NEWS

December 15, 2022

After-Hours Holiday Coverage

Review the after-hours coverage during this upcoming holiday season to keep your facility staff up-to-date on who to contact - the after-hours physician or the MRP.

View the holiday coverage here.

December 7, 2022

Long-term Care: The Heights at Mt. View 

The Heights at Mt. View is actively seeking a dedicated, hard-working physician interested in working in a collaborative interdisciplinary team. Physicians currently practicing as FPs, ERPs or Hospitalists able to attend on a weekly basis are welcome to apply.

Key Points:

The Heights at Mt. View (THMV), a 260 bed Island Health-affiliated LTC home located in Saanich, has a TORCH medical practice model with 8 dedicated MRPs attending weekly and providing cross-coverage. Remuneration is fee-for-service plus the LTCI per resident stipend of $225/resident/year, with additional remuneration for call group participation. After-hours, weekend, and stat coverage is provided by a dedicated LTC call group that the successful person is welcome to join.

Requirements of the site: 

The site has a TORCH medical practice model in place, whereby each family physician accepts MRP status for 15-30 residents and agrees to:

• Attend the home once per week, during a morning or afternoon timeslot, at a complementary time to other MRPs, aiming for full coverage Mon-Fri
• Participate in resident care conferences and medication reviews
• Participate in daytime cross-coverage, responding to urgent requests for all residents when on site
• Document in THMV’s electronic health record (Point Click Care)
• Collaborate with THMV TORCH colleagues to ensure coverage for absences
• Attend periodic THMV TORCH team meetings

Resources available to LTCI Physicians:

• Annual stipend
• After-hours coverage provided by a dedicated call group
• Assistance, tools, and resources
• Peer mentorship program
• LTCI Clinical Learning Series
• LTCI Scholarship Fund
• Parking passes
• Fax-to-email service
• Billing optimization support

To learn more, please contact victoriasouthisland.ltci@victoriadivision.ca or call (778) 265-3137. Not sure if long-term care is for you? Contact us to set up a remunerated LTC shadowing session!

December 7, 2022

Interested in a brief history of the LTCI program? View the presentation slides below:

Vic-SI LTCI - History for the LTCI

November 29, 2022

the LTCI held a Leadership Event on October 27, 2022. Please review our one-pager which explains the goals of this event as well as the feedback that the LTCI received from LTC physicians and facility leaders.

View the one pager here.

September 26, 2022

Memorandum: Changes to Pre-operative Health History and Physician Exam can be read here.

There have also been changes to Pre-operative Procedures Consult Notes. Review a sample surgical consult note here.

July 26, 2022

Long-Term Care MRP - EOI

Do you enjoy working in team-based environments? The Victoria and South Island Long-term Care Initiative (LTCI) is seeking family physicians interested in working in collaborative practice models to provide medical care to residents in our region’s 37 long-term care homes. LTCI supports its physician members by providing services and resources to enhance and streamline long-term care practice:

• Annual stipend – receive quarterly payments to meet our 6 Best Practice Expectations.
• After-hours coverage - for all residents in long-term care.
• Assistance, tools, and resources - to focus your long-term care practice with LTCI program team support.
• LTCI Clinical Learning Series - provides opportunities for ongoing education.
• LTCI Scholarship Fund - annual funding for CME accredited conferences.
• Parking passes - for Island Health sites, and assured parking at other long-term care sites.
• Fax-to-email services - for timely communications.
• Billing optimization support - through the LTCI billing guide and access to our billing consultant. 

Key Points:

• Current opening at The Priory Long-Term Care Home (Hiscock and Heritage Woods) in Colwood.
• Available panel size of 20-30 residents with a CORE practice model.
• Island Health owned and operated location.
• Start date of approximately October 2022
• Room for growth-additional established resident panels available at sites across the region.
• CORE, TORCH, and informally organized care homes.
• Flexible arrangements to accommodate existing commitments.

What we are looking for:

• Dedicated, hard-working and collaborative physicians.
• Ability to work as a team with Nursing, Nurse Practitioners, and Allied Health Professionals.
• Open to physicians currently practicing as FPs, ERPs or Hospitalists.
• Ideal for a new grad or a family physician nearing retirement and looking to scale back their practice.

Browse this job posting on the Victoria Division of Family Practice page here.

To set up an initial call with a coordinator to learn more please contact  victoriasouthisland.ltci@victoriadivision.ca

May 26, 2022

Long-Term Care Newsletter from Island Health

View it here.

March 11, 2022

Prescribing Covid-19 Therapeutics for LTC

• 1-pager for Island Health LTC MRP

February 16, 2022

Covid-19 Therapeutics memo shared on behalf of Dr. Margaret Manville

• 2022-02-15 MEMO: COVIDTreatment

February 11, 2022

LTCI funding is available for a limited time

• LTCI Funding Available Prior to March 31, 2022

January 17, 2021

Module for Covid-19 Long-Term Care Treatment

• COVID-19 Treatment (Module)

December 20, 2021

Memo from LTCI Co-Chairs Dr. Margaret Manville & Dr. Mike Miles regarding After-Hours Call coverage for residents in Long-Term Care sent out on November 26, 2021.

• Memo-November 26, 2021-AHCG

November 5, 2021

Memo from Dr. Margaret Manville to Long-Term Care Physicians regarding in-person visits and the Pronouncement of Death in LTC Recommendations & MRP Notification of Death From. Please find the links below for more information

• Memo - Re: In Person Visits - November 4, 2021
• Memo - Re: Death Notification Form - October 21, 2021

September 20, 2021

Letter from Dr. Margaret Manville to Long-Term Care Physicians:

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you again for all of your hard work and dedication to LTC during this pandemic. Despite our very high vaccination rates in LTC residents and the requirement for staff to be masked and fully vaccinated by early October, there are increasing cases of COVID in staff and residents. This is a reflection of COVID transmission in the community.

Outbreaks are declared when there is evidence of sustained transmission. Enhanced surveillance is the process followed when there is no evidence of sustained transmission of the virus in the nursing home. Under both situations, infection prevention and control protocols are instituted and managed accordingly.

I would like to remind you to have a very low threshold for testing for COVID-19. Many residents have very mild symptoms, or simply have a ‘change in condition.’ The delta variant can spread quickly among residents if not detected, as we have seen in outbreaks on the Island and throughout the province. We have a challenging population in which to detect a ‘new’ illness, given their co-morbidities and cognitive impairment. Please consider testing even palliative residents, who may seem unlikely to have contracted COVID, as sometimes these cases have led to the recognition of undetected transmission in our LTC homes.

If you see staff unmasked, remind them of the mask requirement, and please let management know.

I am anticipating more COVID outbreaks in our communities this Fall, and our continued vigilance can help decrease the devastating effects in our nursing homes.

Warmly,
Margaret

Dr. Margaret Manville, FCFP, Care of the Elderly
Medical Director, Long Term Care, Island Health
Clinical Associate Professor, UBC Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Practice
Site Director, Clinical Experiences: Family Practice, Island Medical Program

September 8, 2021

COVID-19 updates regarding in-person visits

• Read about it here.
• Questions and Answers for physicians regarding their patients and in-person visits can be found here.

May 14, 2021

COVID-19 Response Protocol for Long-Term Care Updated

To read more about this click here.

April 21, 2021

Memorandum: Eye/Facial Protection in Long-term Care and Assisted Living from Island Health

To read more about this, click here.

March 26, 2021

The Government of BC has announced that there will be changes regarding long-term care visitation.

To read more about this, click here.

January 22, 2021

Long-Term Care resident vaccination phase well under way

• COVID Immunization campaign update – January 20

January 20, 2021

BC CDC COVID Vaccine Resource for Health Care Professionals

An overview of the provincial program and answers many commonly asked questions about the COVID vaccine.

January 15, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccination Updates

Island Health continues to move forward with our COVID-19 vaccination program, offering vaccination appointments to the priority groups identified in the B.C. government's vaccine distribution strategy.

Many medical staff who work in hospital and urgent care settings have received the COVID-19 vaccination memo and survey link. If an eligible medical staff member has not yet received the email please share that memo. Do not share memo and link with anyone other than your eligible medical staff. If you are unsure about their eligibility, please send a message to pandemic@viha.ca.

The scheduling process is underway and eligible medical staff will be contacted in the coming days.

Message from Dr. Stanwick re: second doses

January 13, 2021

In two videos by Island Health, LTC physicians Drs Katharine McKeen and Peter Neweduk explain why getting vaccinated in LTC matters, and why everyone who's eligible should get the vaccine as soon as possible and support others to receive it.