Spring CME IS COMING

With all our thoughts turning to Spring this month, the Education Team is launching the season's Continuing Medical Education for RPPEO paramedics.

Spring CME is mandatory for our Advanced Care Paramedics and optional for their Primary Care counterparts. It looks like we could have 5 of the 9 services in our region sending their Primary Care Paramedics to the Spring sessions.

Our focus on patient safety continues with medication safety as one of the Big Topics for the day of learning. We'll also be continuing to bring paramedics examples of the importance of documentation for their patients who refuse care or transport.

Staff News

It's looking like all the hard work for BHITS paid off, if the fabulous feedback on the recent launch of a productivity tool for MedicNet is any indication.

Once you realize what the upgrade does, you'll see why it's such a hit.

Two weeks ago, BHITS went live with virtual document storage for us and all of our partners in MedicNet. But, this heavenly platform is more than just a digital place to keep forms and certificates.

By building intuitive uploading and shared document categories, Brendan and the BHITS team have given MedicNet users a much better way to keep each paramedic's documentary portfolio in order than traditional hard drives.

Staff News

Richard at the MAC helm

Dr. Dionne chaired his first Medical Advisory Committee meeting last week at the regular Ontario Base Hospital Group meetings in Toronto. By all accounts, it was a job well done moving through a packed agenda. Congratulations, Richard!

Staff News

Walking to End ALS

Susan and Joe were out on Saturday participating in the Walk to End ALS in Kingston.

Joe's longtime partner on the road in the Frontenac Paramedics Service, Dale Hodgins, was diagnosed last year with ALS and has since worked tirelessly to raise money for the fight against the debilitating and progressive disease. Dale's team in the walk last weekend raised nearly $7500!

Staff News

Go West, young investigators! Shannon is off to BC to chair the Young Investigators Meeting at the Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (CanROC) Assembly today through Wednesday in Vancouver. She's hoping to drop in on the CERN-RCRSP Symposium, co-located in downtown Vancouver. She joins Ben and Mike for CanROC, and Christian who is presenting to the Young Investigators meeting.

An RPPEO Christmas

We're about to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This year's office festivities are in the hands of our administrative assistants. Beginning on December 4, each department will organize a day of office merry-making. Our traditional annual contest will name a departmental winner by choosing whose day is the most jolly and full of the Xmas spirit.

To continue our Christmas traditions, Richard’s party will be on December 19. Let the festivities begin!

We're hiring!

It's time to bring some new talent in to help us reach our vision in continuing education and quality.

We're looking for two people to join us as soon as possible. But, while we'd love to hire quickly, we won't compromise on the type of of people we are looking for: they've got to be talented team-players.

Speak Up for Patient Safety

We were out there promoting what we do during last week's Canadian Patient Safety Week. Using social media, we reached out to reinforce one of our key messages: patient safety is our priority!

Culminating the week, several team members represented the RPPEO at the TOH Patient Safety Conference on Friday. We were fortunate to present our quality improvement work on documentation as a poster at the conference.

Better Patient Safety Knowledge, Tools and Process

The RPPEO is pleased to announce that we are hosting the 2020 PCP scenarios beta testing event. On December 4 at our head office in Ottawa, representatives from the provincial Base Hospitals will test newly developed PCP certification scenarios. These tests are part of making the certification process rigorous and fair.

Research is moving into the Quality & Patient Safety portfolio. The work of the RPPEO's research team already contributes to the knowledge base for safe and quality care. This alignment will allow the RPPEO to benefit from our in-house ability to deep-dive into understanding issues that affect patient care. The Senior Management Committee approved this re-alignment as part of their review of the RPPEO's organizational structure.

Speak Up for Patient Safety

It's Canadian Patient Safety Week. Under the banner, #ConquerSilence, this week is devoted to encouraging everyone involved in healthcare to say something whenever they have a concern.

This week, the RPPEO will take to social media to encourage paramedics to report their concerns about patient safety to us. We're highlighting the RPPEO's fair and just approach and the new tools we're building to help paramedics speak up.