Author: UBC Abbotsford-Mission Family Practice Residency Program

“Dr Welsh: This journey really began for me when I was a junior medical student on my pediatrics rotation. I’m walking down the hall, and before I get to the room where I’m supposed to see a patient, I can hear harsh coughing. I go in the room, and there’s a 7- or 8-year-old little girl. It’s obvious she’s breathing hard. I can see her using her accessory muscles of ventilation. I hear her coughing and then I smell for the first time the odor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common organism that affects the lungs of people with CF. I hear from her and her parents about all the things she can’t do and how much of her day is spent with a variety of different therapies.

The sobering part was when we left the room because then my attending told me that she wouldn’t make it to her teens. If she did make it to her teens, she almost certainly would never make it out of her teens. There are certain patients that are burned into your memory. That little girl is burned into my memory.”

How Cystic Fibrosis Went From Fatal to Treatable via JAMA.

Background: Obesity is a complex, chronic, stigmatized disease whereby abnormal or excess body fat may impair health or increase the risk of medical complications, and can reduce quality of life and shorten lifespan in children and families. We developed this guideline to provide evidence-based recommendations on options for managing pediatric obesity that support shared decision-making among children living with obesity, their families, and their health care providers.

Methods: We followed the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. We used the Guidelines International Network principles to manage competing interests. Caregivers, health care providers, and people living with obesity participated throughout the guideline development process, which optimized relevance. We surveyed end users (caregivers, health care providers) to prioritize health outcomes, completed 3 scoping reviews (2 on minimal important difference estimates; 1 on clinical assessment), performed 1 systematic review to characterize families’ values and preferences, and conducted 3 systematic reviews and meta-analyses to examine the benefits and harms of behavioural and psychological, pharmacologic, and surgical interventions for managing obesity in children. Guideline panellists developed recommendations focused on an individualized approach to care by using the GRADE evidence-to-decision framework, incorporating values and preferences of children living with obesity and their caregivers.

Recommendations: Our guideline includes 10 recommendations and 9 good practice statements for managing obesity in children. Managing pediatric obesity should be guided by a comprehensive child and family assessment based on our good practice statements. Behavioural and psychological interventions, particularly multicomponent interventions (strong recommendation, very low to moderate certainty), should form the foundation of care, with tailored therapy and support using shared decision-making based on the potential benefits, harms, certainty of evidence, and values and preferences of children and families. Pharmacologic and surgical interventions should be considered (conditional recommendation, low to moderate certainty) as therapeutic options based on availability, feasibility, and acceptability, and guided by shared decision-making between health care providers and families.

Read more on Managing obesity in children: a clinical practice guideline via CMAJ.

Artificial intelligence has arrived in medicine, whether we are ready or not. Medical students and residents are already experimenting with AI tools, and patients are beginning to ask about them and their use in the clinical setting. For faculty, this raises urgent questions: How do we prepare the next generation of physicians to work alongside this technology? How do we teach our learners to think critically, reason ethically, and not outsource their judgment to algorithms?

This fall, Abbotsford-Mission is launching a two-part Faculty Development online series “Dawn Patrol: Artificial Intelligence”, designed to help educators navigate these questions with confidence. Each session focuses on practical teaching strategies, case examples, and hands-on discussion about how to guide learners through this new frontier.

Session 1: Teaching with AI

Friday, September 19, 2025
0700-0800

Description:
This foundations/introductory session explores how generative AI is already entering the medical learning environment. Faculty will learn how residents and students are using AI, consider the risks and opportunities, and practice ways to guide learners in applying AI responsibly while maintaining clinical reasoning and professional judgment.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify common ways learners are engaging with AI in medical education and clinical reasoning.
• Practice strategies to help learners use AI as a tool while avoiding overreliance, misinformation, and bias.

Session 2: Coaching Clinical Reasoning in the Age of AI

Friday, November 21, 2025
0700-0800

Description:
This advanced session focuses on how AI is reshaping clinical reasoning and decision-making. Faculty will examine case examples where AI can both support and mislead learners. The session will emphasize coaching strategies, feedback techniques, and ethical teaching approaches that ensure residents build sound judgment alongside digital literacy.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze how AI tools can both enhance and hinder diagnostic reasoning in clinical settings.
• Apply coaching and feedback techniques that help learners integrate AI outputs into safe, ethical, and evidence-based clinical reasoning.

AI will not replace the role of thoughtful educators, but it will change the landscape of how we teach and how learners think. By engaging early, faculty can shape how residents integrate AI into their clinical reasoning, not as a shortcut, but as a tool that complements judgment, compassion, and professionalism.

The “Dawn Patrol” series is our way of leaning into the sunrise of a new era in medical education. Together, we can make sure our residents are wise navigators and interrogators of the technologies ahead.

Catch you soon!
~ Jacqueline

*NEW | GenAI in Teaching and Learning: A One-Week Online Intensive Course
November 3–10 | Asynchronous Canvas Course & Two Synchronous Sessions 
Explore the fundamentals of AI, examine its impact on assessment and academic integrity, and engage with real examples from UBC faculty and students.

Generative AI in Teaching and Learning Series

• Supporting Student Learning with AI
  August 26 | 12:00 pm–1:30 pm | Online
• Using GenAI to Articulate Your Teaching Approach
  August 28 | 10:00 am–11:00 am | Online
• Exploring The Changing Landscape of GenAI Tools and Models in Teaching and Learning
  October 2 | 12:00 pm–1:00 pm | Online
• Rethinking Assessment in the Age of Generative AI
  October 7 | 12:00 pm–1:00 pm | Online
• The Why and Whom of Your Course Design: Using GenAI to Clarify the Purpose of Our Teaching
  November 25 | 12:00 pm–1:30 pm | In-person
• Designing Learning Activities that Incorporate Generative AI

December 2 | 12:30 pm–1:30 pm | Online

GenAI Maker Sessions

• GenAI Maker Session: Creating Teaching Materials with Generative AI
  August 27 | 10:00 am–11:30 am | Online
  September 23 | 12:00 pm–1:30 pm | Online

Weekly GenAI Studios: August 20 | September 3 | September 17 | Online

This morning, I had the opportunity to lead an academic session with incoming family medicine residents on one of the most pressing issues in modern healthcare: bias and confabulation in clinical AI tools.

We explored:
+ Real-world cases of AI bias, such as how LLMs alter triage and diagnostic suggestions based solely on patient demographics.
+ Confabulation traps where AI fabricates confident-sounding (but incorrect) medical guidelines.
+ Interactive bias testing: residents input identical chest pain cases into multiple AI tools, tweaking only the patient’s background to examine how different platforms analyze and articulate the patient’s management.
+ Ethical and legal dilemmas: including what happens when a chatbot contributes to chart notes, and whether disclosure is required.

We closed with this question:
+ What safeguard will you commit to using in your own practice to reduce the risk of AI misinformation entering the patient record?

Teaching AI literacy is about clinical discernment, ethical awareness, and training tomorrow’s physicians to engage AI with both curiosity and caution. Grateful to this next generation of residents for their sharp thinking and thoughtful engagement!

Best,

Jacqueline

Join UBC this November for a dynamic, in-person conference packed with practical insights from experienced professionals currently in the field—our first live event since 2019! Explore a wide range of timely topics including job opportunities, work–life balance, practice management, college complaints, billing strategies, navigating Pathways, and more. Don’t miss the chance to connect with colleagues and potential employers at our networking reception and job fair. We can’t wait to welcome you back!

Sat Nov 29, 2025
UBC Robson Square
800 Robson Street Vancouver, BC

To learn more about the event or register, please click here.

Hi Team!

Excited to be facilitating two sessions at the 2025 CHES Celebration of Scholarship hosted by the UBC Centre for Health Education Scholarship.

October 22, 2025
Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, UBC
Round Table Discussion (8:30–9:15am)
“DocBot 101: Making Sense of AI Before It Makes Sense of You”
Co-facilitated with Dr. Meera Anand, this interactive session invites educators and researchers to explore how we can prepare learners to critically engage with AI before it defines the terms for them.

Oral Presentation (2:15–3:15pm)
“Swipe Right on Clinical Reasoning: Med Students Date the Future (It’s AI)”
I’ll be sharing insights on how generative AI is reshaping clinical reasoning and what this evolving relationship means for medical students and educators.

Grateful to CHES and UBC CPD for supporting meaningful dialogue in health professions education. Looking forward to connecting with colleagues who are navigating and shaping this rapidly changing space and technology.

If you’re interested in attending, register here for the event.

Best,

Jacqueline

Research and Reflections on Teaching: A Medical and Health Education Series (R&R Series)

Title of Webber Lecture: What’s love got to do with teaching? Embedding humanity into our teaching to spark transformation and joy
Webber Lecturer: Katie Lee Bunting, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, UBC
Date: Friday, September 12, 2025
Time: 8:30am – 1:00pm (PST) 
Location: Hybrid+ (various in-person sites across the province and virtual access available for the Webber lecture)

NOTE: This event is for all faculty who teach in the health and medical programs in the UBC Faculty of Medicine.

Join us for this half-day hybrid+ event exploring the transformative power of teaching with love in health professions education. Through the Webber Lecture and local discussions, we’ll reflect on key dimensions of love as a pedagogical practice and explore how compassion and connection can be meaningfully integrated into your teaching. Connect with colleagues from across the Faculty of Medicine at in-person sites throughout the province, where breakfast and lunch will be provided. For those unable to attend in person, the Webber Lecture will also be available remotely from 9:00 – 10:00 am.

Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, you will be able to:

• Articulate the relevance of teaching with love in health professions education
• Describe key dimensions of love as a pedagogical practice
• Identify two implications to spark transformation and joy in your teaching relationships

Register here.

“In Africa, there has been an increase in the number of orphans and children who are vulnerable since the advent of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). An estimated 163 million children are living as orphans, with 17.5 million having lost one or both parents due to the HIV and AIDS pandemic [1]. This crisis requires establishing programs to support and mentor orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). However, the psychosocial needs of OVC are neglected or overlooked by the service providers [2]. In response to this crisis, there have been concerted efforts in the form of community-based interventions to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on children [3]. Community-based interventions (CBOs) have therefore been identified as a strategic point for psychosocial support intervention [4, 5].

Community-based interventions of OVC can take many forms, such as financial help, home care, defense against the law, dietary needs, and emotional support. Numerous studies on community-based intervention support for OVC have been conducted across Africa, including in South Africa (n = 7), Kenya (n = 1), Zimbabwe (n = 4), Nigeria (n = 2), and Uganda (n = 1) [2, 6]. Notwithstanding various community-based interventions to support the OVC, the lack of support focusing on the psychosocial well-being of the OVC is still a significant concern.”

Read more on Community-Based Interventions to Support HIV and AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Africa: A Systematic Review via International Journal of Integrated Care.

Varenicline is an accepted first-line therapy for smoking cessation in adults, but evidence in adolescents is limited. In a trial of 175 adolescents and young adults (ages 16 to 25 years) who were interested in nicotine vaping cessation, more patients assigned to varenicline plus weekly counseling were abstinent at 9 to 12 weeks compared with counseling alone (51 versus 14 percent) [76]. These results are promising but differ from two prior trials of varenicline for cessation of combustible nicotine (smoking) in adolescents that did not demonstrate benefit. We suggest varenicline as second line therapy (with a nicotine patch) for adolescent patients who have not had success with nicotine replacement therapy alone and are close to 18 years of age. (See “Management of smoking and vaping cessation in adolescents”, section on ‘Varenicline’.)

Efficacy of varenicline for vaping cessation in teens and young adults (June 2025) on What’s new in family medicine via UpToDate.