Contents Change is in the air . is that good, or bad? May 2010 Columns: pring is here and there is change in the air. However no one is From the president: Change is in the air . is that good, or exactly sure what change that will be. Will the new minister CAPA executive - Please feel free to contact your and AHS continue to have the same relationship? Will there be representative with any concerns or issues. bad? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 S further budget decisions that impact our ability to deliver care to our Dr. Linda Slocombe, CAPA president Alberta Health Services Workforce Engagement survey ----- 4 Phone: 403-861-8423 patients? Will the new provincial bylaws make the life of physicians Dr. D. Glenn Comm, CAPA past president PARA update: Medicine is a jealous mistress ------------------11 Phone: 403-850-0718 easier or more complicated? Will the role of physicians change with Dr. Lloyd Maybaum, CAPA president-elect Primary Care Physician’s Association - AGM ------------------ 13 Phone: 403-943-4904 the new emphasis on multidisciplinary care and expanded scopes Dr. Ronald Cusano, PLC MSA president Phone: 403-215-4070 From the past president - Contrasts in medicine ------------- 13 of practice? Will fee for service payments survive or will we all be Dr. Douglas Thorson, RGH MSA president & treasurer Phone: 403-252-6681 From the president-elect - CAPA: the wizard of ZWOZ and . salaried? Will we all be in ARP’s of one sort or another? Will PCN’s Dr. John Graham, RGH MSA vice president Phone: 403-221-4489 . On leadership -------------------------------------------------------- 14 be the future for family practice? Dr. Sean Grondin, FMC MSA president & treasurer Many unanswered questions for the foreseeable future. Which Phone: 403-944-8798 Calgary Medical Society -------------------------------------------- 17 Dr. Earl Campbell, FMC VP and treasurer brings me to the focus of this May issue of Vital Signs. Which is Phone: 403-221-4459 Letters ------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Dr. Mark Montgomery, ACH president & treasurer “why should there continue to be medical staff associations at all?” It Phone: 403-955-7882 Dr. Mary Brindle, ACH vice president & treasurer is not an unreasonable question to be asked at this time of provincial Phone: 403-955-7882 Dr. Grant Hill, rural MSA president Feature: bylaws, regionalized or zonal care and physicians too busy to meet Phone: 403-938-1424 Dr. Stephanie Kozma, PCPA member at large AHS, the media and physicians ------------------------------------- 9 even for a quick coffee often times. It is lamented, by those of us Phone: 403-258-3000 Dr. Phillip Van Der Merwe, Acting president & PCN rep Help to build better tools -------------------------------------------- 16 who remember the old days, that we no longer seem to just chat, in Phone: 403-640-4320 a friendly manner, and discuss cases and life in general. At one point Dr. Mohammed S Abdel-Hafez, PCN rep Phone: 403-226-8645 I know my colleagues stopped going to the doctors lounge due to Dr. Ann Vaidya, PCPA member at large News: Phone: 403-873-2352 the overwhelming negativity one encountered there. That changed Dr. Garth Wagner, CMS president President’s letter -------------------------------------------------------- 7 Phone: 403-292-9555 as we became accustomed to the seemingly permanent nature of the Dr. Lois Torfason, PCPA member at large & treasurer What CAPA does for you ---------------------------------------------- 8 Phone: 403-220-5765 Calgary Health Region. The firm footing of the region was pulled The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame - 12th Induction Contributing members out from underneath us and we were left again to flounder on uneven Dr. Cheri Nijssen-Jordan, CPSA representative Ceremony & Dinner -------------------------------------------------- 10 Phone: 403-955-7810 ground. The role of medical staff associations, historically, was Sean Smith, director, practice management program CAPA notices ---------------------------------------------------------- 12 perhaps more of a social one and less of an administrative burden. I Phone: 403-266-3533 Dr. Ronald J. Bridges, U of C ex-officio rep In memoriam ----------------------------------------------------------- 17 remember monthly meetings at the Calgary General and coffee and 403-220-4245 Dr. Florence Obianyor, PARA rep parking were as important then! CAPA rose from the ashes of the five Phone: 403-212-8223 Pager #08705 hospital medical staff associations we had in Calgary at the time of Web site: www.capa.cc regionalization. Our structure, which maintains site executives for the Administration office, Glennis Brittain phone: 403-943-1270 Administration office fax: 403-476-8770 four remaining urban hospitals and executives for rural and primary Vital Signs is published 11 times annually (not published in August) by the Calgary & care, has evolved but the site structure may prove to be vital. There has Area Physician’s Association (CAPA). www.capa.cc been a recent move back within AHS to more site based administration Editor: Dave Lowery, [email protected] with site medical directors intimately working with administration and Advertising director: the zonal medical directors. Bob d’Artois 403-540-4702 Our boss seems to keep changing and yet CAPA has survived and [email protected] become stronger. Vital Signs began as a two page newsletter. It is now Editorial advisory board: Dr. Glenn Comm – [email protected] a glossy magazine which continues to evolve. CAPA has become the Dr. Mark Joyce – [email protected] Dr. Linda Slocombe – [email protected] go to source for the media on issues that arise within our zone that Dr. Ian Wishart – [email protected] impact patients or physicians or both. Communication and engagement Submissions: Vital Signs welcomes submissions (articles, notices, letters to the editors, announcements, have become recent topics “too hot to handle” for many. photos, etc.) from physicians in the Calgary region. Please limit articles to 600 words or less. Your CAPA executive are able to freely comment on medical issues Please send any contributions to: to the media without threat of censure or the threat of job loss. This Dave Lowery: E-mail: [email protected], tel: 403-243-9498. ability must not be lost. [And apparently you can speak more openly Vital Signs reserves the right to edit article submissions and letters to the editor. Deadline: than we previously thought . see the questions to, and response The deadline for article submission to Vital Signs is the 15th day of the month for from, Roman Cooney, senior vice-president, communications. Editor.] distribution the first week of the following month. Next deadline is May 15, 2010. The communications policy for all AHS employees including doctors Contributors: The opinions expressed in Vital Signs are those of the authors and do not necessarily acting on behalf of AHS is clear. All communication with the media reflect the opinions or positions of the CAPA or CAPA executive. must be filtered through the local AHS communications department. Advertising: Claims made in advertisements are not verified by CAPA and CAPA assumes no It is not hard to guess the response to most requests. After the results responsibility for advertising accuracy. © 2010 of the engagement survey were released by Dr. Duckett there was On the cover:The Canadian flag. no further official response other than his presentation to AHS Photo by Dave Lowery employees from the Southport office. The media was anxious for more information, for the “AHS” spin on how to interpret the results Contents Change is in the air . is that good, or bad? May 2010 From the CAPA president Columns: pring is here and there is change in the air. However no one is and how to move forward. There From the president: Change is in the air . is that good, or exactly sure what change that will be. Will the new minister was a deafening silence. Other bad? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 Sand AHS continue to have the same relationship? Will there be than the much overused fallback Alberta Health Services Workforce Engagement survey ----- 4 further budget decisions that impact our ability to deliver care to our for all such poor results, more patients? Will the new provincial bylaws make the life of physicians FOCUS GROUPS. I am starting to PARA update: Medicine is a jealous mistress ------------------11 easier or more complicated? Will the role of physicians change with wonder if the lack of open, honest Primary Care Physician’s Association - AGM ------------------ 13 the new emphasis on multidisciplinary care and expanded scopes communication coming out of AHS From the past president - Contrasts in medicine ------------- 13 of practice? Will fee for service payments survive or will we all be is actually the root of some, if not From the president-elect - CAPA: the wizard of ZWOZ and . salaried? Will we all be in ARP’s of one sort or another? Will PCN’s most, of the lack of engagement felt . On leadership -------------------------------------------------------- 14 be the future for family practice? by staff and physicians. We read the Calgary Medical Society -------------------------------------------- 17 Many unanswered questions for the foreseeable future. Which newspapers just like everyone else. brings me to the focus of this May issue of Vital Signs. Which is Who speaks for AHS? It seems to Letters -------------------------------------------------------------------