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