Volume 4 Number 4 In This Issue

ADVICE: Information onslaught: how to defend your distractible brain

Johny Van Aerde, MD, PhD

Do you have an urge to respond immediately to the sound of an incoming email? Do you feel anxious when your smartphone is not close by? Has it become a reflex to pull out your smartphone while waiting in a checkout line? This article explores why our brain is prone to distraction, why we crave information and novelty, how high-tech tools amplify our distractibility, and what we can do to attenuate the risk of excessive information foraging. read article

Psychological health and safety in health care: what do doctors have to do with it?

Laura L. Calhoun, MD

Good quality patient care is something all physicians care about. The links between high-quality patient care, the psychological well-being of physicians, and psychological health and safety on health care teams are becoming increasingly clear. This article examines these links and defines psychological health and safety and how they are interdependent. It clarifies the tremendously important role of physicians in setting the stage for psychological safety on their teams and offers some potential ways forward. read article

The evolving role of the patient and the future of digital health

Rashaad Bhyat, MD, Mike Figurski, MD,

and Asim Masood, MD

An increasing number of physicians are using electronic medical records, and core electronic health record data continue to become more available. However,  digital advances are also allowing patients to be more engaged in monitoring their own health. In response, physicians’ roles will change, often toward a coaching or partnership model. read article

Physician leadership and leading across boundaries

Anurag Saxena, MD, MBA

Health care involves cooperation, coordination, and collaboration across multiple intra- and interorganizational stakeholder boundaries. Five domains of boundaries — vertical, horizontal, stakeholder, demographic, and geographic — are present in health care and in academic health centres. These highlight differences in mission, vision, mandates, and the organizational culture, structures, and processes of different groups.  read article

Leading through tweeting: physicians and Twitter

Pat Rich

Although the uptake of social media by the Canadian medical community remains slow, Twitter has recently been used to great effect in physician elections, and social media are becoming pervasive in medical education and at medical conferences. However, discussions have become heated at times and have prompted displays of unprofessional behaviour. In response, the CMA has prepared a charter of shared values for physicians referencing the need for civility and appropriate behaviour when using such tools.  read article

The competencies of the CanMEDS Leader role

Saleem Razack, MD

The CanMEDS Leader role is about collective ownership and stewardship in the health care system. Physicians balance both management skills (preserving organizational homeostasis) and leadership skills (disrupting for change). The tension between leading and managing requires considerable wisdom. I use three scenarios to illustrate the Leader role and show how the curriculum for physicians must include skill-building in systems understanding, in addition to the usual focus on biomedical and epidemiologic sciences, and skills in humanistic interaction.

 read article

Physician leadership development: University of Manitoba’s landscape across the educational continuum

Ming-Ka Chan, MD, Debrah Wirtzfeld, MD, Aaron Chiu, MD, Shaundra Popowich, MD

The need for professional leadership development in health care is growing. Such development must start early in training and continue throughout the life cycle. In this case study, we review the numerous physician leadership education opportunities at the University of Manitoba, highlighting some exemplars and discussing enablers and challenges. Local, regional, national, and international opportunities exist for core development for all students and residents as well as enhanced leadership education.  read article

Canadian guidelines on smartphone clinical photography

Mieke Heyns, BSc, Anna Steve, MD, Danielle O. Dumestre, MD, Frankie O.G. Fraulin, MD, Justin K. Yeung, MD

The use of a mobile device to obtain clinical photographs is convenient and efficient compared with the traditional use of a medical photographer. It also enhances physician communication and allows ease of photograph storage and accessibility. However, provincial/territorial colleges across the country lack complete and readily accessible information to guide smartphone use for clinical photography. Evaluation of existing guidelines identified significant agreement between college recommendations in six main categories: consent, storage, retention, audit, transmission, and breach. Concise national guidelines pertaining to each of these categories will improve the ability of physicians to understand how to use clinical photography appropriately in the future. read article

CSPL turns 20

Don Atkinson, MD, Chris Carruthers, MD,

Denis Kendel, MD

We asked three of our earliest board members — Donald H. Atkinson, Orillia, Ontario; Chris Carruthers, Ottawa, Ontario; and Dennis A. Kendel, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan — to look back over the years and reflect on the CSPL and physician leadership. read article

A PERSONAL JOURNEY: What can happen when we leave our comfort zone?

Fernando Mejia, MD

Everyone has a comfort zone, a mental or physical state (orin some cases a combination) where we feel 100% in control. We usually create a comfort zone unconsciously by developing certain habits and skills that allow us to know exactly what needs to be done to obtain a desired outcome. read article

2018 CSPL Excellence in Medical Leadership Award

Dr. Gillian Kernaghan

The CSPL presents this award annually to a physician who has made an outstanding contribution to the development and mentorship of medical leaders in the field of health services leadership and management. read article

STORIES FROM OUR CCPES

Dr. Annette Epp: gynecologist, mother, volunteer

Christine Spetz

 read article

STORIES FROM OUR CCPES

Mentorship, interprofessional relations, and “hand-holding”

Sandip K. SenGupta, MD read article

BOOK REVIEW

Extreme Ownership: How US Navy Seals Lead and Win

Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

St. Martin’s Press, 2015

Reviewed by Laura Calhoun, MD, and Rowland Nichol, MD read review

BOOK REVIEW

The Power of Kindness: Why Empathy is Essential in Everyday Life

Dr. Brian Goldman

Harper Collins, 2018

Reviewed by J. Van Aerde read review