Volume 7 Number 4 In This Issue
EDITORIAL: Pandemic emergence dysphoria
Sharron Spicer, MD, FRCPC, CCPE
I love leadership books. Sitting on my bookshelves, bold and stoic, they silently cheer me on through the challenges of leading. Sometimes I even open them up and read them! My mentors and fellow book-lovers, Dr. Johny Van Aerde and Dr. Rollie Nichol, have recommended many titles over the years.
My collection grows faster than my ability to keep up.
Postgraduate medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and calls to action for medical education
Leanna S. McKenzie, MD, and Amonpreet K. Sandhu, MD
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid transformation in the delivery of postgraduate medical education, causing unexpected effects on the learning experiences of residents in training. Program directors, as educational leaders, are relied on to adapt an established curriculum and clinical experience into a virtual world while navigating the limitations imposed by the pandemic. In this article, we focus on the impact of the dramatic changes to medical education delivery on both learners and leaders and examine the challenges and successes of the new strategies employed. A reflection of the importance of leadership in medical education is discussed, along with a review of the strategies that have emerged as successful and worthy of integration into our new medical education paradigm. read article
PERSPECTIVE It’s not what you know, it’s who you know: diagnosing and healing your informal professional networks
Raphaël Kraus, MD
Traditional medical training fails to address the competitive realities of the job market and the critical role of informal professional networks in career development and advancement. Moreover, the concept of informal professional networking is scarcely represented in the medical literature. Borrowing from management science, I discuss the roles of informal professional networks; strategies to establish healthy and effective networks; and important barriers encountered by networkers, namely feelings of inauthenticity and inequities resulting from gender and race. read article
Understanding attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in physicians: workplace implications and management strategies
Maryna Mammoliti, MD, Christopher Richards-Bentley, MD, Adam Ly, MScOT, and Mary Nguyen, MD
Physicians with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have unrecognized workplace difficulties because of inattention and impulsivity. If these behaviours interfere with patient care or organizational functioning, leaders may erroneously attribute the physician’s actions to unprofessionalism. As such, corrective efforts with punitive measures may be ineffective. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that responds to evidence-based treatments, including medications, accommodations, and supports. Physician leaders who understand the unique presentations of ADHD in physicians may better identify when this condition may be contributing to workplace behaviour. Furthermore, physician leaders may have a professional or legal duty to accommodate or support physicians with underlying medical and/or psychiatric conditions, such as ADHD. Using our own clinical experience, we provide a general overview of ADHD in physicians and guide physician leaders on how to help physicians who may be struggling with ADHD in the workplace. We hope that our clinical experience and observations of this hidden problem will spur discussion, awareness, and action for further research and support.
Building community during the COVID-19 pandemic: a system level approach to physician well-being
Serena Siow, MD, Carmen Gittens,
BMBS, Janet M. de Groot, MD
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, physician burnout was identified as reaching crisis proportions, and the pandemic is expected to worsen the already perilous state of physician wellness. It has affected physicians’ emotional health, not only by increasing workload demands, but also by eroding resilience under increasing pressures. The mental health consequences are expected to persist long after the pandemic subsides. With physician wellness increasingly recognized as a shared responsibility between individual physicians and the health care system, system-level approaches have been identified as important interventions for addressing physician well-being. In this article, we describe two evidence-guided initiatives implemented in our hospitalist network during the current pandemic: a trained peer-support team and facilitated physician online group discussions.
Leading in an uncharted future
Pat Rich
As the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic crested in many parts of the country, the annual Canadian Conference on Physician Leadership, aptly named “An Uncharted Future,” was held on 26–29 April 2021. This virtual gathering gave delegates a forum to refresh their leadership skills and discuss the post-pandemic future. read article
BOOK CORNER
The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease
Reviewed by Johny Van Aerde, MD, PhD
Unconventional Leadership: What Henry Ford and Detroit Taught Me About Reinvention and Diversity
Reviewed by Justin Shapiro