MD Scope archive

This archive will always contain links to one year of back issues of the MD Scope. For older issues, please contact the AMA web team at webmaster@albertadoctors.org.

2023

March 17, 2023

  • Optimized Prescribing with Seniors: Orthostatic hypotension
  • Diagnostic imaging reports available online for patients through My Personal Records
  • eReferral improvements implemented February 23
  • AHS newborn screening program has a new name
  • AMA Section of Pediatrics grants: Improving care through research and innovation
  • Call for applications: History of medicine scholarship and project grant 
  • New rate increases for auto insurance paused until December 31
  • New MD Culture Shift Issue #19 
  • MD Financial Management
    • Tax changes for 2023
  • Community Connections
    • Do you want to share your thoughts and co-design tools for cancer diagnosis?
    • Navigating children's best interests in child psychiatric inpatient settings during the height of the COVID pandemic 
    • Free counselling services to families with immigrant and refugee experience, and their children 

February 23

  • Updated post polypectomy surveillance recommendations released in Alberta
  • CPSA
    • Continuing Competence and Restricted Activities standards of practice take effect this spring
  • Help protect children from medication poisoning
  • Apply for the 2023 Tarrant Scholarship
  • Replay privacy webinars
  • MD Financial Management
    • Don't leave the important things to chance. Invest with purpose.
  • Community Connections
    • Foster parent campaign hopes to recruit medical professionals
    • Calgary fitness venue in need of volunteer ringside physicians for boxing shows
    • Impact of Virtual Care on Decision Making Capacity Assessments

February 9

  • CII/CPAR: Go-Live and Beyond
  • Training staff about privacy tips
  • Need $7,500 for additional training in a clinical area of recognized need in Alberta?
  • New MD Culture Shift: Issue #18
  • MD Financial Management
    • Hello from your MD Calgary office team!
    • MD can help with more than RRSP and TFSA contributions
  • Community Connections
    • Micropsychosocial effect of accounting: health care context
    • Accessibility of CT: Identifying underserved populations in rural Alberta

January 26

  • New enrolment period for extended health and dental coverage
  • News from ACFP
    • Tonight: ACFP webinar on college complaints (and how to avoid them)
    • ACFP Family Medicine Summit savings end January 31 at midnight!
  • Proclaim 'Privacy Week' in your clinic
  • Welcome! Dr. Kimberley Kelly joins AMA Senior Management Team
  • Apply for leadership opportunities with the CMA
  • Thank you, AMA members!
  • Will planning: protecting your assets and your family
  • Community Connections
    • Pros and cons of new Narcotic Transition Service regulations
    • Have You Been Affected by the Recall of PAP Devices?
    • Accessibility of CT: Identifying underserved populations in rural Alberta

January 12

  • Five reasons to sign up for CII/CPAR
  • Optimized Prescribing with Seniors
  • The ASaP maneuvers menu has been updated
  • Help us rebuild the AMA website
  • RF delegate election results
  • Congratulations! 12 days of no privacy incidents
  • Opioid Process Improvements Training now available!
  • AMA seeks 2023 nominations for our highest awards
  • Investing as a physician: A primer
  • Community Connections (formerly known as Survey Corner)
    • Accessibility of CT: Survey to Identify Underserved Populations in Rural Alberta

2022

December 15

  • Consultation 025: CPSA now seeking your feedback on three standards
  • Enhancements to eReferral coming January 2023
  • Apply today! Informatics Advisory Committee.
  • News from ACFP
    • ACFP Family Medicine Summit - early bird registration savings
    • Big Bucks, Better Billing blog
    • ACFP's Future of Family Medicine: A strategic vision
  • Need your Privacy Impact Assessment updated? Reduced PIA rates for CII/CPAR.
  • Supporting injured workers: What information can employers request?
  • News from Canadian Medical Association
    • Special opportunity for members of CMA Ambassador Program
    • CMA leadership opportunities
  • Cash is king... or is it?
  • Community Connections (formerly known as Survey Corner)
    • Impact of Virtual are on Decision-making Capacity Assessments (DMCAs)
    • AHS Childhood Immunization Survey 

November 24

  • Vote now: 2022 RF delegate zonal/regional elections
  • ANA testing to transition to Calgary lab
  • CMA leadership opportunities
  • AMA Senior Management Team news
  • Privacy: Looking for risks at your clinic
  • Physicians needed to interview applicants for the U of A Doctor of Medicine Program
  • Alberta Blue Cross supports the CHANGE Health Community Program
  • News from ACFP
    • Thursday Evening Webinars
    • ACFP Family Physician of the Year
  • Survey Corner
    • Chiropractic Association of Alberta survey with Alberta doctors
    • AHS Childhood Immunization Survey

November 10

  • Optimized Prescribing with Seniors: Deprescribing ChEl in LTC residents with progressive dementia
  • Does your President's Letter come from a former president?
  • User raves about AMA's privacy training
  • News from ACFP: Innovation in Addiction Medicine - Dr. Monty Ghosh
  • Make a positive impact on Alberta's health care: Join a CPSA committee
  • 2022 Tarrant Scholarship: Meet this year's recipients
  • TDIMM/AMA Medical Student Bursary: Apply today!
  • Financial planning for physicians - why you're different
  • Survey Corner:  Calgary Zone Survey: Primary Care Sleep Apnea Clinical Pathway

October 27

  • Connect Care Launch 5 scheduled for November 6
  • HQCA opens call for applications for 2023 Patient Experience Awards
  • $1 million in funding will expand targeted services available through PFSP
  • Updated breast cancer screening clinical practice guidelines released in Alberta
  • ACTT training now available to access through Learn@AMA!
  • News from ACFP:
    • Let's meet on Thursdays!
    • Doc Blog - "Medicine for the Gender Spectrum" by Dr. Charissa Ho
  • Making responsible investing the norm
  • Survey Corner
    • Having patients with advanced/decompensated/non-curative lung, heart, liver and kidney disease or solid organ cancers?
    • Awareness and perspectives on the role of artificial intelligence in primary care

October 14

  • Help us rebuild the AMA website!
  • Exciting new psychiatrist contract opportunity with PFSP
  • Call for nominations: Zonal/Regional RF delegates
  • Presidential ghosts in your inbox?
  • Sign up your privacy officer for AMA's privacy training
  • Bank of Canada raises interest rate: job's not done, more to come
  • Survey Corner
    • Are you a family physician educated in South Africa?
    • Is Alberta's surgical referral system working for you and your patients?

September 29

  • National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
  • Register for the AMA's Annual General Meeting
  • Help reduce the spread of communicable diseases
  • Want to curl this winter?
  • News from screeningforlife.ca
    • Lung cancer screening pilot project launched
    • Giving Alberta infants the best possible start to life
  • CPSA’s Competence Committee is looking for new members
  • Clinical opportunities
    • Impact of COVID-19 on colorectal cancer screening in Alberta
    • Cognitive Task Analysis Concept Mapping study on navigating cancer diagnosis
  • How to build a credit score in Canada: A guide for international medical grads
  • MD Culture Shift Issue #17 now available
  • AMA staff announcements: Service milestones and retirement
  • Survey Corner
    • Calgary Zone Survey: Primary Care Sleep Apnea Clinical Pathway
    • Medical cannabis perspectives

September 15

  • 2022-23 AMA/CMA membership: Keep standing with us
  • How to reduce anticholinergic burden to improve safety in older adults
  • Get extended health and dental coverage from the AMA: Time to enrol!
  • Enhance patient care, even when you can’t be there with CII/CPAR
  • News from WCB-AB
    • New medical cannabis and pharmaceutical cannabinoid policy
    • Virtual opioids information session
  • Alberta implementing HPV Test of Cure
  • News from ACFP
    • CMN Collab Forum: Unraveling and Treating the Epidemic of Pain in Children
    • Collaborative ECHO® session on cannabinoids and pain
  • What interest rate hikes mean for your mortgage
  • Travelling soon? Here's a checklist.

August 25

  • Make the most of your down time when you can take it
  • Learn@AMA launches more free privacy training for custodians & privacy officers!
  • Register today for AMA's media relations and social media training
  • U of A research findings support implementation of Alberta FAST program
  • ACFP's Chronic Pain Gains: An ECHO series is back for fall!
  • Travelling soon? Don’t forget trip cancellation/interruption insurance.
  • Survey Corner:
    • Is Alberta's surgical referral system working for you & your patients?
    • Pediatric Obesity Management in Canada

August 11

  • Notice of elections and changes to AMA Bylaws
  • Join more than 1,100 learners in taking AMA's online privacy training!
  • Apply today: Healthy Working Environments Advisory Committee
  • Note: Changes to serum IgE allergy testing for food and environmental inhalants
  • News from the Alberta College of Family Physicians:
    • Building AAWEARness through Advocacy and Education
    • First Five Years of Family Practice blog: Tip on Wellness
  • The inside scoop on being a CPSA councillor
  • WCB-Alberta's prescribed opioids policy is now open for consultation
  • Three strategies for physicians facing reduced cash flow
  • Reminders:
    • Register! AMA Health Benefits Trust Fund - information webinar
    • Family Medicine Enhanced Skills residency programs
  • Survey Corner:
    • Needs assessment for multi-disciplinary virtual men's health clinic

July 28

  • We're recruiting for the role of Assistant Executive Director, Professional Affairs
  • FAST zone program launch dates
  • AMA Health Benefits Trust Fund – information webinar
  • CMA launches new program for early-career physicians
  • Family Medicine Enhanced Skills residency programs
    • University of Alberta
    • University of Calgary
  • When it’s time to retire
  • Survey Corner:
    • Awareness, perspectives on the role of artificial intelligence in primary care
    • Resources for health care providers on Canada's conversion therapy ban

July 14

  • Update for primary care providers on COVID-19 testing changes
  • Optimized Prescribing with Seniors: Managing vertigo in older adults
  • Changes to thyroid hormone testing – provincial harmonization
  • Provincial access and intake program launching this summer
  • Practice closed? Patients waiting? Refer now.
  • What is the impact of COVID-19 on colorectal cancer screening screening in Alberta?
  • Thinking of a +1 Residency in 2023-24?
  • How a new pension plan for physicians will help provide peace of mind
  • Survey Corner:
    • Physicians’ perceptions of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in Alberta
    • Physician motivation toward tele-health care

June 30

  • 20 medical students received ADIUM Student Elective Travel Grant
  • Help us improve the AMA website?
  • Referral and consultation improvements between primary and specialty care
  • Notes and notifications help prevent patients from falling through the cracks
  • Apply for the 2022 CADDRA Indigenous Health Care Award
  • How finances are different when your spouse is a physician
  • Reminders: Call for applications
    • Indigenous Health Committee
    • South Zone Medical Staff Association Zone Advisory Forum
  • Survey Corner:
    • Are growth charts useful in communicating child growth to parents?
    • Help support family caregivers

June 16

  • Reminders
    • Serve on the Indigenous Health Committee (IHC)
  • What would you change about our website?
  • Questions about Connect Care Launch 4 and changes in information delivery?
  • Could you be our Dr. Gadget?
  • Call for applications: South Zone Medical Staff Society Zone Advisory Forum
  • Physicians Taking Care of Physicians: How Can I Help My Colleagues?
  • ACFP: Last ECHO® Before Summer Break - OUD and Chronic Pain
  • Clinical Opportunities
    • What is your approach to cancer diagnosis?
    • Improving heart failure symptom management for patients in the medical home
  • MD Culture Shift Issue #15 now available
  • When to draw your retirement income
  • Survey Corner: Local Practice in Alberta for Management of Chorioamnionitis

May 26

  • Reminders
    • Running Shoe Gala - May 28
    • AMA Achievement Awards
  • Practice closed? Patients waiting? Refer now.
  • PFSP presents virtual keynote session featuring General Roméo Dallaire
  • May 28 - Connect Care Launch 4
  • The Indigenous Health Committee is looking for applicants like you!
  • Reminder: AGM Working Group and Committee on Bylaws opportunities open
  • Call for applications: history of medicine scholarship and project grant
  • Who is the patient's family physician? Start looking in Netcare.
  • News from the Alberta College of Family Physicians
  • Have your say in improving cancer care
  • RRIF strategies to optimize your taxable income in retirement

May 12

  • Reminders
    • Call for applications: CAMSS ZAF
    • AMA Achievement Awards
  • Working group and committee opportunities open
  • Optimized Prescribing with Seniors: Vitamin B12 deficiency and metformin
  • Lace up for the comfiest fancy event you'll ever attend
  • News from the Alberta College of Family Physicians
  • New: MD Culture Shift Issue #14
  • MD Financial Management and Scotiabank support the AMA
  • Federal budget 2022: Highlights for physicians
  • Looking for a program to meet your professional development needs?

April 28

  • Reminders
    • AMA membership renewal
    • AMA Achievement Awards
  • Dr. Paul Parks is AMA’s 2022-23 President-Elect
  • AMA committee openings: Online applications opening soon
  • Call for applications: Calgary & Area Medical Staff Society ZAF
  • Bursary offsets escalating tuition fees: four grateful student testimonies
  • AMA proud sponsor of Dr. Pauline Alakija Trailblazer Award
  • News from the Alberta College of Family Physicians
    • Chronic Pain Gains in Alberta: An ECHO® Series by the ACFP’s CMN
    • Trauma-Informed Care and Repairing Relationships webinar is TONIGHT
    • ACFP Awards call for nominations deadline EXTENDED to May 1!
    • Celebrate WONCA’s World Family Doctor Day
    • Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy - film access and discussion
  • TPP Alberta has a new website: Share your feedback
  • Mortgage Solutions
  • Survey Corner: 
    • Developing Education for Family Physicians on Supporting Family Caregivers
    • Identifying concussion assessment measures typically used in clinic setting

April 14

  • Reminders
    • AMA membership renewal
    • AMA President-Elect 2022-23: Call for Nominations
  • Are there no great Alberta physicians out there? We don’t believe it.
  • Update on Paxlovid™ prescription transition to primary care
  • Enhanced AHS clinical documentation to be eDelivered to primary care providers
  • Help us celebrate physicians and inform the public for #NationalPhysiciansDay
  • MD/AMA Insurance webinar: Mistakes, Misconceptions and Solutions
  • Register today for the AMA's media relations and social media training
  • Remembering Grant Sorochan
  • New physician and patient resources available from HQCA
  • News from the Alberta College of Family Physicians
    • Chronic Pain Gains in Alberta: An ECHO® Series by the ACFP’s CMN
    • Trauma Informed Care and Repairing Relationships
  • New: MD Culture Shift Issue #13
  • Interest rate increase: What it means for physicians
  • Survey Corner: Feedback on fetal/gonadal shielding practices in diagnostic imaging

March 31

  • Reminders
    • AMA membership renewal
    • $7,500 scholarship applications due today!
    • AMA Achievement Awards nominations due April 30
  • AMA President-Elect 2022-23: Call for Nominations
  • MD/AMA Insurance webinar: Mistakes, Misconceptions and Solutions
  • See your Name In Lights.... We mean, Alberta Netcare Portal!
  • How to claim the small business air quality improvement tax credit
  • Become a PaRx prescriber: Canada's National Nature Prescription Program
  • Survey Corner
    • Double-Duty Canadian Caregivers: Impacts of COVID-19

March 17

  • Reminders
    • AMA membership renewal
    • Serve on CMA Board/committees – apply by March 21
    • $7,500 scholarship applications due March 31
    • AMA Achievement Awards nominations due April 30
  • Important update on test tube shortage
  • Optimized Prescribing with Seniors: Care at the end of life
  • Do you have patients recovering from COVID-19? WCB-AB post-COVID program.
  • Apply today for the 2022 Tarrant Scholarship!
  • Registration is open for the AMA's media relations and social media training
  • New physician recruitment website and platform coming March 31
  • Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
  • Spinal muscular atrophy newborn screening pilot program launches
  • ACFP News
    • Chronic Pain Gains in Alberta: An ECHO® Series open to all!
    • Opioid Use in Older Adults – Ideal vs. Actual Patient Journeys
  • New: MD Culture Shift issue #12
  • Keep your tax bill in check
  • Survey Corner
    • Screening cognition in patients with sensory impairment
    • Availability, cost and distribution of mental health services in Canada
    • Developing a roadmap for early diagnosis and rapid referral of probable amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

February 24

  • Reminders
    • AMA membership renewal
    • Zone Advisory Forum: CAMSS & EZMSA applications due February 28 
    • AMA/WCB Advisory Committee applications are due March 3
    • CMA – apply by March 21
    • AMA Achievement Awards nominations due April 30
  • Scholarship to help physicians meet Alberta's changing medical needs
  • New: Rural Education Supplement and Integrated Doctor Experience (RESIDE) program
  • Changes to MyAHS Connect proxy access
  • Five steps to minimize privacy breaches
  • Get your consults on Netcare to improve patient care
  • Member vacancy: AMHSP Advisory Council 
  • ACFP News
    • It's not too late to register for Family Medicine Summit
    • Recognizing excellence – The ACFP celebrates its 2021 recipients
    • Learn to tame pelvic pain TONIGHT
  • How to withdraw funds tax-efficiently in retirement
  • Survey Corner
    • Physicians’ perception of pharmacists prescribing opioids & controlled substances
    • Rural Trauma and Emergency Training Needs

February 10

  • Reminders
    • AMA Membership Renewal
    • Health Issues Council – apply by February 13
    • CMHF Laureates nominations due February 15
    • Zone Advisory Forum: CAMSS & EZMSA applications due February 28
    • CMA – apply by March 21
    • AMA Achievement Awards nominations due April 30
  • Connect Care identifiers & launch sequencing update
  • Important Netcare update: Access Administrators &/or Authorized Custodians
  • Join the AMA/WCB Advisory Committee
  • Register today for free privacy training!
  • New from AHS: Nutrition guideline for healthy infants & young children (food allergies)
  • ACFP News
    • Don’t Miss Early Bird Pricing for Family Medicine Summit
    • Recognizing Excellence – The ACFP Celebrates Its 2021 Recipients
    • Learn to Tame Pelvic Pain
  • New: MD Culture Shift issue #11
  • 5 financial tips for physicians in 2022
  • Survey Corner
    • Physicians’ perception of pharmacists prescribing opioids & controlled substances
    • Treatment options for chronic musculoskeletal pain

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