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Annual Review APRIL 2010
Canadian Federation of Medical StudentsY Y o u r v o i c e
WWW.CFMS.ORG
CFMS/FEMC
A penny saved is a penny earned p. 13
CFMS Lobby Day 2010 p. 18
Canada to host International Medical Students’ General Assembly
for the first time p. 31
An interview with Dr. Roberta Bondar p. 39
Edmonton to Oxford — from the Wild West to Hogwarts p. 59
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Contents
CFMS Letters
5 Errata 5 Letter from the editors 7 A letter from your CFMS
president
CFMS Activities 9 Education and the CFMS: new milestones for
2009–2010 11 Talk the talk, walk the walk 13 A penny saved is a
penny earned 14 The CFMS goes green! 15 Inspiring projects funded
by the Student Initiative
Grants 17 News from the CFMS Political Advocacy Committee 18
CFMS Lobby Day 2010 20 Broad differentials — thoughts from an
Ontario
regional rep 21 Medical student parents 22 The CFMS
Institutional Memory Project 24 CFMS and FMEQ: united for success
25 Healthier medical students, healthier patients 26 CFMS blood
drive update – 810 units donated in
2009! 28 Building interprofessional partnerships 29 Behind the
scenes @ cfms.org
Global Health
31 Canada to host International Medical Students’General
Assembly for the first time
32 Bringing global health learning opportunities to
CFMSstudents
34 Healing ourselves through cultural awareness — asweat lodge
experience
36 One day for neglected tropical diseases
Featured Interview
39 Featured interview — Dr. Roberta Bondar
Initiatives and Opinions
43 Student-based community outreach initiatives at theUniversity
of Toronto
44 Gearing up for and kicking off another year at SHINE 46
Partnership in curriculum renewal — a student’s role
in the education of future physicians 47 Enhancing HIV medical
education: a sustainable stu-
dent-run initiative at the University of Toronto 49 New kid on
the block: UBC medical journal takes off! 50 Queen’s Medical
Review: five issues and counting! 51 Tracking radiation exposure
from radiology and related
exams, using “Radiation Passport” for the iPhone 53 Bill C-384 —
euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide
in Canada
Articles and Creative Works
55 Epic moments in medicine — airways 56 It was all Greek to me
58 Artwork 59 Edmonton to Oxford — from the Wild West to
Hogwarts 60 Oxford: sunny outlook 61 Shine a light 62
Photography 63 Palliative care in four sentences 63 Midnight call
64 Medicine (and TV bingo) in Baie Verte
Alumni Review
65 From CFMS to CFMS – lessons in leadership 67 Where they are
now? 68 CFMS alumni babies
Your CFMS Executive and Representatives
69 CFMS Executive 2009–2010 70 CFMS School Representatives
Cover photo credits: Jupiterimages
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The CFMS is very pleased to present the 2010 edition of the CFMS
Annual Review —our annual report to members. As this compilation of
articles will illustrate, this hasbeen yet another exciting and
wonderful year of growth and success for our organiza-tion as well
as for our members.
The Annual Review is divided into numerous sections. The first,
titled “CFMS activities”contains the latest updates on projects
carried out by the CFMS executive and officers, astasked by the
general membership. Whether it is issues of political advocacy, the
environment,student wellness, member services, interorganizational
collaboration, website changes, blooddrives or medical education,
our team has been working hard to represent you and bring youthe
services you need.
The CFMS is proud to announce that we will be joining the
Fédération médicale étudi-ante du Québec (FMEQ) in hosting the 59th
General Assembly (in Montréal) and pre-General Assembly (in Ottawa)
of the International Federation of Medical Students’Associations
(IFMSA) in July–August 2010. The great teamwork between these
sister organ-izations guarantees an unforgettable event! You can
find out more about this and other globalhealth program updates in
the second section.
Our feature interview this year is with Dr. Roberta Bondar, the
first Canadian woman inspace. Despite her busy schedule, she was
kind enough to chat with the Annual Review abouther struggles and
triumphs as a clinician, researcher, astronaut and educator. We
would liketo thank the Canadian Undergraduate Conference on
Healthcare executive, especially GaryKo of Queen’s Medicine Class
of 2013, for facilitating the interview.
Finally, we would like to share with you the initiatives,
opinions, experiences, creativeworks and art of medical students
from coast to coast. Join a clerkship student for ICU roundswith
Dr. House, learn more about student-driven clinics and journals,
travel with students torural areas and abroad or simply enjoy some
poetry and art. We hope these will bring youlaughter, inspiration
and a few deep thoughts. We were overwhelmed by the number of
sub-missions received this year, but, unfortunately, due to space
limitations, it is with deep regretthat we were not able to include
them all.
Last but not least, the Annual Review concludes with a section
featuring CFMS alumni:what they have learned and where they are
now. Certainly, a few pearls of wisdom that everymedical student
could use!
The Annual Review thanks the Canadian Medical Association
publishing staff and ourgenerous advertisers, without whom the
Annual Review would not be possible.
We hope that you will enjoy reading this year’s CFMS Annual
Review.
Letter from the editors
Meiqi Guo, CFMSAnnual Review Editor,Queen’s University,Class of
2011
Ijab Khanafer, CFMSVP Communications,University of Ottawa,Class
of 2011
CFMS Letters
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 5
Correction: Shawn Mondoux and Mathew Li’s photographs were
featured on CFMS AnnualReview’s 2009 cover but their names were
accidentally omitted from the photo credits. TheCFMS Annual Review
would like to apologize to Shawn and Mathew for the error.
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Welcome to the 2009–2010 CFMS Annual Review! The CFMS is
Canada’s nation-al medical student organization, representing over
7200 medical students fromacross the country, and the Annual Review
is our opportunity to report on theefforts of our organization and
to showcase the work of Canadian medical students. The workplan for
the year is set by our membership at our Annual General Meeting.
Guided by ourthree pillars — representation, communication and
services — the 2009–2010 agenda hasbeen filled with important
projects.
As has been the trend for the past few years, the CFMS continues
to grow both in thenumber of students participating in our
organization and in the diversity of initiatives under-taken. With
this increase in size comes the challenge of managing our growth
responsibly toensure that the CFMS is as strong an organization as
possible. We’ve endeavoured to do justthat with our institutional
memory project, our policy paper review, the creation of
anappointments and review committee, a thorough review of our
financial policies and otherinitiatives. With this work, we’ll
ensure that the CFMS is a strong advocate for students anda strong
contributor in the medical education community for years to
come.
This has been the inaugural year for the CFMS National
Leadership Awards program,which recognizes students, residents and
faculty who have made a significant positive contri-bution to the
lives of medical students. Other new initiatives include travel
rewards for CFMSmeetings, a branding project to expose more
students to the work of the CFMS, as well as areview of the various
issues surrounding professionalism as requested by our
membership.
Probably the most exciting news of this year is that the CFMS
Global Health Programin partnership with IFMSA–Québec has been
chosen to host the 59th International GeneralAssembly (GA) of
medical students in Montréal and the pre-GA in Ottawa in
July–August2010. Preparations have been underway for well over a
year and this promises to be anextraordinary event.
In addition to all of these new initiatives, the CFMS continues
to advocate a fairer visit-ing student elective system, to examine
distributed medical education from the student per-spective and to
optimize our website.
I am happy to report that the Student Initiative Grants, which
provides start-up moneyto worthy medical student initiatives; the
Political Advocacy Committee; the Global HealthAdvocates and many
of our other programs have also enjoyed a highly successful
year.
As you can see from the descriptions above, 2009–2010 has been a
very busy year for theCFMS in terms of advocating for medical
students, giving them a means to communicateacross the country and
providing them with services that make their lives a little bit
easier.
The articles that follow outline the events of 2009–2010 as seen
by our executive, ourrepresentatives, our members and our alumni.
We hope that you will find them informativeand enjoyable. Please
contact me, any member of the executive or your local
representative ifyou want to learn more about your
organization.
Yours sincerely,
A letter from your CFMS president
All editorial matter in CFMS Annual Review 2009 represents the
opinions of the authors and not necessarilythose of the Can adian
Federation of Medical Students (CFMS). The CFMS assumes no
responsibility or liabilityfor damages arising from any error or
omission or from the use of any information or advice herein.
Tyler Johnston, CFMS President McMaster University,Class of
2010
CFMS Letters
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 7
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The VP education role is anincredible one within theCFMS. Not
only is this personcharged with something that all med-ical
students take to heart, their educa-tion, but they also play an
importantrole representing CFMS to outsideorganizations. As I write
this article, Iam in Québec City to representCanadian medical
students at the annu-al meeting of the Canadian NursingStudents’
Association.
As a medical student in Ottawa,the opportunities to attend
meetingshave been many. This year I will haveattended upwards of 20
meetings, viaphone or in person, and will have rep-resented all of
you to organizationssuch as the Canadian Medical Asso ci -a tion,
the Canadian ResidentMatching Service, the CanadianMedical Forum,
the Association ofFaculties of Medi cine of Canada(AFMC), the
Federa tion of MedicalRegulatory Authorities of Canada,
allprovincial and territorial medicalassociations, as well as many
otherstudent groups. At the CFMS, wetake pride in properly and
adequatelyrepresenting our members. I amhappy to fulfill part of
this importantmandate for the CFMS.
Now to the more important, member-mandated issues. Lookingback
to the AGM in Thunder Bay,mem bers tasked this portfolio with
fourmajor issues.
The Distributed MedicalEducation report and guideThe DME report
is the continuation
of the national survey that was con-ducted last year by then-VP
educa-tion, Tyler Johnston, and it willlargely centre around survey
find-ings. By surveying a significant pro-portion of our
membership, theCFMS has walked away with animportant shopping list
of issues thatare important to medical student aswell as a whole
ensemble of lessonslearned. With this information, weplan to draft
the DME guide, a how-to document for getting medical stu-dent
societies involved in the DMEinstallation and quality
assuranceprocess. This guide will include theLCME standards that
are necessaryfor accreditation and it will alsomake use of lessons
learned to sug-gest areas of increased need anddetail to ensure
good, healthy DMEprograms.
The professionalism portfolioProfessionalism, in the context of
themedical student, is generally limitedto the Hippocratic Oath or
somevariation thereof, which is taken atthe beginning of our days
as medicalstudents. Although our obligationsto patients remain
largely intactsince the days of Hippocrates, otherissues like
social media and personalhealth tend not to be adequatelyaddressed.
If only Hippocrates hadFacebook!
That said, the CFMS believesthere is a need to draft a national
policyfor medical students on professional-ism, on what it
represents, on who itbelongs to and into which realms it
extends. The goal is to provide a student-generated document
that allmedical societies can lean on. The workis moving along
quite well and we lookforward to seeing the fruits of ourlabour at
the end of the year.
When it comes towork hours, theCFMS is hearingthat students
arebeing kept longerand resting lessin their clerkship
year.
Clerk stipends and work hoursHow much do clerks get paid in
theirfourth year? Are there rules and limitsto work hours for
clerks?
These are important questionsthat are being asked by our
member-ship and ones that we are answering.In early February, the
basic paymentstipends for those in their final yearof study were
sent out to all membersfor review. Information is power andwe
encourage provincial studentgroups to lobby their schools
andgovernments for additional stipend
Education and the CFMS:new milestones for 2009–2010Shawn
MondouxVP Educa tionUniversity of Ottawa, Class of 2011
CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 9
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recognition if theirs is below thenational average.
When it comes to work hours,the CFMS is hearing that studentsare
being kept longer and resting lessin their clerkship year. Our
request isthat clinical clerks should adhere tothe same provincial
contract stan-dards as negotiated by the provincialresident bodies
and that these guide-lines be policed by the schools. Wewill be
giving students the chance todiscuss the issues surrounding
theirclerkship hours and then we will
bring our finding to the AFMC.Together, we hope to improve
thecurrent situation.
Collaborate with other CFMSmembers on a variety
ofprojectsCollaboration is the cornerstone of theexecutive of the
CFMS. It’s difficult tofind a project that doesn’t involvemany
members of the executives.From global health to the environmen-tal
working groups, we are workingtogether to make each project a
reality.
This is a mandate that our member-ship gives us every year and
one thatwe are happy to fulfill.
As always, we encourage ourmembership to get in touch to
discussthese issues. Students from across thecountry are welcome to
help us withour mandates.
Whether you have questions,encouragement or criticism, take
theopportunity to get in touch.
Please contact me at shawn .mondoux @cfms.org to make yourviews
heard!
CFMS Activities
APRIL 201010 CFMS Annual Review
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 11
As VP Communications, Ihave had the privilege thisyear of
working with a groupof incredibly hard-working and dedi-cated
students. As you read throughthe pages of this Review, I hope
thatyou are also instilled with a feeling ofpride for what
individual studentsand the CFMS have accomplished sofar this
year.
My role within the CFMS isdivided into internal and
externalcommunications.
Internal Communication
The website — As directed by themembership at the Annual
GeneralMeeting (AGM) in Thunder Bay inSeptember 2009, I have
tackled thereformatting of the CFMS website.At the end of Phase I
in December2009, the layout had been changedto make it more
intuitive, accessibleand user-friendly. Most notably, the“News and
Events” tab has beendivided into “News”, “Events” and“Documents”.
The latter will finallyregroup all our important docu-ments in one
area. This includes theAnnual Review, position papers, theResidency
Matchbook, Rep commu-niqués, the Green charter and meet-ing
minutes. Members can nowaccess CFMS press releases, articlesabout
the CFMS and the MediaRapid Response Team’s letters to theeditor
under “News”. Informationabout CFMS General meetings,
Lobby Day and conferences can befound under “Events”.
Phase II will see changes to theGlobal Health section, the
additionof an Advocacy section to promoteand accommodate the work
of thePolitical Advocacy Committee(PAC) and finally, a
reorganizationof the Interviews Database.
Communications with members —In order to better inform our
mem-bers (from first year through tofourth year) about CFMS
services,representation and communicationefforts, I have initiated
the“Branding project”. Due to be pre-sented at the Spring
GeneralMeeting (SGM), this project hopesto increase the visibility
of theCFMS amongst members and to fos-ter conversation about what
we do asan organization. A series of CFMS-branded products for
students in allyears will complement the clipboardsusually given to
first-year medicalstudents.
Bilingualism — During the secondhalf of my mandate, I will be
lookingat how to increase the bilingualnature of the CFMS. Becoming
anorganization able to fully function inFrench and in English is
importantto better serve our members and tobetter represent
ourselves nationally.
And everything else — I’ve also con-tinued to do what the VP Com
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muni ca tions does best — assistingthe Publications Editor with
theAnnual Review, moderating CFMSlistservs, sending biweekly
commu-niqués to CFMS Representatives,recording minutes at meetings
andfacilitating overall communicationsbetween reps and exec
members.
External Communication
Media Rapid Response Team —This team got off to a start
inFebruary 2010 and will continue onpast my mandate as the current
VPCommunications until December2010 to ensure continuity. The
teamscours through press clippings tofind and respond to issues of
impor-tance to the CFMS. Thank you toAlim Nagji (U of A, Class of
2012)and Christine Zadorozny (MUN,Class of 2011) for their hard
work!
Press relations — I am very happy
Talk the talk, walk the walk
Ijab KhanaferVP CommunicationsUniversity of Ottawa, Class of
2011
www.cfms.org
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 201012 CFMS Annual Review
to report that the CFMS has issuedtwo press releases so far this
year. Incoordination with the David SuzukiFoundation, the Canadian
MedicalAssociation and the CanadianNurses Association, the CFMS
con-tributed to “Prescription forCanada’s Prime Minister: Put
globalhealth at the centre of UN climatesummit”. This was released
to markthe United Nations Climate ChangeConference held in
Copenhagen inDecember 2009.
The second press release was also
preceded by a press alert, and thiswas to promote our Lobby Day
inOttawa. Media attention was fantas-tic and greater than expected!
ThreeCBC radio interviews and numerouspublications, including
Canwestnewspapers across the country,CMAJ and the Epoch Times
broughtCFMS’ Lobby Day to the Canadianpublic!
Lobby Day — I had the great pleas-ure of organizing Lobby Day
2010with Harbir S. Gill (PAC Chair) and
Ashley Miller (University of OttawaPAC rep). An article follows
aboutour successes this year!
This has been a fantastic yearwith the CFMS and I am excited
tosee us continuously grow as an organ-ization.
The CFMS is your Federation,your Voice. Use it to maximize
itspotential!
If you have any comments, ques-tions or feedback, please do not
hes-itate to contact me at [email protected].
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Danielle RodinVP ServicesUniversity of Toronto, Class of
2012
A penny saved is a penny earnedCFMS gives you a hand with your
student budget
Many students startingmedical school soon real-ize that their
dream ofbecoming a doctor comes with ahefty price tag. The costs of
medicalschool and all of its trimmings addup quickly, which is why
the CFMShas stepped in to help lighten thispotential debt load.
Textbook discountsAt the start of each school year, wereceive
list upon list of “recommend-ed” texts. But how do we know if
wewill actually use them? How do weknow whether they will be
helpful or ifthey will just be a hit to our pocket-book? The CFMS
Textbook ReviewCommittee can help with this dilem-ma. They’ve
undertaken textbookreviews, which are posted online andprovide tips
on which books to keepon your bookshelf.
The CFMS also offers discounts.This year, we offered 10% off on
allbooks published by Elsevier. Lookonline for Elsevier books that
havebeen peer-reviewed and endorsed.Starting clerkship? Check out
the 20%discount on pocketbooks by DavidHui. If you want to review
medicalscenarios for your OSCE, get 15% offthe cost of Case Files:
Anatomy andCase Files: Physiology published byMcGraw Hill. If
you’re entering 4thyear, check out our 20% discount onEssentials
for the Canadian Licensing
Exam, provided to you by LippincottWilliams and Wilkins.
Electronic education softwareAfter a while, carrying all those
bookson your back may start to hurt. CFMSand Skyscape are offering
an amazingdeal on electronic educational softwarefor all CFMS
members. You can get25% off educational resources for yourPDA and
Smartphone.
Vision correctionAfter all that reading, your eyesmight be
pretty strained. Throwaway those glasses and book anappointment at
Lasik MD for visioncorrection with CFMS membercourtesy pricing and
discounts.
InsuranceYou’ve worked hard to become aphysician, so it’s
important to protectyourself should illness or disabilitybefall
you. We are pleased to offerCanada’s best disability insurance
formedical students and residents byKirkham and Jack. This offer is
avail-able exclusively to CFMS members.
CaRMS assistanceGetting nervous about CaRMS?Worried about how
you’re going tofund all of your interview travels? Feellike you
need a vacation, when it’s alldone? The CFMS negotiated 10% offall
regularly priced flights on WestJet
from 28 Dec. 2009 through 1 April2010. When you arrive at your
desti-nation, check into one of the ChoiceHotels partners and
receive 20% off.To access and book these discounts,log into the
“Member Benefits” section on our website. If the hotel istoo much
of a splurge, check out our“billeting” database to see what
fellowstudents’ apartment you may be ableto crash at.
We are constantly at work toimprove our services and to help
youon your path to the MD mark. Pleasefeel free to offer
suggestions and let usknow about other ways that we can beof
service. Keep checking our user-friendly website at www.cfms.org
forinformation on all our discounts andon new developments.
CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 13
To access these services, go towww .cfms .org and click on
“Member Benefits.” If you don’thave a CFMS account yet,
sign-upat www.cfms.org /signup.asp. The
sign-up code for this year isavailable to you through yourCFMS
representative. Fill in all
the other fields and make up yourown username and password.
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In 2009, the CFMS joined thegrowing environmental
sustain-ability movement happeningworldwide by adopting the
CFMSGreen Charter at our biannual generalmeeting in Edmonton. The
GreenCharter was a major first step both interms of recognizing the
responsibilitymedical students have in supporting ahealthy
environment and in realizingthis responsibility as an
organizationby adopting environmentally responsi-ble practices.
Since the unanimousshow of support in adopting the GreenCharter,
there has been a growing buzzwithin the CFMS to green our
activi-ties and support our member schoolsin their new and ongoing
environmen-tal projects.
In December before the UnitedNations climate change
conference(COP 15) in Copenhagen, theCFMS sent an open letter
to
Environment Minister Jim Prenticeand Canada’s party leaders,
urgingCanadian participation in aggressiveglobal action on climate
change.Through this letter, the CFMSjoined many other prominent
med-ical organizations, such as The RoyalCollege of Physicians and
Surgeons,in warning about critical emergingenvironmental health
issues.
Organizationally, the GlobalHealth Program’s
EnvironmentalWorking Group, now in its secondyear, is continuing to
make the CFMSas environmentally responsible as pos-sible. The group
undertook an audit ofour progress in implementing theGreen Charter
and developed a guidefor member schools interested in tak-ing on
environmental projects.Through the guide, we’re hopingmember
medical societies will learnfrom successful projects at other
schools and develop them to fit thegreen needs of their own
students.
By continuing to build on theGreen Charter, the CFMS will
increaseits commitment to environmentalrespon sibility. With the
ongoing effortsof the Environmental Working Group,the CFMS and our
members, environ-mental considerations will becomefully integrated
into our activities as anorganization, as well as a defining partof
who we are as medical students andmedical professionals. It’s an
excitingtime to “go green,” and we look for-ward to sharing our
progress with youat the 2010 spring general meeting inSt. John’s,
Newfoundland!
To get involved with the Environ -mental Working Group, please
contactCait Champion, Ontario RegionalRepresentative
([email protected]). Also, check out our GreenCharter on the
CFMS website!
The CFMS goes green!
Cait ChampionOntario Regional RepresentativeUniversity of
Toronto, Class of 2012
CFMS Activities
APRIL 201014 CFMS Annual Review
“When the earth is sick and polluted, human health is
impossible. To heal ourselves we must heal our planet, and to heal
our planet
we must heal ourselves.”— Bobby McLeod, (Koori activist)
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 15
Back by popular demand, thisyear’s CFMS Student InitiativeGrants
have been a huge successonce again. The CFMS has set asidefunding
for projects started by medicalstudents at our 14 member
schools.The CFMS is looking to fund creative,sustainable
initiatives that align withCFMS priorities, increase CFMS
visibility and promote inter-school collaboration.
The ideas and enthusiasm gener-ated by the first round of
applicationshas been overwhelming. With a whop-ping 20
applications, we were happy tobe able to fund 10! Below are
threeexamples of projects that the CFMSStudent Initiative Grants
funded.Read on to be inspired by the work ofyour peers from coast
to coast!
Black Medical Students’Association of CanadaMariam Deria,
McMaster University
When I started medical school orien-tation back in September
2009, Isaw a sea of future physicians fillingthe lecture hall and
noticed that Iwas one of four students ofBlack/African descent in
the class of196 students. I am a strong believerthat health care
professionals mustbe a microcosm of the communitythat they
represent and, in thisrespect, there is much room forimprovement.
To contribute to achange, I decided, along with one ofmy fellow
classmates, to launch theBlack Medical Students Associationof
Canada (BMSAC).
With this organization, we planto establish resources and
specificprograms targeted toward increas-ing recruitment and
retention ofBlack Canadians, an underrepre-sented minority in
medicine. Werecognize the role that we as futurephysicians will
play in health care,and we are committed to support-ing and
enhancing academic, pro-fessional and networking opportu-nities for
Black premedical stu-dents, medical students, residentsand
physicians.
We hope that www.bmsa cana-da.ca will be a one-stop shop
forinformation and resources. Theorganization is structured to
pro-mote interschool collaborationamong the 14 CFMS member med-ical
schools in Canada. We plan onhaving one representative from
eachschool. This will allow us to spreadthe message of the BMSAC,
recruitnew members and ensure the sus-tainability of the
program.
“On Exam” — iPod/iPhoneapplicationMatt Strickland and Geeta
Yadav,
Northern Ontario School of Medicine
Despite the fact that over 30,000iPod/iPhone applications are
avail-able today, none of them provides asystem-by-system reference
guidefor clinical skills that every medicalstudent in Canada must
learn. Ourproject is to create a free app called“On Exam” that will
fill this gap bydisplaying reference information
on how to take a history and con-duct a physical examination
forvarious organ systems in a user-friendly format.
The ideas andenthusiasm
generated by thefirst round of
applications hasbeen overwhelming.
This application is gearedtoward junior medical students,
butthird- and fourth-year clerks canbenefit from having, at their
finger-tips, a reference on how to do aproper exam or obtain a
focused his-tory. Having this sort of informationavailable in their
pockets would givemedical students a tool they can useon the wards
to quickly brush up ontheir skills or even as a study aid
forOSCEs.
“First, Do No Harm” — adocumentaryTimothy Holland and Alyson
Horne-
Douma, Dalhousie University
We are second-year medical studentswith a passion for and
backgroundin global health. After participating
Inspiring projects fundedby the Student Initiative GrantsJanet
FergusonWestern Regional RepresentativeUniversity of Saskatchewan,
Class of 2011
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in projects in developing countries and talkingwith other
students, medical professionals at uni-versities across Canada and
national organiza-tions, we found ourselves questioning how andwhy
we undertake humanitarian and develop-ment work in under-resourced
countries.Discussions around the ethical dilemmas of thiskind of
work have been taking place quietlyamong some experts in the field,
but we want tohelp bring these issues into the mainstream.
Armed with experience in short film-making,we have begun to
produce a documentary titled“First, Do No Harm.” The film explores
the ethicalchallenges facing health care professionals and
stu-dents doing electives, work and volunteer place-ments in
developing countries.
The film will highlight the often unexam-ined ethical pitfalls
associated with foreignmedical efforts in a developing nation. It
willbe a resource for students and professionalsseeking global
health experience and facultiesof medicine, hospitals and clinics
wanting tostrengthen pre-existing programs or developnew
collaborative projects with internationalpartners. We hope that by
using film, we willbe able to capture the passion and energy
ofthose engaged in global health initiatives andincrease dialogue
among professionals and stu-dents in this field.
The deadline for the next round of applicationsfor the CFMS
Student Initiative Grants was28 Feb. 2010. Best of luck to those
who applied!
CFMS Activities
APRIL 201016 CFMS Annual Review
Rural Ontario Medical ProgramDiscover what the
Can do for you...Core and elective
rotations in family medicine and select specialties
Accommodation and travel funding for clerks and residents
Faculty development
Preceptor funding
Providing clinical experiences to medical trainees for over
twenty years.
Toll Free: 1-877-445-7667 [email protected] ~
www.romponline.com
Rural Ontario Medical Program
...New preceptors always welcome!
Rural Ontario Medical ProgramDiscover what the
Rural Ontario Medical ProgramDiscover what the
Rural Ontario Medical ProgramDiscover what the
Rural Ontario Medical ProgramRural Ontario Medical ProgramRural
Ontario Medical ProgramRural Ontario Medical ProgramCan do for
you...
Rural Ontario Medical Program o for you...
Core and elective rotations in family
Rural Ontario Medical ProgramCan do for you...
Core and elective rotations in family rotations in family
medicine and select specialties
Accom and travel funding
rotations in family medicine and select specialties
Accommodation and travel funding and travel funding for clerks
and residents
Faculty development
and travel funding for clerks and
Faculty development
Providing clinical Providing
Preceptor funding
...New preceptors always welcome! ...New preceptors
Preceptor funding
always welcome!clinical experiences to medical trainees for over
twenty years.
T
experiences to
trainees for over twenty
oll Free: 1-877-445-7667 TToll Free: 1-877-445-7667 oll Free:
1-877-445-7667 [email protected]
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oll Free: 1-877-445-7667 TToll Free: 1-877-445-7667 ponline.com
~ .romwww
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oll Free: 1-877-445-7667 ponline.com
Rural Ontario Medical Program
Society of Rural Physicians of Canada
Ask not what the country can do for you; Ask what you can do in
the country!
WWW.SRPC.CA
-
CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 17
In recent years, the CFMS has beencommendably increasing its
grass-roots involvement in all areas, butthis is especially true
for its PoliticalAdvocacy Committee (PAC)! Since itshumble
beginning just three years ago,the PAC has morphed into a
thinktank, producing numerous positionpapers on a variety of
topics, and actsas a feedback mechanism to inform theCFMS on future
national advocacydirections. This year, it has trans-formed into a
full-fledged lobbyingmachine! Each school’s PAC represen-tative is
charged with surveying stu-dent interests, then forming a teamand
lobbying on those issues, whetherthey pertain to the government,
uni-versity administration or even thecommunity.
One exciting event during thispast year was the 2nd Annual
PanAlberta Political Action Day. PAC rep-resentatives from the
universities ofAlberta and Calgary collaborated toorganize an event
in which 50 medicalstudents met with 45 MPPs in theirlegislature
offices in Edmonton (53%of all sitting members!) to convincethem to
increase funding of a ruralclerkship program. Before the meet-
ings, students received a full day oftraining on effective
lobbying — anamazing achievement — congratula-tions!
Aside from Ontario’s OMSALeadership Initiative and
Alberta’sPolitical Action Day, no other provin-cial government
lobbying initiativescurrently exist. However, CFMS PACreps in five
other provinces are work-ing toward establishing such an eventat
their school and it will be very excit-ing to see their
achievements.
Other advocacy work comingdown the pipeline is in the areas
ofmaking schools more environmentallyfriendly, Aboriginal health,
studentfinances and distributed medical edu-cation. At some
schools, some PACreps have even taken the initiative toset up
partnerships with the GlobalHealth Advocate program.
A number of schools are pursuingthe issue of economic diversity
ofmedical school classes. Many PACrepresentatives are focusing on
allevi-ating this problem using a multifac-eted approach targeting
admissionstandards and outreach programs.These efforts complement
the newadvocacy direction of the CFMS with
regard to its annual Lobby Day inOttawa (this year held on 29
March2010), where economic diversity wasthe topic of discussion
with MPs.PAC representatives are not only par-ticipating in this
event, but are alsotaking ownership of its organizationby
undertaking issue research, provid-ing preliminary training for
delegatesand issuing MP invitations.Moreover, at the first ever
CFMSPAC Conference on 27 March 2010,PAC representatives will be
meetingto discuss their schools’ initiatives andreceive advocacy
training.
An indirect effect of these excitinginitiatives is that all
students involvedwith the PAC are receiving advocacytraining.
Despite being one of the keycompetencies in accreditation
criteria,advocacy remains largely untaught inCanadian schools. It
is something besttaught experientially and this is pre-cisely the
kind of thing we are doing inthe PAC. In addition, numerousschools
are organizing advocacy train-ing workshops for their students.
We’re all excited about how far wecan go this year — stay tuned!
Contactyour local PAC rep if you’re interestedin getting
involved!
News from the CFMSPolitical Advocacy CommitteeHarbir S. Gill
Chair, CFMS National Political Advocacy Committee and Western
Canada Regional Representative University of Alberta, Class of
2011
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 201018 CFMS Annual Review
Lobby day is one of the CFMS’signature annual events duringwhich
medical students fromacross the nation come to ParliamentHill in
Ottawa to speak with policymakers on issues of importance.
Thisevent is meant to inspire students tobecome more politically
aware andactive in their society. Physicians havea tremendous
ability to shape decisionsaround health policy and Lobby
Dayprovides students with an opportunityto experience this process
early on.
This year’s Lobby Day, held on29 March 2010, was an incredible
success! The event was attended by 58delegates from all 14 CFMS
memberschools and attracted almost 100meetings with Members of
Parliament,Senators and bureaucrats. This is thelargest number of
meetings that the
CFMS has had in the event’s history!New this year, the Lobby Day
topic
advocated for increased economic andgeographic diversity in our
medicalschools. Survey data indicates that med-ical school is not
accessible to rural andlow-income students. Our stated posi-tion
was that inadequate admission oflow-income and rural students is
reduc-ing physician accessibility in underser-viced areas.
Delegates explained thatstudents with rural backgrounds are
2.5times more likely to practice in a ruralcommunity, while
students with low-income backgrounds are more likely toserve
low-income patients. Studentsfrom either of these backgrounds
arealso more likely to practice as familyphysicians, a discipline
in whichCanada is experiencing significantshortages.
On behalf of the CFMS, studentdelegates asked MPs and Senators
to:1. Acknowledge that the lack of
diversity in medicine is an impor-tant health care issue and
committo working toward short-term andlong-term solutions.
2. Establish a task force investigatingthe implementation of
methods toincrease diversity in our medicalschools, such as those
that havebeen initiated in Australia and theUnited States,
including: • Offering monetary incentives to
interested medical schools pro-posing strategies for
increasingthe enrolment of students fromlow-income and rural
back-grounds.
• Establishing applicant grantprograms to assist students in
CFMS Lobby Day 2010Future physicians call on politicians to help
broaden the make-up of Canada’smedical schools
Ijab Khanafer VP Communications, University of Ottawa, Class of
2011
Harbir S. GillChair, CFMS Political Advocacy Committee,
University of Alberta, Class of 2011
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Medical student population Canadian population
Rural origin
Population income > $120,000
Population income < $40,000
Comparison of average family income and rural origin in medical
student and Canadian populations
39.7%
15.4%
4.9%
29.1%
22.4%
10.8%
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CFMS ActivitiesRO
SEM
ARY
CON
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E
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 19
financial need with the significant costs of applying to
med-ical school.
The Lobby Day ‘Ask’ was very well received by the majority
ofMPs, Senators and bureaucrats. Lobby Day organizers will be
following up with a number of them regarding recommendationsthat
they have made, including suggestions to work through theStanding
Committee on Health.
Before their meetings, student delegates took part in a full
dayof training. This was marked by a series of speakers,
includingaddresses from Dr. Jeff Turnbull, CMA president-elect;
Paul Dewar,MP for Ottawa Centre and Graeme Wilkes, Manager,
GovernmentRelations and Advocacy at the CMA.
Also new this year, the CFMS National Political AdvocacyCommit
tee (PAC) was heavily involved in the planning of theevent. This
consisted of the development of the argumentation, theadvanced
preparation of delegates and the invitation to MPs. Wewould
especially like to thank Ashley Miller, the U of O PAC
rep-resentative, as she deserves special recognition for her role
as theResearch Team Leader. Her contributions on the research
anddevelopment of this issue was key to the success of this
initiative.
Of note, Lobby Day weekend was extended to include a first-ever
Political Advocacy Committee Con fer ence Day for PAC
repre-sentatives on Satur day, 27 March. On this day, the leaders
in politicaladvocacy at each campus congregated in Ottawa and
received specialtraining on becoming better advocates, both at
their schools and inthe future. High profile speakers included Dr.
Robert Conn,Founder of SMARTRISK and PAIRO CEO; Laurel Craib,
CMAAssociate Director, Government Relations and Federico
Carvajal,Canadian Federa tion of Students (CFS) Ontario field
worker.
If you have any comments, questions or feedback about LobbyDay,
please contact Ijab Khanafer at vpcommunica [email protected] Harbir
S. Gill at [email protected].
Lobby Day in numbers
• # of student delegates: 58
• # of meetings: 96
• # of delegates/meeting: 2
• # of meetings/delegate: 3–4
• # of radio interviews: 4
• # of media articles: 22
• # of MPs who tweeted about
meeting: 4
Did you know?Canadian medical schools are aware ofthis problem:•
The accreditation standards haverecently been revised to require
thatevery Canadian medical school showproof of initiatives to
increase diversity,including economic and geographic.
• The Association of Faculties ofMedicine of Canada (AFMC)
recom-mended in a report funded by HealthCanada that every Canadian
medicalschool enhance admission processesto foster increased
diversity and thecreation of a representative
physicianworkforce.
PAC members withDr. Robert Conn,Founder of SMARTRISK,PAIRO CEO
and one ofthe founding presidentsof the CFMS.
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 201020 CFMS Annual Review
Iwaited about eight minutes infront of the closed (and
locked)residents’ office door. Now, afterseveral months of
experience, I knowbetter than to just stand and wait. “Onthe first
day of your neurology rota-tion,” said the administrative
email,“please meet the senior resident at0800 in the residents’
room.” Thatseemed easy enough, but we all knowsenior residents are
busy people andwon’t necessarily be waiting for you,the fresh, new
clinical clerk, to arrive.
A helpful ward nurse solved thedilemma and I quickly found
myselfabsorbed into the productive atmos-phere of inpatient
medicine. But as abrand new clerk, I felt two tonsils shyof
completely useless. That’s when Imet Jill and Wei. Both
final-yearmedical students from their respectiveschools, these two
immediatelybecame helpful comrades. Jill showedme how to jot down
bloodwork ’lytesand the neat trick of folding over thelast third of
your patient list to pro-vide more room for notes. Wei care-fully
took me through the task of cor-roborating PowerChart meds datawith
what the patient was actuallygetting.
Later on in a busy emergencyroom, another clerk, this time
fromout west, complemented my meticu-lous (if painstakingly
time-consuming)suturing technique and shared fun
facts about cat-scratch disease. Amonth later, a former CFMS
executivemember and I found ourselves piggingout on ice cream while
drooling overcharacters from “The Tudors.” KellyHynes paid me a
visit during her orthoelective and explained what soundedlike a
whirlwind across the nation,rotating through ORs, hospital wardsand
Tim Horton’s line-ups from coast-to-coast.
This experience, although unique-ly personal, is commonplace for
themedical ingenues of Canada. We liveand study in a vast country,
but theextent of student reciprocity shows nobounds. This is
exactly why I joinedthe CFMS. This organization is led
byrepresentatives from each school, but itfunctions best with the
collectiveinvolvement of everyone. Taking amoment to blog about an
electiveexperience on www.cfms.org makes iteasier for the next
person to make deci-sions about signing up. Mailing a letterto your
member of parliament aboutmedical education accessibility notonly
raises the issue, it also raises theprofile of the CFMS and what
westand for. When you’re the clerkadmitting a patient with renal
failureto your team and he remarks how“everyone with those black
clipboards”has taken good care of him, it’sencouraging to know he’s
talkingabout a CFMS medical student.
This year, I have been lucky tosupport some impressive projects
atthe CFMS. Our work on interestdeferral put our president and VP
edu-cation in front of the Federal StandingCom mittee on Finance,
and this year’sLobby Day moved ahead in an impor-tant new direction
despite parliamenthitting the prorogation pause button.With the
rapid expansion of campusesand incorporation of distributed
edu-cation at virtually every Canadianmedical school, the
DistributedMedical Education (DME) project haskept CFMS busy. We’re
not there yet,but our organization is well positionedto comment on
the policies and effectsof the DME pedagogical shift. Last,
inkeeping tabs on med student needs,the CFMS continues to look at
whatservices would be useful to our mem-bers. Coming down the line?
Keepyour orbits open for deals of stetho-scopic proportion.
So the next time you’re memo-rizing carotid branches with
dirtymnemonics, screening for mania at 2am or just trying not to
contaminateyourself for the third time during aWhipple’s, think of
how many otherCFMS students were in your shoes.Think of how many
more will cometo be in a similar situation and con-sider adding
your expertise to theCFMS.
After all, we need people like you.
Broad differentials —thoughts from an Ontario regional repJohn
SnelgroveOntario Regional RepresentativeUniversity of Western
Ontario, Class of 2011
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 21
I’m sure it comes as no surprise thatmany more medical students
arechoosing to have families duringtheir undergraduate medical
trainingthan in the past. While balancing class-es, studying,
extracurricular activities,social obligations and finances is
adaunting task for most of us, somehave the added responsibility of
being aparent — feeding, clothing, arrangingdaycare, attending
doctor’s appoint-ments and I’m sure a plethora of othercommitments
that I, as a non-parent,cannot even begin to understand.
Before I became a member of thenational executive of the CFMS,
amedical student who had taken sometime off from her education to
start afamily approached me and inquiredabout any supports that the
CFMS
may have for student parents. I lookedinto her inquiry and noted
that stu-dent parenting had not been an issuethat had been explored
extensively bythe CFMS. As the CFMS is a mem-ber-driven
organization, I decided totake this project on as my
primaryresponsibility during my term asAtlantic representative.
So far this year, I’ve been active atthe local level, exploring
theresources, policies and supports thatare available for parents
at MemorialUniversity and interviewing studentparents to see what
other options theywould like to see put in place. Thenext phase of
the project will involvedistributing to other CFMS memberschools a
functional survey to assessthe current national situation and
the
needs that are currently being met ornot elsewhere. I have two
goals for this project: 1. Develop a catalogue of policies
and resources available at each ofCanada’s medical school so
thatcurrent inadequacies may beresearched and positive changesfor
student parents can occur.
2. Create a section on the CFMSwebsite devoted to medical
stu-dent parents to allow them toshare resources and experiencesand
provide links to pertinent anduseful online resources.
If anyone has any interest in the student parent project or
questions,feel free to email me at [email protected].
Medical student parents
Matthew J. SheppardAtlantic Representative Memorial University,
Class of 2011
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 201022 CFMS Annual Review
Institutional memory is a keycomponent of any well-estab-lished
organization. It providesthe framework of common under-standing
necessary to build the suc-cessful, cohesive ongoing projectsthat
help an organization grow. Italso provides insight to establish
newprojects that clearly reflect the visionof a strong
organization. This idea isthe inspiration for creating a
compre-hensive CFMS Institutional MemoryProject so that we have a
clear visionof where we have been as an organi-zation over the past
33 years so wecan esta blish a framework for movingforward.
Being an organization for and bymedical students is both our
biggestchallenge and our greatest strength.Our high turnover, seen
in any stu-dent organization, is a challenge todeveloping long-term
projects thatextend beyond two years. However, aconstant stream of
new students alsomeans the development of fresh andcurrent ideas;
as an organization theCFMS is certainly never obsolete!
By looking back on the issueswe have faced as an organization
aswell as creating an infrastructure to
ensure good project follow-up in thefuture, the Institutional
MemoryProject will help us capitalize on ourstrengths without
letting our chal-lenges overwhelm or undermine ouractivities. The
project consists oftwo components, one to provide ahistorical
context of the organiza-tion, the other to provide a frame-work for
continuity.
A short history of the CFMS —providing historical contextOne
piece of the institutional mem-ory puzzle is collecting and
organiz-ing our past history in a way that itcan be used to inform
our futureplans and decisions. As students in aconstantly changing
profession,emerging issues that affect studentsare always coming
up, but at thesame time, many of the issues wecurrently face have
also been experi-enced by our predecessors.
One of the major initiatives ofthe Institutional Memory Project
iscontacting past CFMS presidentsabout the major achievements
andconcerns of the organization over thecourse of their term. The
valuableinformation we receive from our
alumni will be used to create aCFMS timeline, which will be
post-ed on our website to help orient newmembers to what the CFMS
does aswell as provide member school repre-sentatives and the
executive withbackground context for approachingcurrent issues.
Tracking past accomplishmentsand challenges will help us build
onour previous efforts as an organiza-tion and, as a result, become
evenstronger leaders and advocates inthe field of medicine and
medicaleducation.
Infrastructure — support forthe futureThe second part of the
project is notonly to collect and organize our his -tory, but also
to make sure this histo-ry is actually used by the executive,member
school representatives andmembers.
For the executive, this means cre-ating a good transition system
thatensures continuity of ongoing projectsthat are a priority for
the organization.This will include web-based storagespace for
file-sharing and a clear, con-sistent method of organizing
project
The CFMS Institutional Memory Project
Cait ChampionOntario Regional RepresentativeUniversity of
Toronto Class of 2012
“The farther backward you can look, the farther
forward you are likely to see.”
— Sir Winston Churchill
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 23
files for easy access to project informa-tion by future
executive members.
For member school representa-tives and members, this entails
usingour website to communicate ourideas as an organization and
postingsummaries of key information, suchas motions passed at each
AnnualGeneral Meeting and Spring GeneralMeeting.
Overall, we want to create a basefor building good practices in
2009–10 that will be continued through-out the life of the
organization.
Institutional memory — anongoing commitment tostudent
leadershipAlthough we have made a good start,the Institutional
Memory Projectwill require an ongoing commitmentof the organization
and its membersto ensure its continued success. Welook forward to
sharing our workwith you at the Spring GeneralMeeting 2010 in St.
John’s,Newfoundland, and encourage youto get engaged in the strong
historyof leadership within the CFMS
established through the commit-ment and contributions of our pre
decessors.
Although the Institutional MemoryProject team is beginning with
past presi-dents to build our historical timeline, wewelcome any
and all input from otherinterested CFMS alumni! We would loveto
hear your perspective on the CFMSduring your time as a medical
student. Tocontribute, contact Cait Champion,Ontario Regional
Representative,[email protected]
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 201024 CFMS Annual Review
First, I’d like to take a moment toexpress how happy I am to
bepart of the Canadian Federationof Medical Students. For the past
fewmonths, I have been working with agroup of highly competent,
hard-work-ing and enthusiastic people who wantyou, the CFMS
members, to be fullysatisfied with what this federationaccomplishes
and represents. As youread this annual review, you will appre-ciate
why I am so enthusiastic about theCFMS and, hopefully, it will
motivateyou to become an active member of thisfantastic team!
As Quebec regional representative,my major mandate is to be the
liaisonbetween the CFMS and the Fédérationmédicale étudiante du
Québec(FMEQ). The FMEQ is, to Quebecmedical students, what the CFMS
is tomedical students in the rest of Canada
and McGill (note that McGill medicalstudents are members of both
theCFMS and FMEQ). Thus, the FMEQprovides services to its members,
repre-sents its members’ interests and facili-tates communication
among the fourmedical student societies in Quebec.
FMEQ members make up about athird of all medical students in
Canada.Given the significant number ofCanadian medical students
representedby the FMEQ, dialogue and coopera-tion between the CFMS
and FMEQ isessential to ensure that our national fed-eration
accurately represents the inter-ests of all Canadian medical
students.
Of note is the significant coopera-tion that has existed between
theFMEQ and CFMS lately, particularlyin the context of the upcoming
59thGeneral Assembly of the InternationalFederation of Medical
Students’
Associa tions. This week-long interna-tional conference will be
held inMontréal in July–August 2010, with apre-conference meeting
in Ottawa.IFMSA-Quebec, a branch of theFMEQ and the CFMS-Global
HealthProgram are equal partners in thisevent’s organization and
coordination.Successful cooperation between thesepartners is
imperative for this event’ssmooth functioning.
I know that the CFMS and FMEQwill work as a strong, cohesive
team tomake this General Assembly a great suc-cess. Let the 2010
IFMSA GeneralAssembly in Montréal be concreteproof of the
phenomenal combinedforce of the CFMS and FMEQ.Continuous
collaboration, translatinginto greater positive outcomes for
allCanadian medical students is what weare striving for.
CFMS and FMEQ: united for successNoura Hassan Quebec Regional
Representative McGill University, Class of 2012
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 25
What is the primary factordetermining patient well-ness in
today’s health caresystem? Certainly there are many. Yet,we cannot
deny that our system is onlyas good as the health care
professionalswho serve in it. Physicians are at theforefront of
health care delivery andthey play an integral role in determin-ing
patient outcomes.
Undoubtedly, the technicalresources physicians use in the
diagnosisand treatment of their patients areessential; however, we
often place farmore importance on these resourcesthan those that we
use to communicatewith our patients. In terms of overallpatient
wellness, counseling on ahealthy lifestyle and providing
support-ive resources are just as important as thetests and
machines we use to improvepatients’ health.
As key health care information
providers and counselors, physiciansneed to be able to
communicatehealth and wellness information, aswell as serve as
models of good prac-tice. Yet, knowledge of wellness andhabits of
well-being do not becomeactivated when we are licensed.Rather, they
must be cultivated farearlier, during medical school years,for
example. Individual medicalschools have student affairs
offices,some have student wellness days andall have some form of
crisis resources.However, wellness as a curricular ele-ment and
proactive lifestyle choicehas come to the forefront, only to
bewashed aside by the stresses ofupcoming deadlines and exams.
Inthe absence of a concerted effort tocentralize and communicate
wellnessresources to medical students, shouldwe be surprised that
the conditions inour stressed health care system are
compromising the health of ourpatients?
Embracing Wellness: HealthyMedical Students for a
HealthyHealthcare System is an importantCFMS initiative that will
form thebasis of a new, ongoing wellness cul-ture among medical
students. We aimto establish a wellness mindset amongmedical
students by providing toolsdesigned and customized to theirneeds.
Themes and topics related tostudent wellness, such as stress,
sleep,exercise and nutrition, financial well-ness and mental and
emotional fitnesswill all be addressed.
As leaders in the front line ofpatient care, we owe it to
ourselvesand our patients to embrace, practiseand promote a healthy
lifestyle. Weare the Canadian Federation ofMedical Students, and
this year weaim to put the education and engage-ment of medical
students in wellnessfront and centre. Working in part-nership with
provincial and federalmedical organizations, we are chang-ing the
focus of wellness from a luxu-ry to a necessity — for the
well-beingof both future physicians and theirpatients.
The primary factor determiningpatient health and wellness in
ahealthy health care system is thehuman factor — the element of
carethat links the health and knowledge ofproviders with that of
their patients.Join us as we strive to create a healthierhealth
care system.
Healthier medical students, healthier patientsAli OkhowatCFMS
Wellness OfficerUniversity of Toronto, Class of 2010
WWW.MEDSTUDENTWELLNESS.CA/
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 201026 CFMS Annual Review
CFMS blood drive —810 units donated in 2009!Mike BevilacquaCFMS
Blood Drive OfficerUniversity of Calgary, Class of 2010
The CFMS is Canadian BloodServices’ (CBS) longest stand-ing
national partner (it’s true,look it up!) and, as a result, we
decidedto move forward with that partnershipand become part of the
Partners ForLife (PFL) program which will reallyhelp us maximize
the donations wemake across the country.
Entering into a PFL partnershipgives us access to CBS’s
vastresources and nationwide team ofcoordinators who will help
organizeand promote blood donation oppor-tunities to med students
at everyCFMS school. Through the PFLprogram, CBS helps us organize
ourefforts and makes sure that every stu-dent at every school is
aware of thedonation events in their community.I am confident that,
through thisprogram, CBS will help us achievedonation numbers that
we wouldhave previously thought impossible.
As a PFL member organization,the biggest challenge is setting
uplocal partnerships between schoolsand CBS organizers, and I am
proud
to say that most CFMS campuseshave at least one amazingly
dedicat-ed local PFL champion who willwork with CBS to schedule and
pro-mote our donation events (see table).The local champions are
your link toCBS, and they are all enthusiasticabout this year’s
drive; don’t beafraid to approach them with anyquestions or ideas
that you mayhave, as I know they would love totalk to you.
One of the big jobs that the localchampions had was to set a
donationtarget for this year, and as the dona-tion numbers come in
and we comecloser and closer to those goals, it isvery exciting!
Although the numbersare still coming in, in 2009, theCFMS made 810
donations — atotal we can all be proud of! Bybuilding on the
success of last year’sblood drive, we can do even betterthis year
and continue to contributeto the health care system in
thismeaningful way.
Although the donation numbersare exciting, we are all most
excited
about the donation events! To kickoff this year, every school
held a big,school-wide donation event as a partof CFMS Blood Month
in February.The PFL allows for a lot of flexibili-ty, so each
school was able to pickthe dates that worked best for theirBlood
Month event; as a result, inFebruary alone, we were able
toaccumulate approximately 250donations!
For information on yourschool’s donation activities, talk toyour
local champion, keep an eyeout around the school and checkyour
email for promotional materi-als. Even if you cannot donate
blood,you can still be a big part of yourschool’s donation effort
by helpingto spread the word and getting yourpeers excited about
our donationefforts. I’m sure your local championwould love some
help!
The biggest reason we switchedto the PFL program was to get
helppromoting donations year-round, soget ready for a fun-filled
year ofbloodletting!
-
A big challenge is identifyingdedicated volunteers at each
medicalschool campus. As students, we tendto have busy schedules
and it hasbeen difficult to encourage people tocome forward to lead
the blooddonation efforts at their school. Toaddress this
difficulty, we are work-ing to ensure that within the PFLframework,
the amount of time andeffort spent by our CFMS volunteersis kept to
a minimum. CBS hasimmense organizational capacity,and they are more
than willing tomake donating as easy as possible.
We are also integrating theblood drive champion position intothe
election process that takes placeat most medical school
campusesearly in the school year. Someschools have already done
this, and Ihope to see more campuses take thisstep. By identifying
a dedicatedblood drive leader at the beginningof the school year,
we can ensure thatwe maximize our donation potentialand help the
greatest possible num-ber of people!
Although there will always bemore work to be done, between
the
success of last year’s blood drive, thenew programs we have
tried thisyear and the challenges that await usin the future, this
is a very excitingtime to be a part of the CFMS’sblood drive
efforts, and all of theenergy coming back to me fromCFMS schools is
absolutely amaz-ing! Keep an eye out for upcomingdonation
opportunities; for moreinfo, you can always talk to yourlocal
champion and, most impor-tant, remember to roll up yourwhite coat
sleeves and give!
CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 27
Volunteer blood drive champions
School Champion(s)
Dalhousie Kyle Jewer
Queen’s Clarissa Moodie and Philip Harvey
University of Toronto Jacqueline Zhai and Soumitra Tole
McMaster Kylie Redekop and Gayathtri Raveendran
University of Western Ontario Charles Ho
Northern Ontario School of Medicine—Thunder Bay Campus Claudine
Lanthier
Northern Ontario School of Medicine—Sudbury Campus Caelen
Rody
University of Manitoba Rebecca McLean
University of Alberta Serena Cheung and Rene Lee
University of Calgary Anjli Pandya and Gwynivere Davies
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 201028 CFMS Annual Review
According to the most recentofficial definition,
interpro-fessional education (IPE)occurs when two or more
professionslearn with, from and about eachother to improve
collaboration andthe quality of care. IPE is being rec-ognized
worldwide as a way toincrease the ability of health care stu-dents
to practise collaboratively.Given ballooning health care
costs,increasing chronic disease anddiminished health human
resourcesworldwide, a body of literature hasidentified the need to
teach healthcare professionals IPE as a means towork together to
help address theseissues.
The CFMS has been very activein examining the role of
medicalstudents in IPE activities acrossCanada. In 2008, it
released a posi-tion paper highlighting the impor-tance of IPE in
the education ofmedical students and has continuedto build on this
initiative. CFMShas been represented at variousinterprofessional
conferences, mostrecently the National HealthSciences Students’
Associationnational conference at Queen’s
University in Kingston, Ontario inMarch 2009. At this meeting,
stu-dent representatives from nearly allthe recognized health
professionsacross Canada met through theCanadian Interprofessional
StudentNetwork and, spearheaded by theCFMS, adopted guiding
principlesby which each health professionalstudent organization
would relateto the others. Some highlights of
this agreement include invitingmembers to conferences (and,
ifpossible, waiving their registrationfees) as well as sharing
commonresources.
The CFMS recognizes theimportance of collaboration with
allallied health professions and in effec-tive interprofessional
education. Welook forward to building more inter-professional
relationships in 2010!
Building interprofessional partnerships
Daniel RosenfieldCFMS Interprofessional Education
OfficerUniversity of Toronto, Class of 2011
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CFMS Activities
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 29
Behind the scenes @ cfms.org
Michael LiCFMS Information Technology OfficerUniversity of
Toronto, Class of 2012
As information technology offi-cer, my role is to make
sureeverything is runningsmoothly on the CFMS website andlistservs.
What I do on a day-to-daybasis can vary greatly, from managingthe
events database to phone calls withonline advertisers to make sure
whatthey want is compatible with what wecan provide. In addition,
occasionallysome new function or service isrequired and it is my
job to make sureit gets provided in some feasible way.The most
recent example is the onlinesurvey system I implemented so thatwe
could do the CFMS-ElsevierRaffle.
Here are some of the highlightsover the last year.
New mailing list serverAny large organization is only as goodas
its slowest component, and this isespecially true when that
component iscommunication among its staff. Aboutsix months ago, the
CFMS listservswere transitioned onto a new platform,which not only
provided faster mail-ings but was much more customizable,at both
the administrative and userends. This was necessary to launch
theCFMS-Global listserv, which is nowvery popular.
More website editorsWe have encouraged executives andofficers to
become involved with thewebsite. This has resulted in muchmore
frequently updated contentand more accurate information. Itcan be
confusing to have inconsis-tent or misinformation on the site,and
we aim to minimize that by con-tinuing to encourage more officers
toget involved.
Website reorganizationThis process is being spearheaded byIjab
Khanafer (VP communications)
and is relying on feedback from otherexecutives. We are making
the websitemore intuitive and access to informa-tion easier. By the
time this annualreview is published, you should be see-ing some of
these exciting changes.
In 2010, there will be more formembers (and me) to look forward
toat www.cfms.org, such as the promo-tion of many more useful
benefits(courtesy of Danielle Rodin, VP Ser -vices) and the
launching of the CFMSWellness website (courtesy of AliOkhowat,
Wellness Officer).
I’ll see you there!
WWW.CFMS.ORG
-
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At the end of July, approximate-ly 800 medical students
fromacross the globe will descendon Montréal for an intensive week
ofdiscussion, debate and collaboration.This event, the General
Assembly ofthe International Federation ofMedical Students’
Associations(IFMSA), known as Montréal AM2010, marks the first time
that anIFMSA General Assembly will beheld in Canada.
Montréal AM 2010 is a joint ini-tiative of the CFMS’s Global
HealthProgram and its Quebec equivalent,IFMSA-Québec. Through out
themeeting, students will develop multi-national projects and build
partner-ships in the areas of medical educa-tion, advocacy, public
health, humanrights, reproductive health and globalhealth. At
night, students will discov-er Montréal’s famous nightlife and
cultural offerings.
Why Montréal for this August?“Montréal combines an
inspirationalsetting, world-class facilities, profes-sional
organization, unforgettablenightlife and a stimulating
academicprogram,” explained AlexandreSigouin-Duquette, president of
theOrganizing Committee and a third-year student at Université
deMontréal.
Canadian medical students havebegun to make a splash on the
inter-national stage through IFMSA.CFMS representatives wowed
other
delegates at the last GeneralAssembly in Macedonia with
theirwork, including a policy statementon indigenous health, a
workinggroup on ethical guidelines for inter-national electives and
a survey onreproductive health education. Withthe upcoming General
Assembly inMontréal, this represents a primeopportunity for more
Canadian stu-dents to bring their ideas to interna-tional
attention.
The General Assembly will bepreceded by the pre-GA in Ottawa,
a3-day series of engaging workshopsand interactive sessions on
topicslike global health, peer education,medical education and
more.Participants will select one area ofconcentration.
“Hosting the pre-GA in Ottawagives both Canadian and
interna-tional attendees the opportunity todiscover these two
wonderful, dis-tinct cities,” said Austin Gagné, vice-president of
the OrganizingCommittee and a second-year stu-dent at University of
Ottawa.
All Canadian medical studentsare part of the IFMSA through
theirmembership in CFMS or IFMSA-Québec. IFMSA represents over
amillion medical students from over100 countries worldwide, and is
theofficial student body of the WorldHealth Organization and the
UnitedNations.
The 59th General Assembly of
the International Federation ofMedical Students’ Associations
will beheld in Montréal, Quebec, from 31July to 6 August. The
pre-GA will beheld in Ottawa, Ontario, 27–31 July.
For more information and registration details, please
visitwww.montrealam2010.com. If youare interested in volunteering
at themeeting, please email Sarah Fung
[email protected].
Canada to host International Medical Students’ General Assembly
forthe first timeSarah FungCFMS Representative, Montréal AM
2010University of Alberta, Class of 2011
Global Health
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 31
Canada’s got the goods: At the IFMSA2009 August Meeting in
Macedonia,Beverly Wudel (CFMS VP Global Health)shows fellow
delegates why Montréal isa natural choice for the August 2010.
Mixing business and pleasure: CFMSdelegates kick back and relax
afteranother productive day of standingcommittee sessions.
3 global health–06_CFMS new 11.5.10 12:15 PM Page 31
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The CFMS’s Global HealthProgram (CMFS-GHP) contin-ues to provide
Canadian med-ical students with support to grow asglobal citizens
and opportunities to edu-cate themselves and others on health.
The CFMS-GHP is the largestbranch of the CFMS, consisting ofover
80 students from all 14 CFMSschools. Our team includes globalhealth
liaison people (GHLs), globalhealth advocates (GHAs), localexchange
officers (LEOs) and nation-al officers (NOs). Each of thesegroups
makes a valuable contributionto increasing the profile of
globalhealth and providing opportunitiesfor medical students to
develop skillsthat will be imperative in providingcompetent medical
care in an increas-ingly globalized world. This updateprovides only
a snapshot of theachievements of this group.
CFMS and IFMSA-Quebecto co-host August 2010meeting of IFMSAThe
International Federation ofMedical Students’ Associations(IFMSA) is
an independent, non-gov-ernmental, non-political organization.In
2009, the IFMSA represented 1.2million medical students from 89
dif-ferent countries. Delegates to theIFMSA meet biannually to
share ideas,collaborate on projects and discuss andvote on policies
that affect medical stu-dents world-wide.
At the August 2009 meeting of theIFMSA in Macedonia, delegates
from
the CFMS and our sister organization,IFMSA-Quebec, put together
animpressive and successful bid to hostthe July–August 2010
GeneralAssembly in Montréal, with a pre-General Assembly to be held
in Ottawa.Special thanks to Sarah Fung (U of A),Austin Gagné (U of
O), Leslie Martin(U of O), Sana Ghaznavi (U of A) andmany, many
others for their hard workand dedication to this project. For
moreinformation on the 2010 GeneralAssembly or to find out how you
canbecome involved, check out the articlein the CFMS Annual Review,
or go towww.montrealam2010.com.
In 2010,93 Canadian
medical studentswill participate in
clinical andresearch exchangesaround the world.
Improving communicationIn fall 2009, the CFMS-GHPlaunched the
global health listserv, adistribution list designed to provide
interested students with current infor-mation on opportunities
in globalhealth, ranging from international con-ferences to medical
electives. Thelaunch was a huge success and the list-serv has grown
to a membership of over500 students. A huge thank you toMichael
Slatnik (UWO) and LauraChng (UBC) for their work on main-taining
the listserv and keepingCanadian medical students updated oncurrent
opportunities in global health.
To improve communications withstudents, the CFMS-GHP said
good-bye to our website www.healthforall.caand opted to centralize
communica-tion by expanding the Global Healthsection of the CFMS
website instead.Here, you can find information onwho we are, what
we do, currentreports on global health activities atthe CFMS
schools and information onthe CFMS exchange program. In2010, we
hope to expand the servicesprovided by the website to include
adatabase where students can shareinformation on global health
electivesin which they have participated.
Pre-departure trainingIn 2008, the CFMS-GHP recognizedthe need
for Canadian medical stu-dents participating in
internationalelectives to receive pre-departure train-ing. This led
a small group of verymotivated students to developresources and
support for GHLs andLEOs, so that they could provide suchtraining
to students at their universi-ties. The program has been very
suc-
Bringing global health learning opportunities to CFMS
studentsBeverly WudelVP Global HealthUniversity of Saskatchewan,
Class of 2012
Global Health
APRIL 201032 CFMS Annual Review
3 global health–06_CFMS new 11.5.10 12:15 PM Page 32
-
cessful, with 14 CFMS schools partic-ipating. This year, GHLs
will be pro-viding feedback, which will be used torefine the
program to better serve stu-dents’ needs. One notable success
wasthe inclusion of pre-departure trainingin the Association of
Faculties ofMedicine of Canada’s guidelines formedical education.
Thanks to MichaelSlatnik (UWO), Kelly Anderson(UWO) and Eileen
Cheung (UWO)for their ongoing work in this area!
Advancing sexual andreproductive health inCanada and
beyondQueen’s obstetrics and gynecology resi-dents led an engaging
reproductive clin-ical skills workshop at the OntarioMedical
Student Weekend, hosted byQueen’s University in
October.Approximately 90 preclinical studentslearned delivery
skills, practised perinealsuturing and studied IUD insertion.
One participant commented,“The facilitators were amazing. I
lovedlearning about assisting in vaginalbirth and IUDs.” Another
reproduc-tive clinical skills workshop will takeplace at the
Dalhousie–MemorialUniversity medical student conferencein the
spring.
The CFMS-GHP recognizedWorld AIDS Day across the country
bysupporting Give A Day for the secondyear in a row. Give A Day is
a Canadianorganization that raises funds for theStephen Lewis
Foundation andDignitas International. GHLs’ creativi-ty and
campaigns reached both stu-dents and staff, raising over $5000
forcommunity-based HIV/AIDS pro-grams in Africa. Schools also ran
anincredible variety of local events tobroaden students’ HIV/AIDS
knowl-edge and awareness, including a photoand art auction,
collaborations with
like-minded groups, panel discussions,patient presentations, red
ribbons, par-ties and more. Many schools alsofundraised for local
organizations.
Lobbying for Aboriginal healthIn 2008, the CFMS-GHP developedthe
Global Health Advocacy Programto bring students from across
Canadatogether to develop local and nation-al advocacy projects
centred around atheme chosen by the CFMS-GHP. In2009, the program
decided to con-tinue with the previous year’s themeof Aboriginal
health. Notable suc-cesses of the group include adoptionof the
Policy Statement on IndigenousHealth by the IFMSA and adoptionof
the Policy Statement on AboriginalHealth by the CFMS, in addition
toachievements seen at individualCFMS schools.
In 2010, GHAs will attend theMontreal World Health
Organizationsimulation (MonWHO), where thisyear’s theme will be
PandemicPlanning. As pandemics often affectthe health of Aboriginal
people dispro-portionately, GHAs will take on therole of
representing various Aboriginalgroups at MonWHO, presenting
issuesranging from the effects of urbaniza-tion on the health of
Aboriginal peopleto the prevalence of infectious diseasessuch as
HIV and tuberculosis.
CFMS exchange programOne of the most tangible servicesthat the
CFMS-GHP provides tostudents is the CFMS exchange pro-gram. As a
member of the IFMSA,the CFMS-GHP negotiates clinicaland research
exchanges with othermember organizations. At theIFMSA meeting in
Macedonia thisyear, we signed contracts with 24countries, including
Greece, Jordan
and Lithuania, to name just a few. In2010, 93 Canadian medical
studentswill participate in clinical andresearch exchanges around
theworld.
The CFMS and IFMSA areworking to improve the experienceof
students participating in theexchange program by
developingstandardized guidelines for the aca-demic quality of the
exchanges.Michael Slatnik (UWO), the outgo-ing national officer of
global healtheducation, is developing guidelinesfor IFMSA clinical
exchanges to helpprovide students with a frameworkfor participating
in internationalclinical exchanges in a manner that isethically
responsible.
Coordinating these exchanges isan enormous amount of work. Weowe
national exchange officers, KenMendoza (U of M) and RachelleFindley
(U of A), as well as theircapable team of LEOs our sincerestthanks
for all the hard work theyhave put in to ensuring the success
ofthis program.
Without doubt, 2009 was a suc-cessful and exciting year for
theCFMS-GHP and 2010 promises tobe even better! It has been a
privilegeto work with such a passionate anddedicated group of
people. Specialthanks to Brianne Hudson, past VP-Global Health, for
showing me theropes and helping to mentor me inmy new role. I also
want to thankthe NOs, GHLs, GHAs, LEOs andeveryone else who has
contributed tothe success of these and the manyother projects. Your
work helps toensure that Canada’s next generationof physicians will
have the skills andtraining necessary to practice confi-dently and
competently in the fieldof global health.
Global Health
APRIL 2010 CFMS Annual Review 33
3 global health–06_CFMS new 11.5.10 12:15 PM Page 33
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Medical students recognizethat, to provide the
bestpatient-centred care, anunderstanding and appreciation ofthe
patient’s beliefs, background andculture is essential. The
curriculum atthe University of Calgary providesstudents with an
opportunity to hearabout relevant topics in communica-tion and
culture as they relate to thecare of Alberta’s aboriginal
popula-tions, but a group of students wantedto take their education
beyond whatthe curriculum offered. Rather thanhear about the
culture, traditionalhealth practices and best communica-tion
techniques, they wanted to expe-rience the richness and depth of
theculture firsthand by attending a cere-monial sweat lodge. The
following isa personal r