registration Fees:
$150.00 Non Presenter
$125.00 Presenter
$30.00 Student

Click here to register and to view the preliminary program. Collapse

Come visit Booth #424, where you can:

*Meet our Board Members,

*Have your voice heard by telling us what you love about Family Medicine

*Pick up key information about CAIR and, of course, cool swag! Collapse

ARS MEDICA and CMAJ are pleased to co-sponsor the 2012 Humanities Poetry and Prose Contest

THEME: What Makes The Arts Heal and Healing An Art ?

Open to all health profession students, researchers, residents, fellows, health care practitioners and faculty working or studying in Canada.

Deadline: Monday March 19, 2012.

Parameters: All works must be previously unpublished and relate to the above theme. Poetry, limited to two submissions per person. Prose works, limited to 1 per person, can be any style (e.g., creative nonfiction, fiction, essay etc.).

Length:
Poetry: Maximum to 52 lines in length.
Prose: Maximum 1500 words.

Send your submission electronically to: ccme.contest@gmail.com. In the subject line, state which contest you are entering (poetry or prose). Include in your covering note your full name, mailing address, telephone number and name of the school or organization you are affiliated with. Please state that your work is original, previously unpublished and that you authorize its publication in ARS Medica or CMAJ. Also please specify if you are a student/resident.

Judges: Editors at ARS MEDICA , the CMAJ and the Massey College Barbara Moon-Ars Medica Fellow.

Prizes: The three winners (first, second and third) in each category will receive a one-year subscription to ARS Medica (www.ars-medica.ca). Winning submissions will be published in either ARS Medica or the CMAJ.

Only the winners will be contacted. Winners will be announced at the Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) conference in Banff, Alberta April 13 , 2012.

www.ars-medica.ca

Harvard Medical School's Continuing Education Department is offering a course on Physician Work Hours, Health and Patient Safety on February 20-24, 2012 at the Westin Casuarina Resort, Grand Cayman, PO Box 30620, Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Physicians must provide patient care services around the clock. Yet both patient safety and physician safety concerns have resulted in mandates to limit physician work hours, requiring restructuring of physician work schedules. This course is designed to provide guidance to practicing physicians and surgeons, postgraduate medical education program directors, department chairs, academic medical center administrators, and risk management personnel on how to provide round-the-clock patient coverage while adhering to best scheduling practices. Topics include recent advances in sleep medicine, occupational medicine, and patient safety related to physician work hours, handovers of patient care, and fatigue risk management programs designed to reduce the risk of medical errors, improve patient outcomes, and reduce occupational injuries to physicians.

OBJECTIVE

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

•Describe the physiological, environmental, and medical factors that affect a physician's ability to maintain alertness and sustain performance during round-the-clock operations

•Identify work hour policies and patient care handover practices likely to compromise patient safety or increase occupational health and safety risks for physicians

•Translate and apply recent research findings into practice to promote patient safety and physician well-being

•Implement practical work schedules, alertness management programs, and fatigue mitigation policies for physicians, academic medical centers, and other health care institutions that enable round-the-clock coverage, while maximizing performance and minimizing risks to health and safety

COURSE HIGHLIGHTS

•Internationally recognized faculty of the Harvard Work Hours, Health, and Safety Group

•Break-out sessions on applying human performance modeling software, developed for NASA to schedule astronauts, to the work schedule for your program/hospital

•Keynote lecture on the Harvard Medical School Sleep and Health Education Program by Stuart F. Quan, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Small group, faculty-led discussions on participants' scheduling challenges

TUITION

•Full Course Tuition Fee $1,450.00

•Reduced Fee $1,295.00

•Early Registration - Full Course Tuition Fee $1,295.00

•Early Registration Reduced Fee $1,150.00

HOW TO REGISTER

You can register online here. Collapse

WHITE COAT Warm ART 2011

An Art Exhibit, at the CCME Meeting, APRIL 14th-18th 2012

We are pleased to announce the third Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) Art Exhibit entitled: White Coat, Warm Art. This exhibit will showcase the creative talents of medical and other health sciences faculty, residents, students, and physicians and other health professionals from across Canada.

This will be a juried exhibition. Entries will be accepted in a wide variety of categories, including oils, watercolour, photographs, pastels, etchings, pen and ink, etc. There will also be some limited space for the display of small sculptures.

Artistic Selection: Preference will be given, for the live exhibit, to pieces of art that capture the human experience of practicing and/or learning medicine, however art that is not related to that specific theme, will also be considered. Selection for all pieces will be based on artistic merit, and demonstration of skill in their medium of choice.

Judging will be carried out online so all entries must be sent in as digital images. For paintings and sculptures please include a clear digital image of the artwork showing as much detail as possible.

Include in your email: Title of Piece, Size, Media and Creation Date; your name, phone number and email address and an artist’s statement ( 60 words max.). Your artist statement should describe how your artistic endeavors impact your professional life.

• Artworks must be originals, created by faculty, residents, students or those involved in the healthcare / wellness field.

• A maximum of 2 artworks per artist can be submitted.

• Art (aside from sculptures) must be framed (no exceptions); transportation of pieces to the exhibit will be of the responsibility of the submitting artist. Please keep this in mind when submitting larger pieces.

• All digital images must have a resolution of 96 DPI or a file size of at least 2MB

• Email submission to: whitecoatwarmart@gmail.com
NO LATER than FRIDAY JANUARY 6th, 2012.

For further information you can contact Dr. Carol-Ann Courneya (UBC, Faculty of Medicine) at cacourneya@gmail.com or Dr. Pam Brett-MacLean (U of A, Faculty of Medicine) at pbrett-maclean@med.ualberta.ca Collapse

Data released today from the medical student and resident
component of the 2010 National Physician Survey (NPS) shows Canada’s future physicians want to work
smarter to meet the growing and increasingly complex health care needs of Canadians.

Of the nearly 5,600 medical students and residents who responded to the 2010 NPS, 53% identified a
balance between personal and professional life as the most important factor for a satisfying practice...

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here here to read the backgrounder.

Click here to download the media Q & A. Collapse

Are you interested in publishing your research? Dr. Tim Rowe, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada offers his expert advice on writing and submitting manuscripts in the latest entry in CAIR's Learn from the Masters series.

Click here for more! Collapse

Most of today's news about the physician supply involves shortages of MDs, but the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has started looking in the opposite direction.

It is studying the growing risk of unemployment and underemployment facing new graduates in several mainly surgical specialties, and preliminary findings presented recently to the CMA's Specialist Forum show there is reason for concern....

Read the full article here: www.cma.ca Collapse

You can now "like" CAIR on Facebook! Join us at:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/CAIRACMR Collapse

The 2011 CAIR Resident Survey has been completed, and CAIR is pleased to announce that Dr. Ashavinder Lamba is the winner of the draw for the MacBook Pro laptop. Dr. Lamba is a PGY2 Family Medicine at McMaster University. We will be presenting Dr. Lamba with her prize soon and interviewing her for the next CAIR Update.

CAIR would like to thank all residents who took the time to provide their feedback in the 2011 CAIR Resident Survey. We are currently analyzing the results and a preliminary report will be available later in September. Collapse

The national discussion on duty hours continues. Today's editorial page of the Globe and Mail calls for the reduction of work hours for residents to ensure patient safety. CAIR's President, Dr. Adam Kaufman, is directly quoted in the piece as saying "our big concern is making sure patient safety remains number one and resident safety is addressed".

To read the full editorial, click here. Collapse

Every year, the CMA publishes the New in Practice Guide, which is full of information residents need to start their practice. Did you receive your free copy?

You can also access the guide by clicking here

MD Physician Services has also created a group on Facebook. Just click here to join! Collapse

CAIR's now on Twitter. Follow us @ResidentsCAIR to learn about new content on our website and CAIR events and opportunities. Collapse

Global health, namely the health of marginalized populations domestically and abroad, is the subject of growing interest and activity among Canadian medical trainees. While training programs, student organizations, and national bodies have developed resources and standards for undergraduate learners, there are few common guidelines for resident physicians participating in Global Health electives. It is to fill this gap that CAIR has developed a statement identifying the key ethical, health & safety, and ethical considerations for residents and training programs engaged in global health activities. The full statement can be found here. Collapse

Attention, residents preparing for certification! The Royal College has released important information on applying for certification. See below:

When & How to Apply for Royal College Assessment of Training for 2012 Certification Examinations

DEADLINES:

Specialty (including POS): April 30, 2011
Subspecialty: August 31, 2011

Penalty fees apply for applications including updates for final evaluations received past the deadline.

How to apply for assessment & register for the Royal College examination:

Complete the Preliminary Assessment of Training Form

Include a copy of the following:

Medical degree (English, French or certified translation with a copy of the original degree)

Credit card authorization form for assessment fee

Submit to Credentials Unit

An acknowledgement will be emailed within 2 business days of receipt. A ruling letter outlining your eligibility for the 2012 certification examinations will be sent in December 2011.

Register for examination

After receipt of the ruling letter & before the February 1 2012 registration deadline. No late registrations accepted.

Surgical Residents – The Principles of Surgery (POS) examination can be taken during the 2nd year of residency. Applications for assessment can be submitted during the first year of residency.

If you finish surgical residency in 2012, you must notify the Credentials Unit by the April 30 2011 deadline of your intent to take the final examination.

Refer to the Royal College website for a list of surgical specialties requiring the POS examination.

You may also need to include with your application a copy of:

Verification of all periods of non-Canadian training

Official name change (if different than your medical degree)

Success at screening examination (if medical school qualification is from an non Canadian / USA accredited medical school)

Release of information form

Severe Fail – applicants should be aware of the severe fail policy. General information on the Royal College examinations including severe fail is available on the Royal College website. Collapse

Are you looking for a place to live during residency or to stay while on elective? CAIR is happy to provide links to off-campus housing lists for each university. The links are sorted by province. Click here to access the housing page.

Please note that CAIR has no control over the content found on these external sites. Collapse