Family Medicine Residency Site: Abbotsford-Mission

Question  Can an artificial intelligence chatbot assistant, provide responses to patient questions that are of comparable quality and empathy to those written by physicians?

Findings  In this cross-sectional study of 195 randomly drawn patient questions from a social media forum, a team of licensed health care professionals compared physician’s and chatbot’s responses to patient’s questions asked publicly on a public social media forum. The chatbot responses were preferred over physician responses and rated significantly higher for both quality and empathy.

Meaning  These results suggest that artificial intelligence assistants may be able to aid in drafting responses to patient questions.

Learn more on Comparing Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Patient Questions Posted to a Public Social Media Forum via JAMA.

“Deep generative networks in recent years have reinforced the need for caution while consuming various modalities of digital information. One avenue of deepfake creation is aligned with injection and removal of tumors from medical scans. Failure to detect medical deepfakes can lead to large setbacks on hospital resources or even loss of life. This paper attempts to address the detection of such attacks with a structured case study. Specifically, we evaluate eight different machine learning algorithms, which include three conventional machine learning methods (Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, Decision Tree) and five deep learning models (DenseNet121, DenseNet201, ResNet50, ResNet101, VGG19) in distinguishing between tampered and untampered images. For deep learning models, the five models are used for feature extraction, then each pre-trained model is fine-tuned. The findings of this work show near perfect accuracy in detecting instances of tumor injections and removals.”

More on Machine learning based medical image deepfake detection: A comparative study via Machine Learning with Applications.

“Canada’s health care system alone accounts for nearly 5% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, putting it ahead of the aviation industry.

In 2021, Canada joined more than 50 nations in committing to achieving low-carbon, sustainable health systems, but so far, much of the progress towards that goal has come from the voluntary efforts of individual physicians.

Myles Sergeant, a family physician in Hamilton, Ont., launched one such effort to cultivate partnerships on climate action across healthcare facilities, called PEACH.

He was inspired by a paper published in The Lancet Planetary Health which showed that more than 60% of the emissions generated by England’s National Health Service were related to the supply chain, rather than the delivery of care (24%), or travel by staff, patients, and visitors (10%).

Looking further into the issue, PEACH developed a checklist of the 20 most impactful actions hospitals could take to reduce their carbon footprint – in some cases, at low cost or savings. These include divesting foundation funds from fossil fuels, implementing Choosing Wisely programs to reduce waste, using reusable gowns and linens, adopting sustainable prescribing strategies, increasing plant-based food options for patients, and weighing sustainability in procurement contracts.”

How Canadian hospitals are decreasing carbon emissions via CMAJ.

Registration is now open for Okanagan Orchards on Saturday, May 27th at the Marriott Grand Okanagan Resort! This is the annual Family Practice Postgraduate faculty development and appreciation event.

We will have a morning of workshops, followed by some options for outdoor activities in the afternoon (wine touring, cycling and hiking), and will wrap up with an appreciation dinner in the evening. It’s a great opportunity for some networking and support, and we have a lot of fun too!

Please see details below (and attached) and register via the link provided.

Registration Here

A $300 travel reimbursement will be available after the event to eligible out-of-town preceptors needing to travel a distance of more than one hour.There are a limited number of guest rooms held at Marriott Grand Okanagan Resort in Kelowna.

Book your group rate for UBC Family Practice – Okanagan Orchards Faculty Development This event is open to all preceptors and clinical faculty from across our beautiful province.Feel free to share this event with colleagues at your site. Please let me know if you have any questions.We look forward to seeing you in May!

Larissa McLean, BA, MHA  Manager, Rural Education & InitiativesFaculty of Medicine | Department of Family Practice, Postgraduate Program The University of British Columbia  larissa.mclean@ubc.ca

“A new gene connected to hereditary breast cancer susceptibility has been identified in what researchers are calling a landmark study.

The discovery marks the first time in years that a new susceptibility gene has been pinpointed, allowing scientists to get one step closer to a full understanding of hereditary breast cancer.

‘We know that genetics play an important role in the likelihood of developing breast cancer, with hereditary breast cancer accounting for roughly ten per cent of all cases,’ Dr. Mohammad Reza Akbari, associate professor at the University of Toronto and the principal investigator of the study, said in a press release.

Around one in eight women in Canada will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, with the disease accounting for the highest amount of cancer-related deaths in women globally.”

Read more here on “For the first time in years, researchers have identified a new susceptibility gene for breast cancer: study” via CTV News.

Objective

This call for proposals announces the availability of funding to support projects that will promote further development of research in Indigenous Health Professions Education (IHPE) at The University of British Columbia (UBC). We are looking for researchers who are interested in exploring the education experiences of Indigenous Students in health professional programs during their admissions and training processes as well as those of Indigenous health professionals in practice.  That is, the Centre for Health Education Scholarship (CHES) wishes to engage with interested parties to further society’s knowledge of the role of education practices on the experiences and needs of Indigenous health professional learners and/or practitioners. 

Background

CHES is seeking to work with Indigenous UBC Students and/or Faculty to lead or co-lead research that addresses a scholarly issue in Indigenous education of relevance to the health professions.   Areas of research might focus on undergraduate or postgraduate education, interprofessional education, continuous professional development or the practice experience of Indigenous providers.  Examples of eligible topics include Indigenous student experiences with the curriculum (formal, informal, and hidden), student affairs/support, the pre-admission process, the admission process, the learning environment (cultural safety), and experiences of diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition, Indigenous faculty experiences navigating traditional systems or Indigenous practitioner experiences (e.g., Continuing Professional Development) will also be of interest and eligible. Funding is not intended to support program development, program evaluation, or program delivery.

For more information click here.

“This cake was 3D printed using seven simple ingredients blended into pastes. The result was a layered flavour that ‘hits you in different waves’, says Jonathan Blutinger at Columbia University in New York.

Blutinger and his colleagues grabbed seven ingredients from local grocery stores: graham crackers, peanut butter, strawberry jam, Nutella, banana puree, cherry syrup and frosting.

They put anything not already in a paste form into a food processor. That allowed a 3D printer to build up the cake by depositing the seven paste-like food ingredients in layers – a process resembling how people might squeeze out a tube of frosting.”

Footage: Jonathan Blutinger / Columbia Engineering

I wonder what the application of this technology could be in a hospital setting. More on “Understanding hospital staffs’ perspectives on what leads to quality food provision in Ontario hospitals” via J. Hum. Nutr. Diet.

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“Alpha-9’s radiopharmaceuticals are designed to treat a range of solid and hematologic cancers such as prostate cancer, breast cancer, leukemia and lymphoma. According to Dr. David Hirsch, chief executive officer of Alpha-9, the $75 million in Series B financing will enable the company to bring its first five treatments into clinical trials with patients over the next two years.

‘Thanks to the cutting-edge research at UBC, these radiotherapies have tremendous potential to address a wide range of cancers,’ says Dr. Hirsch. ‘In the coming years, we plan to progress multiple treatments into first-in-human clinical trials, harnessing the potential of radiopharmaceuticals to realize more effective treatments for people living with cancer.’”

Learn more on UBC biotech spin-off raises $75M to bring cancer treatments to patients via UBC Faculty of Medicine

The Office of Faculty Development and the Centre for Health Education Scholarship are pleased to co-facilitate the CAME Webinar Series at UBC. Designed to bring practical, evidence and experience-based advice to Canadian health educators, the webinars offer the opportunity to engage online with an expert and with colleagues in a live discussion on a key topic in health professions education. *Please note that while these sessions are free to attend, registration is required. See registration link below.

Focusing on goal co-construction in feedback and coaching
Presenter: Dr. Laura Farrell, University of British Columbia
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Time: 12:00 to 1:00pm PDT
You need to be affiliated with UBC to register. Click here to register.

The CAME Webinar Series is an accredited activity. For more details, or to inquire about a webinar recording, please click here.

In honour of International Women’s Day and the 2023 theme #EmbraceEquity, meet some of the outstanding women in the UBC Faculty of Medicine who are transforming health for everyone.

“Decades ago as a UBC PhD student, Dr. Neeru Gupta trained with internationally-renowned scientist Dr. Stephen Drance, who became a mentor for her as she pursued a career in ophthalmology. Following years of training across Canada and the United States, and after building an accomplished career in glaucoma research, Dr. Gupta has returned to UBC to take on the same leadership role her mentor previously held.

As the new Head of UBC’s Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Dr. Gupta brings a wealth of experience to the role. Most recently, she served as a professor of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences and Chief of the Glaucoma Service at the University of Toronto, as well as the Dorothy Pitts Chair in Ophthalmology at St. Michael’s Hospital. She is currently President of the International Council of Ophthalmology, and President of the World Glaucoma Association.

Now, as Dr. Gupta settles back in at UBC, she is looking forward to building on the department’s strengths to ensure B.C. has the highest quality eye care and advances translational research that will prevent vision loss across the province and beyond.”

Read One-on-One with Neeru Gupta via UBC’s Faculty of Medicine.

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