Improving Health Literacy in Canada with Mini-Med School

Health literacy, the skills we need to interpret health information and make health decisions, is an increasingly important topic. Afterall, Canadians tend to have low health literacy, and this is linked to poorer health outcomes and higher healthcare costs.

Samuel Harder and Sergiy Shatenko (IMP Class of 2019) have suggested a possible solution to the issue in their article “Why you should Mini-Med School: Mini-Med School as an intervention to increase health literacy,” published in the Canadian Medical Education Journal.

L – R: Sergiy Shatenko and Samuel Harder (IMP Class of 2019)

Sergiy and Samuel found that elderly participants significantly improved their health literacy after attending Mini-Med School, a six-lecture series delivered by medical students at the University of Victoria’s Medical Sciences Building. The lectures focused on topics that often come up in primary care, including disease prevention, navigating the healthcare system, understanding medical testing, brain health, and heart health.

The participants, who were part of the University of Victoria Retirees Association, improved in seven of nine health literacy scales when they took the Health Literacy Questionnaire six weeks after the lecture series.

Along with showing that Mini-Med School can be an effective tool to increase health literacy, the paper discusses the potential of the lecture series as a way for Canadian medical schools and students to engage with their communities.

Sergiy and Samuel conducted the research for this paper as their second-year FLEX project under the supervision of Dr. Jane Gair. Prior to publication, they presented their work at the Canadian Conference on Medical Education in 2019.

New IMP Scholarship Pays Tribute to Longtime Island Surgeon

Friends and colleagues of Dr. Michael Ross have started a scholarship in his memory.

Dr. Ross practiced medicine for 60 years. An ear, nose and throat specialist, his Vancouver Island practice focused on highly demanding and complex care of patients with head and neck cancers. He also served as Chief of Surgery at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, President of the Victoria Medical Society, a consultant at the Cancer Clinic and the Island Health Pain Clinic, and a teacher at the Island Medical Program. He finally retired at 85 years old last October before passing away in December.

Scholarship organizers have already raised more than $49,000 toward their goal of $67,500. They need to $65,000 by the end of March to endow an annual $2,500 scholarship in perpetuity.

If the goal is reached, the annual $2,500 scholarship will go to an Island medical student who is training to be a surgeon. The award will be the first scholarship awarded solely to an Island medical student.

The University of British Columbia Senate will vote on approving the scholarship in April.

If you would like to contribute to the Victoria Medical Society Surgical Scholarship in Memory of Dr. Michael Ross, you can do so here.

You can read more about Dr. Michael Ross here and here.

Learn How You Can Earn Your MD on Vancouver Island

Dr. Shahin Shirzad, Assistant Dean of Admissions

Do you want to be a doctor? Find out how you can earn your MD on Vancouver Island with the Island Medical Program (IMP), which delivers the UBC MD Undergraduate Program in collaboration with UVic and Island Health.

At this special virtual evening information session, you’ll learn about the MD Undergraduate Program and the IMP, the admissions process, what it takes to become a doctor, and what it’s like being in medical school. A Q&A period will follow the presentation.

The info session will be co-hosted by Dr. Shahin Shirzad, Assistant Dean of Admissions, and current IMP medical students. The IMP admissions coordinator will also be on-hand to answer questions.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. Please click here to register and receive a Zoom link.

What: Island Medical Program’s Virtual Information Session with Dr. Shahin Shirzad

When: Thursday, February 18, 2021

Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Where: Zoom

Cost/Link: Free; register and receive your Zoom link here.

Focusing on the Future: New Edition of Microscopic Anatomy Textbook/Atlas Released by UBC and IMP Professors

Dr. Patrick C. Nahirney (Associate Professor of Anatomy and Histology, Division of Medical Sciences, UVic) and Dr. William K. Ovalle (Professor Emeritus, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences [formerly Anatomy], Faculty of Medicine, UBC) recently released the third edition of their textbook/atlas Netter’s Essential Histology. Published by Elsevier, the revised textbook/atlas is used by healthcare students around the world, including UBC MD Undergraduate Program students across all four distributed sites in their first- and second-year histology course.

(L – R) Dr. William K. Ovalle and Dr. Patrick C. Nahirney

In addition to updated content focusing on normal cell ultrastructure and the microscopic anatomy of tissues and organ systems of the human body, Dr. Nahirney says the newest edition includes correlated histopathology to “keep pace with what’s been changing in the curriculum.”

The new text/atlas can also be accessed online via an enhanced digital eBook, which is available for a variety of devices. The eBook includes author-narrated video overviews of all 20 chapters and a virtual slide library of 20 high-resolution digitized light microscopic slides and 225 zoomifiable electron micrographs. There are also numerous “clinical points” that highlight relevant information on disease and cellular dysfunction.

According to the authors, the book is intended to be a valuable resource to both student learners and teachers by “awakening readers to both the intricacies of the human body and the sheer beauty of its cells, tissue, and organ systems.” It is also a beneficial tool for allied healthcare professionals, researchers, clinical residents, and medical laboratory technologists.

(L – R) Netter’s Essential Histology, 3rd edition, and Netter’s Histology Cut-out Flash Cards.

“The third edition is truly state-of-the-art and represents a great leap forward,” says Dr. Ovalle. “As co-authors, Patrick and I are very pleased with the latest edition.”

“I am also especially delighted that many of the electron micrographs that appear in our book were graciously donated to us by Dr. Bruce Crawford. He was a very dear colleague, mentor, and friend of ours over the years.”

The text/atlas also features drawings by renowned medical illustrator Dr. Frank H. Netter and other artwork by Drs. James A. Perkins, John A. Craig, Carlos A.G. Machado, and Joe Chovan.

Previously published in 2008 and 2013, Netter’s Essential Histology has been translated into Portuguese, Turkish, Korean, Greek, and Italian. A first South East Asia edition was also released in English in 2015.

The British Medical Association awarded Netter’s Essential Histology with its Best Illustrated Book Award in 2008, and Mark Yoﬀe, MD, cited the text/atlas in his 2015 article “The 25 Best Medical Books of All Time” on Medical Media Review.

Joana Gil-Mohapel Appointed Associate Director of Curriculum, Year 1 & 2

The IMP’s Dr. Joana Gil-Mohapel was appointed as Associate Director of Curriculum, Years 1 & 2, effective August 15, 2020. In this role, Dr. Gil-Mohapel will provide provincial leadership for the coordination and ongoing quality improvement of curricular components of the UBC MD Undergraduate Program across Years 1 and 2.

“I am very excited to take on this new challenge as Associate Director of Curriculum for Years 1 & 2,” she says. “We are living in challenging and difficult times, but our current circumstances have also created lots of opportunities for our program to grow and pioneer less-traditional teaching approaches, and I am excited to be part of this process. As we navigate the challenges and opportunities that the next couple of years will bring us, I feel very fortunate to work with such dedicated faculty, staff, and students across the four sites of our distributed medical program!”

Dr. Gil-Mohapel is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Victoria and Affiliate Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Medicine, Neurology Division.

“I have actually been at the Division of Medical Sciences (DMSC) and the IMP since 2008,” she says. “I worked in Dr. Brian Christie’s lab as a post-doctoral fellow for four years and a research associate for two years. I slowly started getting more and more involved with the IMP at that time. I became a CBL Tutor in 2010, and subsequently a Neuroanatomy Instructor, FLEX Advisor, and Portfolio Coach. I have worn many different hats during my time at the DMSC and IMP.”

Dr. Gil-Mohapel is still actively involved in teaching medical students and graduate students, and has received multiple teaching awards at the IMP, including the Bruce Crawford Award of Excellence and the Oscar G. Casiro Teaching Award in Medical Sciences. She had the honour of being the plenary speaker at the IMP Class of 2020 virtual graduating ceremony.

Dr. Gil-Mohapel has been the Provincial Course Co-Director for the MEDD421 and MEDD422/TICE courses of the medical undergraduate curriculum since 2017. In that capacity, she was awarded the 2018 Canadian Association for Medical Education (CAME) Certificate of Merit Award.

Prior to joining the DMSC/IMP, Dr. Gil-Mohapel obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 2000 and a Master of Science in Cell Biology in 2003, both from the University of Coimbra in Portugal. She then pursued her PhD studies in Neuroscience at the Wallenberg Neuroscience Centre at Lund University in Sweden. She completed her PhD in 2007. Dr. Gil-Mohapel has received research awards from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the Brazilian Science Without Borders Program, and the University of Victoria/Sao Paulo Research Foundation Partnership.

Dr. Gil-Mohapel’s most recent appointment follows the leadership of Dr. Barry Mason as the Associate Director of Curriculum, Years 1 and 2. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Mason for his exceptional contributions to the MD Undergraduate Program and leadership over the past several years. In particular, his work in support of accreditation, the attendance working group, and the incredible accomplishment of working with his team to move the Year 1 & 2 curriculum online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 Teaching Awards Announced

Drs. Patrick Nahirney, Henry Stringer, and Jason Nguyen; Kurt McBurney; and the Internal Medicine CTU were recently recognized for their teaching contributions to the Island Medical Program and the UVic Division of Medical Sciences.

Dr. Patrick Nahirney received the Teaching Award in Medical Sciences (TAMS) for 2020. The TAMS, which is adjudicated by a committee, recognizes full-time or affiliate faculty who has taught at the IMP or the Division of Medical Sciences for at least two consecutive years.

Dr. Henry Stringer, Dr. Jason Nguyen, and the Internal Medicine CTU each received a Year 3 Teaching Award. The recipients of these awards are recommended by fourth-year IMP students based on experiences during their third year.

Dr. Henry Stringer (Pediatrics) received the 2020 Vancouver Island Clerkship Preceptors Teaching Excellence Award for his outstanding dedication, enthusiasm, and respect as a clerkship preceptor. Dr. Jason Nguyen (Internal Medicine) won the 2020 Resident Teaching Excellence Award for his exceptional dedication, enthusiasm, and respect as a Vancouver Island resident teaching third-year students. Finally, the Internal Medicine CTU received the 2020 Island Medical Program Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award, which acknowledges the rotation that provides the most efficient, supportive, and engaging learning environment for third-year clinical clerk medical students.

Kurt McBurney received the Dr. Bruce Crawford Award of Excellence for 2020. This award is presented by the IMP’s third-year students to the teacher, preceptor, or tutor who has made an impact on their first two years of medical training. “I am very honoured to be awarded the Bruce Crawford Award of Excellence. It is a very special honour to receive a teaching award that comes from our brilliant students; I feel privileged to have the opportunity to teach all of these wonderful individuals every year,” he says. “It is also extra special to me to receive this award this year, the year that we lost Dr. Crawford—he would be very pleased and proud.”

IMP Student Studies Recent Intervention on Frontlines of BC’s Overdose Response Efforts

This summer, Damian Feldman-Kiss (IMP Class of 2022) led a research project evaluating a recent trial intervention meant to support individuals with lived/living experience of substance use that work on the frontlines of overdose response efforts in Victoria and the Lower Mainland.

Damian Feldman-Kiss (IMP Class of 2022)

The vast majority of overdose deaths in BC involve illicit opioids like fentanyl. However, there have been increasing reports of illicit substances containing both opioids and benzodiazepines. The opioid antidote naloxone has no effect on the sedation caused by benzodiazepines, making it difficult for first responders to manage overdoses involving mixtures of these drugs.

Pulse oximeters are small, portable devices that non-invasively measure an individual’s pulse rate and blood oxygen levels. When incorporated into the management of an overdose, pulse oximeters have the potential to provide clarity and aid decision-making by demonstrating the need for and effectiveness of resuscitation efforts. Although this device is commonly available to other healthcare workers, experiential workers—persons with lived/living experience of substance use who support people who use drugs—often do not have the same access, despite being at the forefront of harm reduction and overdose response efforts in BC.

So, earlier this year, the Peer to Peer project provided pulse oximeters to experiential workers at two pilot sites. Then, Damian, under the supervision of Zahra Mamdani and Dr. Jane A. Buxton of the Harm Reduction program at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), conducted a series of qualitative interviews with experiential workers to investigate if and how the devices were providing the support they needed.

“I think the most exciting findings are that pulse oximeters aid in decision-making during interventions (such as when/if/how long to give rescue breaths and when/if to administer naloxone). They also improve competencies like communication, collaboration, and professionalism among experiential workers. They increase their confidence and save time,” he says. “We also found that pulse oximeters have the potential to decrease unnecessary contact, which is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic as physical distancing is key to curb transmission.”

Anita Weng (IMP Class of 2021)

Although the authors found a few challenges associated with the device—such as false readings—they found that, overall, pulse oximeters are useful tools to supplement overdose response initiatives. They recommend increased access to pulse oximeters and adequate training for experiential workers across BC.

The authors also found that pulse oximeters have a calming effect on the clients. “This may lead to better outcomes by encouraging clients to adhere to monitoring recommendations by experiential workers,” Damian says.

As part of the research project, Damian also collaborated with Anita Weng (IMP Class of 2021) and Sophie McKenzie at the BCCDC to develop an educational document for experiential workers on how to incorporate pulse oximetry into overdose response. This document includes information on how to deal with false readings.

Damian presented the project at the 2020 BCCDC Research Symposium, and his evaluation report was recently published on the BCCDC website. His next steps will be working with the Harm Reduction program to prepare a manuscript for publication.

Patient Program Needs Virtual Volunteers for 2020/21

The IMP’s Patient Program has gone virtual.

To maintain health and safety during COVID-19, all in-person volunteering has been cancelled until further notice. Instead, volunteers will meet and work with their students through Zoom.

“Your health and safety is of utmost importance, so you will not be asked to volunteer in-person until it is safe to do so,” says Karen Basi, Patient Program Coordinator. “We will only restart the in-person aspects of the program when the provincial health officer allows, and we will heed all best practices to ensure your health and safety when that time comes.”

The IMP Patient Program is a set of volunteer opportunities available to people of all ages, genders, and levels of health. Volunteers help medical students develop many important skills, such as history-taking, connecting with patients in a respectful and empathetic manner, and much more. All participants receive training, support, and an honorarium for their work, no matter which opportunity they choose.

Despite the change in platform, however, the program hasn’t received as many volunteer applications as they need for the 2020-2021 academic year.

If you’re interested in helping train our future physicians, here are a few of the Patient Program volunteer opportunities currently available:

Mental Health Volunteer Patients

Volunteer Patients (VP) are individuals who participate as themselves and share their own medical history with students. The Patient Program is currently looking for VPs who have experience living with and managing a mental illness. Our second-year students will interview you for one hour about your experiences, including your current mental status, history of presenting diagnosis, and coping strategies, such as medication. A tutor physician will be present to guide the interview, and you can expect both the students and tutor to show confidentiality, attentive listening, and empathy. Sessions will take place on Wednesday and Friday afternoons in mid-October, though the number of times you volunteer can vary depending on the program’s needs and your availability.

First Patients

First Patients (FPs) are individuals with chronic, but stable, health conditions that help first-year students to view the healthcare system from the patient perspective. As a FP, you will virtually meet with your students in a short series of convenient sessions spread out over 11 months. You will truly be the first patient these medical students get to know well. Your interactions will show them the reality of living with an illness and introduce them to the human side of medicine. Your students will also learn the importance of long-term relationship building and clear communication in healthcare. And as you help train them to be more self-aware, empathetic, patient-centred and effective doctors, you may find they help you define your own healthcare goals in the process.

Standardized Patients

Standardized Patients (SP) are healthy individuals who act as patients while instructors teach and assess our MD students. As a SP, you will be trained to realistically portray patient symptoms and histories in the same way for multiple students. You will need to memorize scenarios, mimic physical symptoms, and convincingly portray a range of emotions. The cases vary depending on the complexity of symptoms and background history, but they will all help teach our students vital skills like history-taking in a controlled setting. Individuals of all ages, genders, and backgrounds are encouraged to participate. Sessions range from 10 – 40 minutes, and you can volunteer as much as you like, depending on the program’s needs and your suitability to a given role.

To learn about becoming a FP, SP, or VP—or to discover the other volunteer opportunities currently available—please contact the IMP Patient Program. You can connect with Karen Basi, Patient Programs Coordinator, at karenpri@uvic.ca or 250-213-1173.

IMP Student Wins Family Medicine Scholarship

Arielle Roberts (IMP Class of 2021) came is the Island Medical Program knowing she wanted to practice family medicine. Now, she has a scholarship recognizing her commitment to the field.

Photo by Kane Roberts

Arielle recently received the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) Medical Student Scholarship. This award recognized outstanding medical students with an interest in family medicine and who have shown leadership in the specialty during their studies. Only one student may be nominated for this award per medical school

“It’s nice to have recognition and a celebration of all the time and effort I put into my role as the Family Medicine Interest Group IMP co-chair and my various projects during my time in the Duncan ICC,” Arielle says.

These projects included calling senior patients from a local family practice clinic during the initial stages of the COVID-19 shutdown. “The idea was just to check and make sure they were isolating, that they had enough support—someone to bring them groceries, etc.—and that they knew the office was still open if they required care,” she says. “Many of them were very appreciative, and in over 300 calls, I identified three or four people who really needed assessment and made sure their family doc called them that day.” Arielle also volunteered to help the maternity-neonatal care team at Cowichan District Hospital with administrative tasks around the office.

“I came into medicine wanting to be a family physician, thanks to the mentorship of my childhood family physician from my hometown of Castlegar, BC, who really encouraged me to try for medical school. She was such a huge positive influence on me and I have always wanted to be able to do that for others,” says Arielle. “The award is another brick in the path towards that objective.”

IMP Info Sessions Go Digital

Want to be a doctor? Want to complete your medical studies on Vancouver Island?

If you answered “yes,” then join the our Admissions Coordinator for one of the free hour-long information sessions (listed below). You will learn everything you need to know about applying to the Island Medical Program, including admissions requirements, application dates and deadlines, academic and non-academic requirements, and an overview of the application process and selection criteria. You’ll also learn more about the program and have an opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

Due to COVID-19, these monthly sessions will be held virtually over Zoom during the 2020/21 academic year. Everyone is welcome to attend and seating is unlimited, but you will need to RSVP to attend.

Please RSVP by filling out the survey linked next to the date you wish to attend. You will receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link after the registration process is complete. Registration for each session will close one hour before that session begins (e.g., registration for the Sept. 23, 2020, session will close at 11 a.m. that day).

Sept. 23, 2020, at 12 p.m. — Register here

Oct. 19, 2020, at 12 p.m. — Register here

Nov. 16, 2020, at 12 p.m. — Register here

Dec. 14, 2020, at 12 p.m. — Register here

Jan. 18, 2021, at 12 p.m. — Register here

Feb. 8, 2021, at 12 p.m. — Register here

Feb. 18, 2021, at 6:30 – 8 p.m. (co-hosted by Dr. Shahin Shirzad & IMP students) — Register here

Mar. 15, 2021, at 12 p.m. — Register here

Apr. 12, 2021, at 12 p.m. — Register here

Please be considerate to all participants and sign into the session on time. Also, please be aware that the unauthorized use of any recording device is strictly prohibited during any telephone call, meeting, information session (in person and online), or interview session. Handwritten notes may be taken for your own personal reference.