Chief of Staff Report

Medical Manpower and Recruitment

The medical manpower shortage in Canada and at home is the worst situation witnessed by myself in my thirty-two years of practice. More general practitioners for care of inpatients and for the Emergency Room and a G.P. anesthetist are urgently needed to stabilize medical manpower at our hospital.

Dr. Anne Baggley will join the Medical and Obstetric Team in August 2007 and will also work in the Emergency Room. Dr. Valéry Rossbach joins the Medical Team in July 2007. He will also work in the Emergency Room.

This year four physicians have joined the Emergency Room Team: Dr. Melanie Robles, Dr. Nadia DelleDonne, Dr. Fadi Azzi and Dr. Raphael Vartazarmian.

Dr. Réjean Arbour, after a one-year sabbatical to acquire new skills in plastic surgery, returns to HGH in September.

Dr. Guy Cournoyer will start Pneumology Outpatient Clinics in September 2007.

The Medical Staff Organization

Back-up and Transfer Physician:
The two medical teams, along with the Emergency Room Team of physicians, have created a new post to assure on-call for back-up to support physicians on a busy service and to accompany unstable patients on an ambulance transfer to a tertiary centre.

Emergency Room:
E.R. physicians, along with all the other E.R. staff, have embarked on a major project to facilitate decongestion in the E.R. Overlapping physician shifts and back-up for physicians when medical manpower permits and the addition of two Emergency Room examining rooms should make a difference on wait times.

On-call Rotation Management:
The Medical Staff has adopted a new software to better manage on-call rotations. Physicians now have the opportunity to exchange on-call duties with colleagues on the Internet. The program also tracts committee meetings and continuing medical education events.

Physician Assistant:
HGH is one of 25 sites chosen by the OMA for a pilot project involving the participation of two physician assistants on the medical wards. The P.A.'s should be on board in January 2008.

MOREOB:
The Obstetrical Team has embarked on a three-year program called Managing Obstetrical Risk Efficiently. It is a comprehensive patient safety, quality improvement and professional development program for family physicians, nurses and administrators in hospital obstetrical units. The program integrates evidence-based professional practice standards and guidelines with current and evolving patient safety concepts, principles and tools.

Retirement
After 23 years of service, Dr. Jean Therrien has retired from his hospital practice and we thank him for his commitment and for his collegiality during all this period.

Nomination
Dr. Renée Arnold has been elected President of the Executive Committee of the Board of the Ontario College of Family Physicians. We are proud to be well represented at the College.

Infection Control Committee
At 4.9 cases per 1,000 patient days, C. difficile at HGH is well within the benchmark of 5.9 for the province.

Stroke Prevention Program
Under the care of a new comer at HGH, Nurse Practitioner Annie Rioux, our patients get expert guidance in primary and secondary prevention of strokes since September 2006.

Continuing Medical Education
The CME Committee organized 44 educational activities in areas requested by the Medical Staff.

Medical Students
Again this year, for the sixth time, four Francophone students in their third year at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine were received by our physicians for a three-week practicum for clinical clerkship. This summer our physicians will repeat the same exercise.

Four nurse practitioners completed a clinical clerkship in our hospital.

Bottom Line

• In the last year, with the help of competent nurses and support personnel, our physicians delivered 377 babies, accompanied 229 patients on North Wing, have performed 3,486 surgical interventions, 3,005 of which were day surgery cases and have administered treatments to 2,480 admissions to acute, medical and surgical care.
• We had 32,997 visits in the Emergency Room and 26,736 visits in our outpatients clinics.
• Our radiologists have reported on 19,716 x-ray films, 3,128 scans and performed 5,710 ultrasound examinations.
• Our cardiologists have interpreted 11,088 electrocardiograms.
• 1,100 patients had a colonoscopy and 659 a gastroscopy.
• 199 patients had a cystoscopy.

Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy

The Medical Staff welcomes Mr. ian hepburn who will soon offer VAHT to inpatients. Plans are to start with control of pain and anxiety in palliative care patients. A protocol has been approved by the Medical Advisory Committee and the Hospital Board. HGH is the first to offer this type of intervention in Canada.

Recognition

Board of Directors' Award:
As leader of the Medical Team, palliative care champion, teacher of medical students, promoter of CME, recently appointed President of the Medical Staff and a member for 23 years and a role model in applying the values promoted by the Board, Dr. André Borduas was selected to receive this honor.

Award for Effort:
Dr. Byron Friesen and Dr. Nabil Malak were chosen for their heroic commitment in accepting, one more time, to be on-call one week in two for a prolonged period. With their collegiality, competence, calmness and empathy, they have won the respect of their peers.

Recognition Award Presented by the Medical Staff:
Our three pharmacists, Michelle Dumas, Lyne Hébert-Maillette, and Diane Sabourin were recognized for their judicious advice, their availability and exemplary professionalism.

Elections

At the annual meeting of the Medical Staff on May 2, 2007, Dr. André Borduas, Dr. Luc Chagnon and Dr. Lyne Arsenault were elected by acclamation respectively as President, Vice-President and Secretary. Together with Dr. Christian Gagné, a member ex-officio as Medical Director of the Emergency Room, they constitute the Medical Advisory Committee

I am happy to continue working with a MAC that has the strong support of these four dedicated physicians.

Jean Fairfield, MD

Chief of Staff