From the ollege Publications Mail Agreement #40051985 Telephone: (204) 774-4344 or Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to Toll Free within Manitoba 1-877-774-4344 1000 – 1661 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3J 3T7 Fax: (204) 774-0750 Website: www.cpsm.mb.ca Volume 47 Number 1 January 2011 This newsletter is forwarded to every licensed medical practitioner in the Province of Manitoba. Decisions of the College on matters of standards, amendments to regulations, by-laws, etc., are published in the newsletter. The College therefore expects that all practitioners shall be aware of these matters. College is undergoing significant changes with the In This Issue…… implementation of the Registered Health Professions Act (RHPA) and the Agreement on The President’s Message ...................................1 Internal Trade, as well as the expansion of Notes from the Registrar ......................................... 2 requirements for Continuing Professional National Registration ...........................................4 Development (CPD). That makes this a good Adapting To Multislice CT Scanners...................... 5 time to remember the goals of the College and to Requirement for Acceptable Electronic and ask ourselves whether they are being achieved. Facsimile Rx ............................................................... 6 From the Investigation Committee: Through the Medical Act (and now the RHPA) - Appropriate GI Investigations............................ 6 the people of Manitoba have entrusted our - Chronic Lymphedema/Cellulitis ........................ 6 profession with self-regulation including setting standards for qualifications and disciplining From the Complaints Committee: physicians. There are some who may express - Post Exposure Prophylaxis.................................. 6 doubt about the wisdom of this trust. They Diving and Hyperbaric Physicians .......................... 7 correctly point out that there is an element of Inductee Into Canadian Medical Hall Of Fame .... 7 conflict of interest in self-regulation. However it Manitoba Palliative Care Conference...................... 8 is also true that no one is in a better position to MB Launches EMR Adoption Program................. 8 know what it means to be a good doctor than Prescription Opioids & Addictions......................... 8 other doctors. And it is in the interest of all of us PHIA Amendments .................................................. 9 to ensure that our colleagues are competent. In IT Update ................................................................. 10 order to retain our privilege of self-regulation – MPAR Program ....................................................... 10 and it is a privilege – the profession needs to Report Of Disciplinary Hearings........................... 11 demonstrate to the government and the people of Council Meeting Dates ........................................... 22 Manitoba that we are taking all reasonable steps Officers & Councillors............................................ 22 to ensure that the medical care provided by physicians is safe, competent, and professional. It is not enough for regulation to be done; FROM THE PRESIDENT regulation must be seen to be done. Dr. Roger Suss The following are some of the steps the College takes to ensure transparency and accountability: Dear Colleagues, 1. The College has public representation on Council and on all disciplinary I would like to use my remaining President’s committees. Letters to write about the values of the profession 2. All members who are censured are as I see them, and how those values are translated reported publicly unless there is a into action here at the College. As you know the compelling reason not to do so because it impacts the safety of an individual (this The CPSM website is now up again in a static does not include members who are given form. This newsletter will be posted on the advice or lesser degrees of criticism). Website. We have a new, secure, temporary 3. The College publishes its activities in webhost in Manitoba and are exploring a statistical form including the actions of its permanent webhost solution for the future. discipline committees. 4. The College maintains the physician Once the physician profile is updated and re- profile which makes available to the loaded, I encourage every licensed physician to public a history of the discipline imposed, review your information. If you find anything that College undertakings, and successful is not up to date, please email or call us to identify malpractice litigations against physicians. the changes or additional information you wish to (This will be back on the College website have included. This is the five year review of as soon as it is repaired.) profile information we promised in 2005! 5. The advent of mandatory CPD requires physicians to show that they are In a separate item in this newsletter, I identify the participating in ongoing education, and changes that have occurred to our information are receiving feedback from patients and technology processes at the College. They are colleagues. (The College is still ongoing and we believe that the new system will determining how to directly demonstrate be both efficient and secure in the future. ongoing continuing competence in care provided.) TH SEPTEMBER 20 , 2010 COUNCIL MEETING: I know that transparency and accountability can At the meeting in September, Council approved be painful, particularly to physicians who are more material to go to the Legislative Unit of doing their best to provide compassionate care, Manitoba Health for inclusion in the regulations but there are responsibilities that come with the for The Regulated Health Professions Act which privilege of self government. Your Council is expected to come into force in the next year regularly struggles with determining what is a or so. reasonable standard of accountability, and with balancing transparency and physician privacy. We The College secretariat is working hard with the hope you are pleased with our efforts since we are President’s Working Group so that the also accountable to you our members. regulations will reflect what Council considers to be in the best interest of both the public and the Sincerely, profession for the regulation of Medicine for the Roger Suss future. It is a challenge but also very exciting to be President part of the planning for the way our profession will operate for the coming decades. NOTES FROM THE REGISTRAR DECEMBER 17TH, 2010 COUNCIL MEETING: This is the first newsletter published since the issue arose with our webhost server in the late fall. The following significant items were approved by All active members received the correspondence Council: from the College outlining the issues and i) Modification of the President-Elect encouraging you to take appropriate precautions nomination process – at present the that you felt were necessary. President-Elect nominations come from a Nominating Committee which makes two Several of you have called and spoken directly to names available to Council in November. Dr. Babick or me with your questions. We have One of these two individuals is voted upon by spoken with all of those who did call. Thank you for being open with us. From the College / 2 Vol. 47 No. 1 January 2011 all members of Council and becomes the It will also be run by the Standards President-Elect following the Annual General Department. Further information is provided Meeting in June of the following year. in this newsletter as a separate item. Council reviewed the matter and determined that there should also be the opportunity for iv) MPPP – for the last several years the College nominations from the floor. As a result, the has asked Manitoba Health to reinstitute the process was modified to allow such Manitoba Prescribing Practices Program to nominations to be made at the December review the prescribing of narcotics and Council meeting. Election will then be by controlled medications. The previous MPPP Council secret ballot following that meeting. was intended to be educational and to assist physicians to understand and prescribe more safely. It also provided them with tools when ii) MANQAP (Manitoba Quality Assurance they felt that they were unsure of how to Program) – there was discussion about the manage difficult patient demands. Manitoba responsibilities of MANQAP and how it Health has been unwilling to reinstitute the should function. Council directed that I write previous process whereby we were provided to the Deputy Minister indicating that Council automatically with information about doctors’ wishes MANQAP to have a purely prescribing. accreditation function. They asked the Deputy Minister to commit that the Government At this time, Manitoba Health has introduced would implement the College’s recommend- a modification to the Prescription Drug Cost dations. Furthermore, they required that the Assistance Act. This may provide us with an Medical Director of a laboratory must be a opportunity to obtain the information in a physician. different way. Dr. Ziomek, Assistant Registrar and I have been involved in discussions with Manitoba Health about how iii) MPAR (Manitoba Physician Achievement this information may be used to educate Review) – in 2009, Council approved the physicians about safe prescribing. The Bill concept of MPAR. The Physician has gone to Committee and is expected to Achievement Review was created by the receive third reading in the spring session of College of Physicians