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Delphi Monthly

January 2022

Welcome!

Dr. Diane Francoeur – SOGC CEO

Happy New Year!

I am honoured to lead the SOGC into 2022 as CEO. I have been an obstetrician-gynaecologist for over 30 years and continue a portion of my practice in Montreal. This will help to keep me up to date on what is happening in the health care system and understand the challenges that women’s health care providers continue to face in the wake of the pandemic.

I am eager to tackle important issues, such as accessibility of care, and look forward to working closely with Dr. Maggie Morris, SOGC Board of Directors, Member Committees, and SOGC staff to continue to advocate for the sexual, reproductive, and mental health of all women across Canada.


As we prepare for the difficult weeks ahead with the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, I applaud each one of you for your unwavering dedication to women’s health care. It is more important now than ever, to continue to encourage our pregnant patients to be fully vaccinated in order to protect their infants and themselves.

At the SOGC, we will continue to call on provincial governments to prioritize pregnant individuals across Canada for vaccination by offering the third dose vaccine as early as recommended. The SOGC offers numerous resources for physicians and the public that we hope you and your patients will find helpful.

We will be continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Alberta, however we are anticipating the West/Central CME will be our first in-person event since 2019.

Rest assured that we will not take risks and continue to discuss the situation with committee members and colleagues. We are hopeful that this will be an opportunity to safely gather, learn together, and enjoy all that Banff has to offer. With plenty of fresh air, space for distanced social activities, and incredible views, we hope that an in-person West/Central CME will be the taste of normalcy that we are all craving.

For those unable to join us in-person, this event will also be offered virtually. More information about this event can be found on our website: sogc.org/cme-wc.

I look forward to seeing you in-person and virtually March 17-19, 2022.

Stay safe.

Dr. Diane Francoeur, MD, MSc, FRCSC


UPCOMING EVENTS

We hope to see you March 17-19, 2022 !

WEST CENTRAL 2022 CME

We are thrilled to invite you to join us for our upcoming
West-Central CME!

Planning to come in person? The Early Bird rate is available until January 20th at midnight for SOGC members.

Prefer to join us online? A virtual option with a combination of live-streamed plenary sessions and on demand sessions will also be offered.

Enjoy the breathtaking views at the Rimrock Hotel in beautiful Banff, Alberta and take the opportunity to lunch, learn and ski!

We are hopeful to gather in person, providing an opportunity to connect and learn with your peers for the first time in years. The SOGC is carefully monitoring the progression of the Omicron variant and will react accordingly if/when necessary.  

We have implemented a number of protocols in order for everyone to gather safely, read more about the safety protocols HERE


LIVE INTERACTIVE FORUM

Menopause and Sexuality

Presented by Dr. Wendy Wolfman and Dr. Yonah Krakowsky

January 26 at 4 pm ET. Register here

UPCOMING ALARM COURSE

In-person ALARM courses have returned!

Register today!


PARTNER NEWS

MD FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT WEBINAR: DEMYSTIFYING RETIREMENT

Tuesday, January 25, 2022 | 7 p.m. EST 

Retirement can often be the longest phase of someone’s life. That is why it’s so important to take the time to consider how you want to live your life in retirement. At MD Financial Management (MD), we know that — as physicians — this task may seem daunting to you, but you don’t have to tackle it on your own. 

Guided by the results of the 2021 MD Physician Retirement Readiness Study, this webinar will explore strategies that you can leverage to help shift your retirement perspectives and how values-based financial planning can help set you up to live a truly fulfilled life in the chapters after your career in medicine. 

Using a single physician household as a model, we’ll walk through: setting your vision for the future, calculating the cost of your retirement lifestyle, income and tax strategies, incorporating your family into your retirement plans and how an MD Advisor* can help.


EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION FOR RCOG WORLD CONGRESS 2022 NOW OPEN

For the first time, RCOG World Congress will be an innovative and inclusive hybrid event, held simultaneously in London and online.

You can now register for our state-of-the-art virtual Congress, including post-event access to all content for six months. Take advantage of our early bird offer to save significantly on your fees by registering before Monday, April 25 2022.

Abstracts can also still be submitted until Thursday, February 3 2022. Abstracts are an integral part of the Congress and we encourage all O&G professionals, regardless of career stage or location, to submit their work. There are over 20 different submission categories to choose from, with publication for the top 500 in BJOG and prestigious prizes available.

More information can be found at rcog.org.uk/congress2022


SOGC NEWS

SOGC RESIDENT CALL FOR CASES – STUMP THE PROFESSOR AT ACSC 2022

Have you even been involved in a perplexing and thought provoking obstetrics and gynaecology case? If so, then we want to know! Each year the SOGC organizes a Stump the Professor session at the ACSC. If your case is selected, you will present in front of an expert panel of judges and your peers.

A $500 prize is awarded to the Best Obstetrical Case and to the Best Gynaecological Case and both winners will be invited to present at the conference. 

Cases should include:

  • Each case presentation will be limited to 10 minutes and after the panel and audience discussion, you will be asked to reveal the final diagnosis.   
  • Please make sure all case information is de-identified.  
  • The deadline to submit a case is January 28, 2022

Submit your case: https://fr.surveymonkey.com/r/6GYXTDX

NOMINATE A COLLEAGUE FOR A 2021 REGIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD!

The SOGC Regional Achievement Awards recognize the excellence of SOGC members from a given region who volunteer at the local, regional, or provincial level as an advocate for women’s health.

Western region: British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon

Central region: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories

Ontario region: Ontario, Nunavut

Quebec region: Quebec

Atlantic region: Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island

Application deadline: Tuesday, February 15 2022 at 23:59 PST


CFWH ESCAPE ROOM FUNDRAISER

March 10th  from 8:00pm to 10:00pm (EST)

Current circumstances dragging you down? Need an escape? Join the Canadian Foundation for Women’s Health (CFWH). Search and hunt online to solve a kidnapping. Gather 3 friends (together or virtually) or trust us to find you teammates. Challenge others to compete against you.  Winners will be recognized but bragging rights are best. All you need is a device with internet access and a keen sleuth nose.

Cost is $25.00, per person, entry fee will go to fund research in Women’s Health sponsored by the CFWH.


WOMEN’S HEALTH PODCAST

A CONVERSATION WITH DR. MORRIS
In this episode, our host Dr. Graeme Smith speaks with Dr. Maggie Morris about her role as the President of the SOGC and her vision to start a pan-Canadian dialogue about collaborative care.  

Excerpt:
 
SOGC: In your installation speech, you mentioned that you would like to start a pan-Canadian dialogue about collaborative care. Why is that important to you? And what are you hoping to establish during your term?

Dr. Morris: I am hoping to have a national conversation about collaborative care in obstetrics and gynaecology – hearing about what is working well, what is not working well and provide a national forum for this discussion. Evidence in the literature supports collaborative care as the best for patients and care givers but we all face unique challenges related to our own area of practice that can put up barriers either local or national, especially related to funding models of care. Provincial funding issues can greatly impact our ability to do good quality inter-professional care as can local and national issues. So the story and challenges will likely be very different for all of us depending of where we’re working. We are attaching a survey to my president’s talk at each SOGC meeting to provide an opportunity to hear from as many people as possible. I might regret this if we get a lot of feedback but hopefully we do to enable us to know how to move forward.
 
SOGC: The provision of obstetric and gynaecologic care has become more challenging in the past decade with advanced technologies, shrinking resources, complex patient demographics. How have the expectations of women and the public at large changed? 
 
Dr. Morris: I think we all feel that expectations of women have been increased. Access to information on the internet both good quality information and doubtful information has increased exponentially making our conversations more challenging than they used to be. The demographics of our patients is also changing with immigration and we need to quickly be able to understand the cultural values and expectations of our changing demographics. Collaborative care becomes a very important part of meeting the challenges of delivery of care in our times. Instead of being able to manage cases on our own, we need to access a team to provide the best possible care.
 
Listen to the full podcast episode HERE
 

FEATURED ONLINE COURSES

January 24th is International Day of Education!

This is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of our latest online course offerings.

SOGC Online Research Courses:


Click HERE to view all SOGC courses


GUIDELINES AND COMMITTEE OPINIONS

JANUARY CLINICAL GUIDELINE

Guideline No. 417: Prevention of Venous Thromboembolic Disease in Gynaecologic Surgery

Katy Tafler, BSc, MD, FRCSC, Anita Kuriya, MD, FRCSC, Nicole Gervais, HBA, MA and Nicholas Leyland, BASc, MD, MHCM, FRCSC

SOGC members can access all guidelines by signing into their SOGC Member Portal.

Click HERE to read the FAQ on accessing guidelines.


COMMITTEE NEWS


CALL FOR COMMITTEE MEMBERS

We are excited to offer several new vacancies to join the Guideline Management and Oversight Committee (GMOC) and Obstetrical Content Review Committee (OCR). This is an excellent way to meet new colleagues and work together on many important projects including our clinical practice guidelines, online courses, and research initiatives.

Please find the committee descriptions and application forms below.

The deadline to submit is February 3, 2022

The Guideline Management and Oversight Committee (GMOC)

The GMOC is a highly specialized committee that was created by the SOGC Executive and Board of Directors with the mandate to better manage and direct the guideline production and update process for the SOGC. Read the terms of reference HERE.   

We are now accepting applications for the following vacancies:

  • Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Co-Chair 
  • Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Specialist
  • Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Urogynaecology Specialist 
  • Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Generalist

Given the specialized nature of this committee, applicants should meet the following criteria:

  • More than 5 years in clinical practice (> 5 years since residency)
  • Experience writing SOGC clinical practice guidelines
  • Competent at conducting peer-reviews (e.g., grants, manuscripts, etc.) and critically appraising scientific literature
  • Experience chairing/co-chairing committees and/or working groups (for the Co-Chair vacancy)

The Obstetrical Content Review Committee

OCR committee members develop clinical core content for the ALARM, ALARM International, and Salus Global programs (i.e. moreOB). Read the terms of reference HERE.   

We are now accepting applications for the following vacancies:

  •  Registered Nurse (RN) or Registered Midwife (RM)
  • Family Physician (FP) or Obstetrician/Gynaecologist

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

THE KITTY CARR FUND

The Kitty Carr Fund was established to support research and initiatives aimed to improve understanding of and to prevent maternal morbidity and mortality in Canada. Funds from the Kitty Carr Fund will be used to fund Annual post-graduate scholarship(s) of $10,000 focused on prevention of maternal morbidity and mortality as well as initiatives contributing to implementation of a Confidential Enquiry System in Canada.