Earning CPD credits

You can earn Section 2 credits toward your Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements by: 

• Reading CJO articles: each journal article that you read and deem has had a significant impact on your learning or practice can be recorded individually — you will receive one (1) credit per article.
• Peer reviewing CJO articles: you can earn up to 15 credits per year as a Peer Assessment activity. The 15 credits are eligible for your yearly contributions. 

Claiming CPD credits

To claim CPD credits for reading CJO articles, you must record them in your MAINPORT ePortfolio as Section 2 Self Learning credits.

To claim CPD credits for peer reviewing CJO articles, you can either record them in MAINPORT yourself, or you can opt into our automatic transfer program and we will submit your Section 2 Peer Assessment credits directly to the RCPSC every year. The credits will appear in your MAINPRO dashboard for your review and approval. To opt into this program, please contact the Managing Editor at [email protected].

Participate by Live Stream or in-person on October 10 from 1:30 – 2:30 PM. This interactive talk will provide an overview of what predatory journals are and describe how they are having an impact on organizations, researchers, and patients. In doing so, the talk will touch on related topics including academic incentives, research funding, and science policy. It will discuss the impact of predatory journals on knowledge synthesis efforts and health literacy. It will recommend safeguards that stakeholders can put in place to limit interaction with these journals and to help reduce waste in how biomedical research is shared and used.

The speaker, Dr. Kelly Cobey,  is an Investigator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) working in the Centre for Journalology.

CPD Credits

Earn 0.5 MOC credits under Section 2 for participating.

Access Details

For more information and to register visit the CADTH website.

“Little” things make BIG differences is an online module, and has been accredited as a Section 3: Self-Assessment Program. 

The program designed to help practicing physicians, residents, administrators, and other team members build knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to better recognize and manage issues of disruptive behavior in their team based settings.

Premise of the Program

The program follows the case of Mrs. Wendy Lee, a patient who needs surgery at the Pondview Health Network.

Mrs. Lee’s surgery did not go as planned and Dr. Gin Staples, an administrator at the hospital, needs to review the case in order to make recommendations. Your objective is to review Mrs. Lee’s case from the perspective of the team members and patient in order to help Dr. Staples develop recommendations that foster “just culture” at the Pondview Health Network.

As you read through the case you are presented with questions. Record your answers for each question as you go through. There is an answer key at the end of this page to help you gauge your understanding of the content. Answering these questions helps you to compile findings that inform final recommendations for Dr. Staples and can also be used as part of a Personal Learning Project to earn Section 2 MOC credits.

Learning Objectives

Upon the completion of this simulation-based learning activity, you will be able to:

• Recognize the environmental stimuli that can precipitate disruptive behaviour
• Identify strategies for mitigating disruptive behaviour in the clinical environment
• Describe the impact disruptive behaviour has on the clinical environment
• Apply prescribed techniques that promote a “just culture” in the clinical environment
• Reflect on experiences with disruptive behaviour in the clinical environment

CPD Credits

“Little” things make BIG differences is an Accredited Self-Assessment Program (Section 3) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by Royal College Continuing Professional Development Unit. You may claim a maximum of 2 hours (credits are automatically calculated).

Access Details

To access the module please visit the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada website.

The CanMEDS Framework was developed by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to provide key strategies for healthcare professionals to increase efficiencies in their practice, improve communication with patients and colleagues, and demonstrate stronger leadership. 

The program explicitly expresses how CanMEDS roles are used in everyday clinical and non-clinical practice. The CanMEDS roles have been developed based on what patients believe are the most important competencies and abilities that physicians should possess.

Target Audience
This self-assessment program was developed with local faculty and subject matter experts to ensure a high degree of scientific integrity, rigor and balance for practitioners.

Learning Objectives
After successful completion of the program, participants will be able to:

• Use the CanMEDS Framework to improve your practice and your patient outcomes
• Identify areas for your continuing professional development using the CanMEDS Framework in all seven roles: Communicator, Collaborator, Leader, Health Advocate, Scholar, Professional and Medical Expert

CPD Credits
This program was co-developed by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and mdBriefCase Group.

This activity is an Accredited Self-Assessment Program (Section 3) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by the Royal College CPD Unit. You may claim a maximum of 1 hour (credits are automatically calculated).

Access Details
The online learning activity is free for RCPSC Fellows. To access the CanMEDS online self-assessment program, please visit the mdBriefCase website for more information.

Read the full article through the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology website: Full Article

Authors
Sami S. Qutob, Katya P. Feder, Michelle O’Brien, Leonora Marro, James P. McNamee, David S. Michaud

Abstract

Background

Unprotected exposure to handheld lasers can cause temporary or permanent vision loss depending on the laser classification.

Objective

To evaluate the occurrence of, and details associated with, reported eye injuries resulting from handheld lasers.

Methods

A 14-item questionnaire developed by Health Canada was distributed by the Canadian Ophthalmological Society and the Canadian Association of Optometrists to their respective members.

Results

Questionnaire data were available from 909 respondents (263 ophthalmologists; 646 optometrists). Response rates were 23.1% and 12.7%, respectively. Validated data were available from 903 respondents, where 157 (17.4%) reported encountering at least 1 eye injury from a handheld laser. A total of 318 eye injuries were reported with an annual increase of 34.4% (95% CI 21.6%–48.7%, p < 0.0001) between 2013 and 2017. When respondents reported on only their most severe case, 77 (53.5%) reported vision loss that ranged from minor to severe, which persisted for more than 6 months in 42.9% of the cases. Another 59 (41.3%) noted the presence of retinal damage. The prevalence of eye injuries from handheld lasers was higher for males (82.5%) than females (14.0%), more frequent among those under the age of 50years, and occurred predominately as a result of exposure from another person (67.6%) versus self-induced (26.1%) (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

Although this pilot study permits insight into the potential prevalence of injuries resulting from exposure to handheld laser devices in Canada, the results are not nationally representative. These findings support additional surveillance activities that may inform risk assessment and potential risk management strategies.

The CJO’s inaugural visual abstract provides a graphical summary of the following article from the June issue: Comparison of 2 regimens of loteprednol etabonate and bromfenac for cataract surgery.

The article is also featured in the CJO’s first Resident Perspectives digest, which highlights a handful of articles from each issue with summaries written by members of the CJO’s Resident Advisory Council. These summaries are written by residents for residents and focus on issues that are particularly relevant to learners here in Canada and beyond.

Ms. PRK tells me she isn’t overly worried about her refractive outcome following cataract surgery. But, she’s also had previous refractive which certainly causes me to raise a red flag! This is a patient who clearly cares (or at least previously cared!) about refraction!

I’m reflecting on the Toronto Cataract Course 2019 that took place in March, where I had a wonderful time connecting with colleagues, learning new insights, and picking up pearls. The knowledge I gleaned at this meeting will definitely help me to optimize refractive results for my cataract patients.

In particular, we are all aware of the challenges in selecting intraocular lens (IOL) powers for post-refractive patients undergoing cataract surgery. Over the years, a number of different approaches to dealing with this challenge have been developed, but there is room for further improvement. The scope of this problem will only grow as we encounter more post-refractive patients requiring cataract surgery.

I would like to highlight two links that serve as the backbone of post-refractive IOL calculations in 2019. The first is the ASCRS post-refractive IOL calculator, and the second is Graham Barrett’s True K post-LASIK calculator. Armed with these two resources, I think many of us will be able to more effectively tackle these interesting cases going forward.

ASCRS post-refractive IOL calculator: http://iolcalc.ascrs.org/ – please be mindful to pick the appropriate previous refractive surgery along the top.

The Barrett True K calculator: http://www.apacrs.org/barrett_true_K_universal_2/.  With this calculator, please be sure to select the appropriate previous refractive surgery from the drop down menu.

Recommended by Dr. Amandeep Rai
Amandeep Rai, MD, FRCSC
Practice Resource Centre Committee Member

Just recently, an ophthalmology resident that was nearing the end of their pediatrics rotation said to me, “All the ROP babies we have screened together have no ROP or ROP not requiring treatment. I’m afraid that when I go into practice I might not be confident enough to call Type I ROP. What should I do?”. Initially my first obvious answer was to recommend what I did in residency – see more patients together and continuing to review the ROP criteria and standard photos. However, I then recalled a great online ROP case-based training tool that had become available when I was in fellowship, Retinopathy of Prematurity: Case-Based Training, available through the American Academy of Ophthalmology website.

This interactive tool provides 20 cases of varying severity including a tutorial, if needed, to review how to diagnosis and when to treat ROP. Each case provides the birth weight, gestational age, postmenstrual age, six standard ROP imaging views for each eye, and selections for your specific diagnosis and follow-up. Although it may sound straightforward, some of the cases really get you thinking about whether they truly meet the criteria for treatment based on the Early Treatment of ROP (ETROP) study. Some of the cases are so challenging that at the recent ROP Update Conference – which is an accredited biennial meeting of ROP gurus and neonatologist that I also highly recommend – the exact same images and criteria were shown to the attendees and they were asked to respond resulting in varying diagnoses and management plans. As such, the training tool is great for residents, fellows, and any comprehensive, pediatric, or retina specialist performing ROP screenings who want to ensure their skills are up to date.

You do not need an AAO account if you would like to access the education module for pure learning purposes. However, if you are wanting the self-assessment credits for the activity you will need to be an active member of the AAO.

Retinopathy of Prematurity: Case-Based Training, available through the American Academy of Ophthalmology website.

Recommended by Dr. Christine Law 
Christine Law, MD, FRCSC
Practice Resource Centre Committee Member

The Neuro-Ophthalmology Virtual Education Library (NOVEL) has been one of my favorite educational resources as a resident and still continues to be one that I go back to as part of my general practice. Neuro-ophthalmology cases can sometimes be hiding amongst blurry vision and glaucoma suspect referrals. They somehow always seem to find a way to sneak into my clinics! I do find it helpful to refresh myself on neuro topics from time to time and for me a video is worth 1000 words. NOVEL is an amazing open access, repository of digital materials that may be used for education and research purposes. This is a great place to access images and videos for presentations, review key neuro-ophthalmology concepts and also as a place to submit interesting cases.

Last month I was responsible for organizing an introduction to ophthalmology workshop for a group of med 2 students, and I ended up using several clinical examination videos to help highlight key exam techniques such as the pupillary exam and extra ocular motility testing. One of the other great features is being able to access all the presentations from the Annual North America Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS) meetings through the site. I recently came across this nice series of presentations from the 2016 meeting, that reviews OCT use in neuro-ophthalmology.

Reviewing these videos could easily could be made into a Section 2 MOC Personal Learning Project which would give you 2 credits per hour.

Check out NOVEL today!

Recommended by Dr. Anu Mishra 
Anu Mishra, M.D., MSHPEd, FRCSC
Practice Resource Centre Committee Member