Family Medicine Residency Site: Abbotsford-Mission

You are invited! Register for our virtual session on Patients as Teachers: Who’s teaching whom? Part of the Research and Reflections on Teaching: A Medical and Health Education Series. Cross-cutting topics. Expert speakers. Attend one, two or all three of the sessions offered yearly.

Title: Patients as Teachers: Who’s teaching whom?
Date & Time: Tuesday, May 26, 2026; 5:30-7:00pm; Register here
Panel members: Bonnie Sawatzky, Carolyn Canfield, and more to come
Location: Zoom

Join us for an engaging session exploring how patient perspectives can enhance teaching and enrich learner experience. At the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Describe how patients can be engaged in health education across the spectrum
• Elevate patient voices within teaching approaches  
• Consider how your experiences as a patient or caregiver can improve your teaching approaches 

All faculty who teach in the medical and health professional programs in the Faculty of Medicine are invited. 

Read more about the Research and Reflections on Teaching (R&R) Series, by visiting the Office of Faculty Development website.

“Flowers have played a significant role in society, focusing on their aesthetic value rather than their food potential. This study’s goal was to look into flowering plants for everything from health benefits to other possible applications. This review presents detailed information on 119 species of flowers with agri-food and health relevance. Data were collected on their family, species, common name, commonly used plant part, bioremediation applications, main chemical compounds, medicinal and gastronomic uses, and concentration of bioactive compounds such as carotenoids and phenolic compounds.

In this respect, 87% of the floral species studied contain some toxic compounds, sometimes making them inedible, but specific molecules from these species have been used in medicine. Seventy-six percent can be consumed in low doses by infusion. In addition, 97% of the species studied are reported to have medicinal uses (32% immune system), and 63% could be used in the bioremediation of contaminated environments. Significantly, more than 50% of the species were only analysed for total concentrations of carotenoids and phenolic compounds, indicating a significant gap in identifying specific molecules of these bioactive compounds. These potential sources of bioactive compounds could transform the health and nutraceutical industries, offering innovative approaches to combat oxidative stress and promote optimal well-being.”

Learn more here: Exploring Plants with Flowers: From Therapeutic Nutritional Benefits to Innovative Sustainable Uses via NIH.

We are deeply shocked and saddened by the shootings at Tumbler Ridge and extend our deepest sympathy to all those impacted. This is a truly horrific event and our hearts are with the people of Tumbler Ridge and all British Columbians. For university community members impacted by this event and who are seeking support, please visit this site for a list of supports and resources: https://bit.ly/460hpjY

In acknowledgment of this tragedy, the University of British Columbia will be lowering its flags to half-mast.

To our residents, thank you.

Thank you for the steady presence you bring to every clinic day, and for the care you deliver when the work is complex and the pace is relentless. Thank you for showing up with curiosity, humility, and courage, for asking the hard questions, and for learning in real time with patients and teams who rely on you. You carry responsibility with grace, you make space for compassion in the middle of urgency, and you keep aiming to do better, even when you are tired.

Resident Doctors Appreciation Week is a small pause in a very busy year, but the gratitude is real. We see your effort, we value your growth, and we are proud to support you as you become the physicians our communities need.

Warmly,

Jacqueline

A 10-Minute Tune-Up for Our Assessment System

Assessment works best when we share the same mental model. Ahead of our March 2 retreat, we are using a short quiz to refresh key points from the CFPC resident assessment standards and to identify where we need clearer alignment across sites.

The goal is practical: reduce friction for preceptors and residents, strengthen our accreditation assessment story, and make it easier for Site Directors to use assessment information with confidence.

Review the Standards of Accreditation for Residency Programs in Family Medicine and take the Tune-Up Assessment Quiz.

Last night I attended the “From Hype to Hospital: How AI is being used in Healthcare and Research” hosted in British Columbia, Canada.

We’re surrounded by data in our healthcare system, but our ability to convert it into timely, trustworthy decisions is still limited by workflow, infrastructure, and governance. Provincial data collection continues to be labour intensive, often manual, and delayed.

As it was reported this evening, in trauma care, there can be a 12-18 month lag between what happens in the Emergency Department and Trauma Service, and what ultimately lands in registries, dashboards, and system-level reports. Check out the article “iROBOT: Implementing Real-time Operational dashBOards for Trauma care” to learn more: https://lnkd.in/gvBQKMgs

Other interesting points from presenters include:

+ Structured data is easy to analyze, narrative data holds the nuance that can change risk and interpretation.
+ AI can speed screening and reporting, reduce false positives, and support real-time dashboards, if evaluated honestly.
+ In BC, common use cases are emerging: early warning (sepsis, deterioration), staffing and scheduling, operational intelligence.
+ The hard part is the pipeline: discovery to pilot to scaled deployment, many projects stall before impact.
+ Implementation risks are real: trust (confabulation, over-reliance), privacy, environmental cost, workforce disruption.

My takeaway: We have a responsibility to educate and train healthcare practitioners in the use of AI, and to start asking critical questions about how it will affect patient care.

Slides attached are from Graham Payette’s AI BC briefing.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline

Hello everyone!

The UBC FP Chilliwack program has invited the Abbotsford-Mission team to join them for their upcoming Preceptor Retreat on Friday, February 27, 2026. I will be leading a session on AI in Faculty Development: Coaching Better Thinking, Strengthening Assessment, and Evaluating the Evaluators. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Please find the “Save the Date” details below and attached for your reference:

Date: Friday, February 27, 2026
Location: Chilliwack (CGH)
Participants: Chilliwack & Abbotsford-Mission Postgraduate and Undergraduate Preceptors
Schedule: 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Faculty Development Sessions at CGH
6:00 PM – Late: Dinner and Evening Learning Panels

Best,

Jacqueline

When Disaster Hits, Family Medicine Is Still the Front Door

Disasters and major trauma can feel like “someone else’s job” until the day your clinic, urgent care, or community hospital becomes the first place people arrive. In those moments, what matters most is not just clinical knowledge, it is teamwork, role clarity, and a shared plan.

A useful option is Trauma and Disaster Team Response, a free online course on SURGhub, offered through the McGill University Health Centre, Centre for Global Surgery. It is built around multidisciplinary trauma and disaster response, with lectures and quizzes, and it is designed to strengthen how teams function under pressure.

Why it matters for family medicine

Family physicians are often central to stabilization, triage, transfer decisions, and supporting staff and communities in the aftermath. This training can help build a common language for response, especially in rural and community settings where resources and staffing can shift quickly.

What you can take back to your team

• Clearer roles during urgent resuscitation and surge situations
• More confidence with transfer readiness and escalation
• A framework for thinking about disaster response as a system, not just a single patient
• A nudge to turn preparedness into practical clinic improvements (call trees, checklists, short drills)

Learn more here at McGill University’s SURGhub.

Experts from UVic and Island Health discuss safety, evidence, and patient impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare and research. Learn more and register here.

Happy New Year Team!

To kick off our 2026 Dawn Patrol Faculty Development Series, we’re starting with a topic that hits every exam room, every day. I’ve invited Sean McKelvey, BSc(Pharm) to share practical, evidence-informed insights on how food and lifestyle can meaningfully shift metabolic health, including the big question: can Type 2 diabetes remission be achieved through diet and lifestyle?

I had the opportunity to connect with Sean last year at our Curriculum Retreat, and I thought his presentation was fantastic and incredibly timely given how we’re trying to move in a direction that educates patients on the role of food and nutrients in their overall health. 

This faculty development session explores the science and practice of therapeutic nutrition in primary care. Learn evidence-based strategies to support patients in reversing chronic disease through sustainable, food-first approaches.

Session Title: Reversing Chronic Disease in Primary Care: A Food-First Prescription

Speaker: Sean McKelvey, BSc(Pharm), Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition (IPTN)

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the therapeutic nutrition model and remission criteria
• Review evidence and guidelines from Diabetes Canada and ADA/EASD
• Explore how interprofessional teams can safely support medication de-escalation
• Identify practical resources for patients and health professionals

Event Details:

📅 Friday, January 30, 2026
🕖 07:00–07:45 AM (Pacific Time)
📍 Virtual via Zoom: Email jacqueline.ashby@ubc.ca for link

Who Should Attend: Family physicians, preceptors, residents, nurse practitioners, and allied health professionals interested in integrating therapeutic nutrition into clinical teaching and patient care.

Hosted by: Dr. Jacqueline Ashby, UBC Faculty Development, Team-Based Primary Care Learning Centres (TPCLC)