IN TODAY'S UPDATE

Providing Care
New residential care recommendations 

Public Health Response
Government revises Directive 5 
New guidelines on managing deaths in long-term care facilities 
Drug Shortages 

PPE & Other Critical Supplies
Collaboration with ConquerCOVID-19 & OMA PPE Inventory Tool 

Managing your Practice during COVID-19
Physician rights to safety in the workplace 

News & Announcements
COVID-19 compensation Teletown Hall Wednesday 
Palliative care and COVID-19 webinar 
Tax preparation help for health-care workers 

New residential care recommendations

We recognize that long-term and residential care facilities are among the areas hardest hit by the pandemic.  The OMA developed recommendations that address the imminent needs of residential care facilities in response to COVID-19.

Read the full recommendations.
 

Public Health Response

Government revises Directive 5

The OMA is pleased to announce that its advocacy has led to changes to the Chief Medical Officer of Health’s Directive 5, which now permits physicians and other health-care workers to exercise their own clinical judgment with respect to PPE use. This directive had previously been modified to cover only nurses within the Ontario Nurses Association, which the OMA argued made no clinical, legal or ethical sense.
 
The revised directive means that physicians and other health-care workers in hospitals and long-term care homes can use their professional and clinical judgment, based on their  point-of-care risk assessment, to determine what health and safety measures are required in the delivery of care, including use of an N95 respirator. The public hospital or long-term care home cannot unreasonably deny access to the appropriate PPE.
 
The OMA is pleased the government has made the changes necessary to keep physicians safe in the workplace.
 
Access the revised directive.

New guidelines on managing deaths in long-term care facilities

The Ministry of the Solicitor General has provided new guidelines on managing all resident deaths in long-term care facilities during COVID-19. The new process focuses on facilitating electronic transmission of the Medical Certificate of Death by the Office of the Chief Coroner. Specifically, Managing Resident Death Reports, including the Institutional Patient Death Record, now will be completed using a template and submitted via fax or email to the OCC team rather than through the online portal. Once submitted, the OCC will complete the Medical Certificate of Death and provide it to the funeral home directly. 

More details can be found on this process map.
 

Drug Shortages

Health Canada has added three drugs to its Tier 3 list of drug shortages. The drugs relate to pain management, and the OMA remains concerned that drugs that may be used in palliative care are in short supply. The OMA will continue to monitor the situation and work with federal and provincial stakeholders to advocate for these shortages to be addressed.
 
View the full list.

PPE & Other Critical Supplies

Collaboration with ConquerCOVID-19 & OMA PPE Inventory Tool

ConquerCOVID-19 is a grassroots organization that is providing PPE to health-care workers across Ontario. The group was created at the University of Toronto and has grown to include partners such as the provincial government, Canadian Tire, Toys “R” Us and many others. In addition to sourcing PPE, the organization is collecting technology to support care delivery in long-term care homes, supplies for women’s shelters and money.

The OMA has provided ConquerCOVID-19 with data on the needs of community-based physicians, based on information extracted from the OMA’s PPE inventory tool.  Some of you received PPE in the last week.

To ensure your PPE needs are met, please update the OMA PPE Inventory tool regularly.  

We have also connected local PPE drives across the province with ConquerCOVID-19. Local drives interested in collaborating with the OMA can email us at info@oma.org.

OMA President Dr. Sohail Gandhi took part in PPE deliveries over the weekend, including receiving a shipment of PPE from Canadian Tire with Premier Doug Ford.

Managing Your Practice During COVID-19

Physician rights to safety in the workplace

The OMA has received reports about hospitals and other institutions engaging in actions that put physicians at risk. These include denying physicians proper PPE; refusing to allow physicians to bring their own PPE; failing to conduct proper contact tracing; and failing to separate COVID and non-COVID patients within a given space. Physicians who believe the policies or actions of the institutions they work in are putting them at personal risk should escalate their concerns to their Medical Staff Association (where applicable) and if necessary, to the Ministry of Labour via a workplace safety complaint.
 
Access information about filing a workplace safety complaint.
 

News & Announcements

COVID-19 compensation Teletown Hall Wednesday

Our next Teletown Hall is Wednesday, 8-9 p.m., on COVID-19 compensation.
 
Register.
 

Palliative care and COVID-19 webinar

Hospice Palliative Care Ontario and the OMA are holding a webinar Thursday (April 16) from 7-8:30 p.m.: Palliative Care during COVID-19: Approach to Goals of Care Conversation. The webinar will be facilitated by Dr. Leah Steinberg, a palliative care physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto;  Dr. Jennifer Arvanitis, a family physician practicing in palliative care and an investigating coroner; Dr. Nadia Incardona, a hospitalist and emergency physician at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto; and Dr. Jeff Myers, medical lead for the Bridgepoint Palliative Care Unit.

The webinar will cover advance care planning and goals of care, how to have these conversations, and how to do a death certificate and pronouncement. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

Register.
 

Tax preparation help for health-care workers

Chartered Professional Accounts Ontario is offering to prepare 2019 income tax returns free of charge to physicians and other frontline health-care workers. In keeping with social distancing guidelines, there will be no face-to-face meetings – CPAs will receive all documentation electronically. The program will cover basic individual, spousal and dependent children’s tax returns, but not more complex tax returns, such as those involving self-employment income or employment expenses, business or rental income and expenses or foreign property.

Learn more.

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