Demonstrating impact and leading for change

Foremost on in our minds these days is the filing for court protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) by Laurentian University. Many of you, our friends and partners, have expressed concern for NOSM and the effect this may have on us. As NOSM’s degree-granting institutions, both Laurentian University and Lakehead University hold endowments, tuition and research funds for our School. These are complex relationships that I am managing with Ray Hunt, Chief Operating Officer, Grace Vita, Director of Risk Management, and our legal counsel. We are working collaboratively to ensure our assets are protected. NOSM is a not-for-profit corporation and a separate legal entity, so our position may be unique as this serious matter unfolds.

Meanwhile, it is full steam ahead with our incredible strategic plan, The NOSM Challenge 2025.

It is already the end of February and so much has happened. I have asked Dr. Sarah Newbery to give you an overview of the School’s strategic direction Transform health human resource planning and about her work as NOSM’s inaugural Assistant Dean, Physician Workforce Strategy.

The need and what we’re doing about it

Guest Blog by Dr. Sarah Newbery

When we focus on health human resources in the North, similar questions and comments repetitively come up:

• “It’s been seven years of being on a wait list and I still don’t have a family doctor.”
• “I have been waiting for my specialist appointment for more than a year, and I am suffering.”
• “I want to see a doctor in the emergency room who understands why it’s hard for me as an Indigenous person to feel safe getting care. Sometimes locums who come from the south just don’t seem to understand who we are.”

These are snippets of conversation and feedback that many of us have heard. People in many different communities and settings have expressed their challenges with accessing timely, comprehensive care that feels safe to them as patients.

These are not new issues. NOSM was created almost 20 years ago in response to these exact messages from the people of Northern Ontario. We now have an opportunity to tackle these issues in new ways, and build the physician and health-care workforce that meets the needs of the people of Northern Ontario, while ensuring that clinicians here feel deeply satisfied with their work and are happy to stay.

We need reliable data that we can share to understand what motivates our graduates to stay, and to understand the factors that can enable our success, making us more effective. Some of this can now be found on the physician workforce strategy page on NOSM’s website.

We need to study interventions that are successful. This work is beginning as we need to pin point exactly where the need is. Starting in the Northwest LHIN region in 2017, the Chiefs of Staff of all hospitals and clinics began sharing their physician workforce needs. They were able to show some significant gaps in our workforce which, in part, led to Summit North. The information has since been gathered community by community through local clinicians and recruiters. This data has been shared with our two Health Force Ontario regional advisors as it gives a snapshot of our current needs.

For the first time, the information has been collated by medical discipline. What we know is that we need at least 313 full-time physicians across Northern Ontario right now, with the highest need in absolute numbers being family medicine—in particular, rural generalist family medicine—followed by psychiatry, pediatrics, anaesthesia, and emergency medicine. Although the numbers needed are small in specialties like neurology, plastic surgery and respirology, entire services depend on our ability to recruit specialists in these domains.

The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has provided information that indicates that at the end of 2019 we had 1,700 physicians whose primary practice location is Northern Ontario. Of those, 1,010 are family physicians and 690 are specialists. Overall, 40 per cent of our physician workforce is female, with an increasing rate of one per cent a year.

The number of physicians that we currently need overall—313—represents almost five full NOSM classes of 64 medical students. The challenge for us is that we need the 313 physicians now, not five years from now.

Besides our work to better understand the data, we are undertaking several initiatives to move the needle forward on physician workforce outcomes, including:

• Renewing our approach to electives, bringing external learners to our communities.
• Marketing postgraduate opportunities at NOSM. The “Doctors Wanted” campaign highlights our need for leaders, advocates, adventurers, change makers and excellent clinicians.
• Launching the Rural Generalist Pathway to support rural-focused learners.
• Connecting NOSM to key health human resource decision tables, including Health Sciences North and Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre, and aligning training to meet the need.
• Communicating transparently with our faculty and enhancing faculty development to support recruitment and retention.
• Working with the OMA to inform negotiations and advocate for the North on issues in clinical service and for the human resources to deliver the academic mission of the School.
• Renewing the work of the Northern Physician Resources Taskforce with the input of other partner organizations including the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), OMA, the northern municipal associations and PTOs like NAN.
• And importantly, creating opportunity for expansion of the medical school to allow for more undergraduate admission and more postgraduate training opportunities.

I look forward to the day we hear new feedback from the people of Northern Ontario. Transformed messages that reflect growth, safety and opportunity, such as:

• “My last family physician retired, but I didn’t have to wait at all for a new family doctor.”
• “My family physician referred me to a specialist, and my appointment is just a couple of weeks away!”
• “Our community’s economic development plan is moving forward so well partly because our local health-care system is stable and reliable, now new teachers and professionals want to move here!”
• “Every time I go to the hospital, I feel safe.”

I believe that we will get there. As we embark on this renewed journey, please know that your work as clinicians and as faculty is recognized and valued by NOSM, our patients and the communities that we serve together.

Thank you,

Dr. Sarah Newbery
Assistant Dean, Physician Workforce Strategy

The last word by Dr. Verma 

I know things have felt uncertain and there is a sense of vulnerability with variants of the virus threatening us out there. As a collective, I encourage all of us to focus on what’s best for our families, our communities, as well as our learners, our School and our strategic priorities. Also take courage in knowing what is best for your mental health, your team effectiveness, and your individual contribution. The changes we all make will help realign our talents, gifts and passions to our collective vision.

Pictured above: Dr. Bill McCready, NOSM Special Advisor and
Senior Associate Dean; Dr. Alexander Presello, NOSM resident;
and, Jacqueline Harvey, NOSM medical student join the Ornge
team in Thunder Bay.

NOSM Supports Ornge with Operation Remote Immunity

On Monday, February 22, 2021, NOSM’s first of 22 teams, consisting of learners, clinical faculty and staff joined Ornge, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, and many other partners in the roll out of COVID-19 vaccines to fly-in First Nations communities. They will travel to Wunnumin, Eabamatoong (Fort Hope), Bearskin Lake, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake), Deer Lake, Martin Falls, North Spirit and King Fisher Lake.

Read more.

Dr. Lee Toner appointed Interim Associate Dean of NOSM’s MD Program 

NOSM assists in mass vaccination clinics 

Thank you to the honourable speakers and attendees of Northern Lights 2021 

Daring Leadership in Difficult Times is the theme of this week’s Northern Lights 2021, NOSM’s annual pan-Northern leadership forum. The School experienced record high registrations by physicians across Northern Ontario who joined to hear our dynamic speakers, including: Dr. Jane Philpott, family physician and former Member of Parliament, currently Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Director of the School of Medicine, Queen’s University and CEO of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO); and Dr. Gigi Osler, Chair Canadian Medical Forum, President-Elect Federation of Medical Woman in Canada, Co-Chair Virtual Care Task Force, Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgeon, and Former President Canadian Medical Association. It is a privilege and an honour to participate.

NOSM’s Francophone Affairs Office is proud to present a webinar series in French on a variety of health issues. From dermatology, mental health and addictions, take these opportunities to improve your knowledge… and in French!

Register today, we look forward to seeing you online!