Message from the Chair - Dr. Andrea Lum
Another year has come and gone, and what have we learned? What have we accomplished?
In January, the Department of Medical Imaging underwent an external review; the first we’d had in years. Weeks of preparation went into that review. A Fanshawe study led by Liz Loruzzo, “Reducing Patient Dose in Portable Imaging” was beginning.
Discussions were underway around Peer Review Programs and Quality was the vernacular of the day. Planning for London Imaging Discovery (LID) was about to ramp up.
CaRMS was held in early February, and Career Development Planning interviews were scheduled. The “Quality of Care Committee” (now called the Medical Imaging Professional Interpretation Quality Committee [MIPI-QC]) was formed. (I now sit on the newly formed Peer Review Implementation Task Group which is a task group of the Health Quality Ontario and Expert Panel on Diagnostic Imaging Quality – the Steering Committee. This initiative has an aggressive timeline and will drive and parallel the foundational work of MIPI-QC). An initiative linking Hamilton Health Sciences with London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) was being considered as managed equipment services (MES) to share in the provision of state-of-the-art equipment.
In March, we welcomed Dr. Patrice Bret as our Visiting Professor, who focused on faculty wellness and happiness. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Council of Faculty and Academic Societies (CFAS) held the semi-annual meeting in March in Nashville, Tennessee, and we were well represented. HUGO was ramping up with order set reviews, and meetings were held around its impending launch.
Throughout March, April and May, more than 30, half-hour faculty Career Development Planning (CDP) interviews were held. We introduced our new CDP format, which is inclusive of providing mentorship, as well as career planning. Schulich Medicine & Dentistry held a strategic planning retreat, and the Canadian Society of Physician Executives (CSPE) and Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR) meetings were held in Toronto. Inside Magazine profiled the department. To improve communication, the old website began its metamorphosis into something new, and a newly formatted newsletter was launched.
With May and June came Dr. Jacalyn Duffin – a Visiting Professor, hematologist and historian. Six new full-time faculty members were slated to begin in July and work was underway in earnest to ensure their timely arrival. The 9th annual London Imaging Discovery was another success with Dr. Brian Goldman from CBC Radio One, as our Keynote Speaker. As Chief, I represented the department at the Radiothon in Victoria Hospital atrium to raise money to purchase MRI goggles for Children undergoing an MRI. Nuclear Medicine held the Annual Residency Program retreat. It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of our beloved Dr. (Thomas) Stephen Eakins on June 15. We said farewell to the PGY5 graduates and congratulations to Dr. Hobbs on his retirement.
During the summer, work continued. The website was finally complete and launched. The Royal College began providing “Competency by Design” dialogue sessions. Dr. Akira Sano from Osaka Saiseikai Izuo Hospital in Japan visited us and attended our Grand Rounds. We began working on our Hospital Human Resources planning portfolio. Meetings were being booked for review of our budget with Dr. Michael J. Strong, Dean, for the fall. Brendon Pilgrim began canvassing in preparation for LHSC hospital accreditation. (Thank you Brandon; 100 per cent). We offered congratulations to Dr. Elliott on his retirement.
In September, Dr. Jennifer Harvey, the head of the Division of Breast Imaging and Professor of Radiology was our Visiting Professor. She was followed closely by Dr. Eugene Yu (Head and Neck) and Dr. Ravi Bhargava (Paediatric Radiology). We finalized our Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry Medical Imaging Departmental budget, and we advised hospital Human Resources of our professional staff requirements for the upcoming year. In October, we were well represented at the International Conference on Residency Education with several attending. We began preparing ourselves for “Competency by Design”. Four St. Joseph’s Health Care London Radiologists held a CME evening education session for London’s Family Physicians and Specialists.
In November, our Radiology Residents held their Annual Retreat. We planned on our attendance at the RSNA along with an impressive list of resident presenters: Dr. Derek Cool, Dr. Hamid Reza Sageghi Neshat, Dr. Jonathan Chung, Dr. Michael Roth, and Dr. Rebecca Zener. We met for a two-year Aramark annual overview, shaved our faces and were fitted for our N95 masks, rolled up our sleeves and were given our flu shots. The AAMC/CFAS held a semi-annual meeting, this time in Chicago, Illinois and again, we were well represented. Dr. Elsie Nguyen was our final Visiting Professor for the year; 2014 hosted the highest number of sponsored VP’s in the past five years.
Throughout the year we attended ongoing regular monthly meetings around the three business groups,the City-Wide department itself, Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) and MAC Executive, medical imaging leadership team (MILT), medical imaging executives, St. Joseph’s acute ambulatory leadership council, hospitals undergoing optimization, the residency program and nuclear medicine residency program, undergraduate education, Clinical Chairs, Executive Committee of Schulich Council, and innumerable others to represent the department more fully. No less than 48 additional items interwove their way through our calendars, vying for priority. We wrote letters of support, newsletter articles, thank you cards, attended mentorship dinners, hosted resident journal clubs, responded to thousands of emails, mentored fellows, and wrote proposals for funding.
So what have we learned? We have learned to say thank you to our hardworking site Chiefs: Drs. Tay, Islam and Goela and our Divisional Chairs, Drs. Jonathan Romsa and Aaron Fenster. These individuals, through the devotion of countless hours in lunch and evening meetings, in T-Cons, and through face-to-face hallway conversations, help to manage and lead our three sites through these challenging times of fiscal constraint. It is through their ongoing assistance our hospitals have thrived.
We are grateful to those involved in the management of this department, those who sit on the medical executives advisory, and on the medical imaging leadership team, those who were involved in the planning, organizing andaccomplishment of the career development interviews through our team approach (leader, physicist, mentor). Many have appreciated this formative process to enable success in their careers. To that end, we are happy to announce Western has moved through to the next round of our candidates’ dossiers. Feedback has been that we have set the Gold Standard”.
We are appreciative of all others involved in the successful day-to-day workings of this department. Our administrative support staff is second-to-none; they are bright, professional, and hardworking. Those visiting our department are quick to notice and comment on the proficiency of our team. Thank you to those who rally for us from the President’s and Dean’s offices, all the way down to the department level. Thank you to Drs. Ross, Shastry, Etemad-Rezai, Bhaduri and others who help our students and residents reach their goals.
Finally, thank you to the Faculty. Your dedication and commitment to excellence in clinical and academic work helps us to provide the best imaging care for our patients and to continue to achieve academic excellence in teaching and research.
I am grateful that the focus of this department has never wavered from the goal of the provision of excellence in care for our patients. On the cusp of a new year, may you reflect on the successes of 2014, and may you anticipate 2015 with promise.
Dr. Andrea Lum
Chair of Imaging/Diagnostic Radiology
