CMSA Meeting Minutes - Jan 31, 2024
Wed Jan 31, 2024 - 530pm
Present: Dr. Bromley, Lexyn, Khushi, Maharshi, Jennifer, Shiva, Andrea, Rafael, Alam, Kerry, Genevieve, Teresa, Maren
Absent:
Regrets:
Minutes
Updates
VP Communication - Lexyn
CMSA Quarterly Report coming up March 1
Plan Feb meetings ASAP
VP Academics - Alam, Shiva
Dean’s Exam implementation is still in progress (details to follow as they are made available)
Review of students to determine progression to Block 2 is taking place and will be completed likely by the first week of February, with Student Academic Review Committee (SARC) meeting scheduled then
OSCE detailed feedback will be made available to students in the coming weeks (details to follow as they are made available about the specific timeline)
Implementation of 6 half days instead of 3 full days for “flex days” for each block is underway with the IT department
Communications are taking place with the director of clinical skills (Dr. Ornstein), director of anatomy (Dr. Anderson), and director of Block 2 (Dr. Wu) on a regular basis to ensure student feedback is maintained throughout preclerkship education
VP Finance - Jennifer
Conference funding applications for the next round are open
Club funding applications for January - April have been reviewed, the funding decisions have been sent out
If everyone can send me a 2024-2025 budget proposal by our next meeting, I can compile them all and we can review (and hopefully approve!) in our February meeting
Investment into a one-year GIC (~$20K while the rates are still high)
VP Events - Anesa
Outcome of Jersey decision - to revote or not to revote💀
Will not be running a revote due to logistical concerns
Ski trip updates - planning overnight March 16-17, will look into group hotel rates and ski rates. Have contacted SU to create liability waivers
MMI planning underway. Video will be filmed in the next two weeks and Coffee Chats will be planned within our team. Class has been asked to volunteer as Student Leaders during MMI weekends.
VP Global Health - Genevieve
Global Health Town Hall
First Global & Community Health Town Hall meeting tentatively scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, February 15th
Purpose: to facilitate collaboration and sharing of ideas among global and community health related interest groups, prevent duplication of events and initiatives, and finalize the Global Health budget for 2024
Anticipated attendance 20-30 people (1-2 representatives from each interest group, Global & Community Health portfolio leads, and CMSA members will be invited to attend)
General format:
Welcome & portfolio introductions
A representative from each interest group present will have the floor for 2-3 minutes to briefly 1) introduce the group and 2) present anticipated events/initiatives/etc. for 2024
Proposal to revive Global Health conference/week
Discussion and Q&A period
Logistics: Vaughn Parshotam contacted re room booking; Email invites to go out to interest group executives February 1st (pending room booking and CMSA club transition form submission); Food TBD (has been provided in the past)
Consider inviting classmates and ILGH Office representatives to audit meeting
Relevant Global Health Portfolio Updates
Priyanka (Global Health Advocate)
Will be releasing a survey specific to global health planning. Aim to share results with town hall attendees to inform event planning and logistics.
Maren (Director of Community Outreach)
Portfolio encompasses mentorship program, outreach info day at schools, and a skills day on campus for high school students - discuss overlap with similar initiatives
“Legal does not provide advice to students (only faculty)” - not heard back, emailed yesterday, typically takes over four weeks to get a response
Alternarte strategy - group on main campus (previously Risk Management), deal with uni sanctioned events not on campus. This is the process used for CEL - timeline uncertain
Contact to Dr. Bromley to get the ball rolling on this process
Moving forwards on Israel Palestine Advocacy
Still a possibility Peter Jones, UOttawa, Zoom facilitation for free
University supportive with whatever student leadership would like to proceed with
No movement on accountability from UME, legal “faculty are not allowed to speak to students about this issue at present”
VP External (Provincial) - Maren
Alberta Medical Association
RF Forum March 15th
7 Student delegates to attend
AMA Social Media Advocacy Project launching
With increased concern regarding students who are interested in family medicine choosing not to stay in Alberta to practice AMA wants to better leverage social media to push for government to change funding structures and practice policies to make Alberta more competitive location
Opportunity for students to be involved:
In social media focus groups on how to improve AMA’s use of media for advocacy
In developing media content for AMA, interviewing stakeholders, designing media campaigns ect.
Committee on Student Affairs Meeting #1
Reviewed AMA Student Bursary - more applicants from UofC this year which means a greater % of total grants can be expected to go to UofC Students!
AMA
College of Physicians and Surgeons Alberta
Attended CPSA Council retreat Jan 27. themed building authentic partnerships in partnership with Tsuut’ina Nation.
External Committee (With VPX National)
Conference funding round 4 application sent out for conferences between Dec 1st to Feb 29 - due date March 7th
In continuation with Spinies council meeting with Dr. Naugler, we are working to improve access to financial support for medical students engaging in career exploration, research, and leadership conferences. As it stands the current conference fund does not meet the demand of student applicants (less than $100 in funds per student) even with limiting applications to 1x per calendar cycle.
Suggested change to use a tiered funding approach
Tier 1: Maximum reimbursement of $1000 for Academic Conferences (presenting only) - x1 per UME education
Tier 2: “Maximum reimbursement of $750 for Career Exploration, Professional Development Opportunities, at the discretion of the Associate Dean’s Office” - x1 per UME education
Tier 3: “Maximum reimbursement of $250-500 for ‘Other’ Conferences...” o Limited to two claims during UME education -x2 UME education
Other
PDoA is set for April 6th-8th
Supporting the GAAC on delegate training
After PDoA will be meeting with GAAC to plan a Municipal Day of Action likely fall 2024
VP External (National) - Maharshi
Final push for SIGs from CFMS - I think we have potentially two initiatives from U of C
VP SAW - Khushi
Student Run Tutoring Program is now up and running
taking in submissions from students and the goal is to hold 2 sessions a month
So far the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to providing free tutoring services to students
We care committee: Birthday parties each month + personalized card making for everyone
WAR meetings will be up and running soon as new electives are selected
Meeting monthly with SAWH team
Med lounge received a bunch of new supplies which is very exciting
Clerkship presentation with Dr. Kevin Bushe and Dr. Carol Hutchinson will be happening in sometime of March and in the meantime, VP academics, and I are collecting questions from the class
VP EDI - Kerry
Met with Dr. Sarah Anderson to get a better sense of how Anatomy is trying to be more gender-inclusive in terminology and approach
Selected a new admissions committee representative
Working with BMSA on an event for Black History Month
Figuring out funding for other EDGs
Working on increasing SP Diversity
Working on a new EDI Journal Club type event
President - Rafael
Canadian Federation of Medical Students - Presidents’ Roundtable Meeting - January 21, 2024
CFMS is continuing to advocate to ensure that the integrity of the CaRMS match is maintained and that biased evaluations against a candidate are minimized within the context of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Israel/Palestine
Spring General Meeting (SGM) dates are confirmed on April 11th-15th. The finalized conference agenda has not been released yet and the registration date for SGM remains TBD
We will be booking flights/hotels for our representatives once the agenda is released and registration opens for SGM through the CFMS
Meeting with Parker Wengryn (MD Student) from the University of Alberta - January 22, 2024
Gained insightful advice and considerations for a high school outreach initiative with the Cumming School of Medicine. I will be working with fellow MD students on this project and communicating with UME to get support
Potential opportunity for a collaboration between UAlberta and UCalgary
[PSA]: If interested in helping out, reach out!
Accreditation Meetings on January 24-25, 2025
Meetings were productive and there was lots of fruitful discussion with the accreditors on both days. General themes of discussion included the SAW Office, RIME, and general academic/institutional concerns.
The push for an MD student-exclusive lounge is not continuing. Reasons include a lack of student interest in the issue, a lack of problems with sharing the lounge, the importance of access to the breastfeeding room for all CSM students, etc.
Class President’s Meeting - January 30, 2024
Updates from UME:
[PSA] The new Flex Day Policy includes an increase in the number of students per day to 20 (from 10), which will be in effect as soon as the policy is approved at UMEC (the next meeting is on March 1). Half-days will be implemented (6 half-days in total per block), but this will not be in effect until July (Block 3) to ensure fairness for students in this block
Students have reached out to UME expressing concern about sick students. UME would like us to send a message that students should not come to school when they are unwell
[PSA] Students are struggling to identify preceptors for shadowing
We are “out-shadowing” the class of 2025 at least three-fold, the diversity of specialties and the shear number of shadowing has increased
UME recommends that students visit the Department websites to find contact information of preceptors at UCalgary
They have also recommended contacting the pre-clinical educators and block directors
[PSA] Introduction to Clerkship session is planned for March 12
Communicated to the class earlier today (January 31st)
Graduation Funding from Student Survey Responses
This is a policy from the UME for graduation funding, there is a rubric with the specific details at: https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/teams/4/Policies/C/CMSA%20Funding%20Support.pdf
Surveys Breakdown:
[PSA] We can get up to $10,000 from the UME to fund graduation if we have a high response rate on several surveys throughout Years 1-3!!!
Other updates:
Professionalism Concerns: These can be communicated to the Professionalism representatives or UME for a formal complaint. Outcomes can include coaching, being asked to report to SARC, ending up on an academic file, etc.
[PSA] Concerns about research during pre-clerkship and its importance in residency applications
Was assured that our match rates are the same and potentially even better than the rest of the country, even in competitive specialties, despite limited research opportunities in the Legacy curriculum. This supports that research is not the “end-all-be-all” for getting matched
UME will attempt to collect a sampling of information from UCalgary residency directors regarding their insights into the importance of research for their programs to share with students
Programs are supposed to list what they are looking for according to the “Best Practices in Residency Application and Selection (BPAS)”
For example, on the topic of advocacy petitions and CaRMS, several programs at UCalgary explicitly stated that they cannot use this information to assess and select a candidate
Several programs take these BPAS very seriously
Non-residency options for MD graduates
Little information is available, but Dr. Kevin Busche is happy to meet up with students interested in pursuing alternative career choices
Communication with Palestinian Students - Ongoing
Working with VP EDI Kerry to set up a meeting with the Palestinian students regarding ongoing issues
Concerns Regarding CMSA Fees - Ongoing
Will be working with VP Finance Jennifer to discuss concerns with the UME regarding the mandatory CMSA fees solicited upon admission to the MD program
Provincial Day of Action 2024 - Ongoing
Joined the PDoA 2024 Training and Delegate Team, which will be going to the Legislature in Edmonton to advocate for improved Access to Primary Care to the provincial MLAs on April 6th-8th
Awaiting further information regarding specifics
AMBOSS Collaboration - Ongoing
Given strong student interest from UCalgary, AMBOSS has offered to promote a group discount for our class and host a webinar on how to best utilize the platform for exam preparation
AMBOSS has also offered to support the c2027 orientation, as well as the same group student discount offered in July
Will be continuing communication with the AMBOSS team regarding specific sponsorship/promotion options for our class and the c2027 orientation
Canadian Association of Latin Medical Students - Ongoing
Invited to participate in the expansion and projects for the CALMS
Currently assisting with grant writing for CFMS funding
CMSA Advocacy Survey - Ongoing
Low response engagement from students—possible survey/CMSA fatigue
Feedback has been generally insightful so far
[PSA] I would like to keep the survey open longer and attract more responses, please help encourage our classmates to fill it out!
Agenda
Previous Meeting Minutes Approval
2 minutes–Lexyn
Mover: Rafael
Seconder: Maharshi
Welcome Dr. Bromley!!
60 minutes–Dr. Amy Bromley
Accreditation:
Opportunity before the next visit to fill out the modified AFMC survey
Use as much influence as possible to encourage students to fill it out!!!
Mistreatment will be a flagged topic
Several policies will get cited
Lack of transparency between the divisions of the leadership team
Working groups will be established - adversed to having students on this committee
Dr. Bromley’s Vision:
Make things better in the UME, make it more student-centric
People in education leadership were disconnected from struggling students
Working on education and safe practices in education in UME and faculty
Want to equip us with the ability to advocate for patients
Goal: get the mistreatment policies sorted out within the next 12 months
Mentality of continuous quality improvement
Q and A
Success program - requires more transparency and lacks follow-up—what can we do?
SAWH- confidential support for students
UME- academic concerns and remediation.
Remediation still appears very punitive ex. What’s the value of meeting with UME leadership
Mistreatment policy- there has been no update since November and lack of transparency. Appears to be a lack of student involvement. What is going on?
Mistreatment website is done -> needs to be reviewed by PDRI (legal says that they cannot roll out this website since it doesn’t protect faculty)
No communication with class directly without legal, no use of EDI hub
Consent forms for the high school community outreach program (global health portfolio) and whether this process, specifically speaking to third-party groups (e.g., legal representatives), can be improved in the future.
Still being worked on
Timeline largely unknown
Dr. Bromley continues to be the best point of contact for this
SAWH advocacy
See below
Palestinian-Israel conflict letter update
There has been no update from UME because legal prohibits communication with students
Ski Trip
5 minutes–Anesa
Ski trip - we may need to have consents and waivers signed since skiing is a high risk activity
How is CMSA associated with SU? We are wondering because SU can give out “waivers” for our events.
Does CMSA have insurance?
Contingency plans: have a ski patrol provide a presentation, VP Events: facilitating a hang out between friends
Change of plans: CMSA will not endorse Ski Trip due to responsibility, liability, and inability to subsidize costs for students. Will consider safer more inclusive events in the upcoming year.
CMSA Advocacy Survey - Current Results
10 minutes–Rafael
Various concerns (some helpful, some not-so-helpful) were voiced about Academics, EDI, Wellness, Events and general CMSA activities—despite a low student response rate
It is important that we continue to collect student insights, this lets us know what we can do better
The survey is anonymous so that students are not afraid to be honest!
[If time permits] Discuss ideas for organizing surveys for students
How can we go about concerns made by students in a formal manner?
Unfortunately, there is no formalized process currently in place
For now, direct students to SAWH, concerns will be kept confidential
Khushi will bring concern to SAWH to get updates
Communication about Sick Students
5 minutes–Rafael
Students have reached out to UME expressing concern about sick students
UME would like us to send a message that students should not come to school when they are unwell. Recommend masking and/or referral to policies regarding sick absences
Consensus - We, as a council, feel as though this is not appropriate to send to our class. If this must be sent, we will be transparent about this message being on behalf of UME.
Interested in asking other schools about their sick day policy.
AMA Social Media Advocacy Initiative
5 minutes – Maren
AMA Social Media Advocacy Project:
Project has stemmed from provincial concern that students who are interested in family medicine are choosing not to stay in Alberta to practice due to a number of varying policies. AMA wants to better leverage social media to push for the government to change funding structures and practice policies to make Alberta a more competitive location.
Students can get involved through:
Focus groups with AMA (Feb 22nd)
Developing content as part of the social media team (Due Feb 5th)
To Discuss: Part of this ask is for students to speak out against decisions made by the government in collaboration with UofA. As such AMA is wondering if it is acceptable for them to be encouraging MD students to participate and for them to be engaging students in this manner.
Global Health Town Hall
5 minutes - Gen
Tentative date proposed by GH portfolio Wednesday, February 15th 2024
All CMSA members invited to attend, refer meeting minutes for proposed format and logistics
Community Outreach High School Programs (Community and Global Health Portfolio)
10 minutes – Gen and Maren
Discuss: consent and legal protection for MD students visiting high schools and for having high school students visit campus for a skills/outreach day.
Currently our consent form has been sitting with legal and is holding up program implementation.
Discuss: overlap with the other highschool outreach initiative
Advocating for increased recognition and funding for SAWH
10 mins - Khushi
SAWH should be recognized during large group sessions where the UME comes to present
SAW rep should be included in travel delegations (most importantly to Western Deans Conference)
We are discussing diversifying who is attending conferences
President + 1 VPA + SAWH/EDI/Global Health
Wellness meetings with SAWH team and rep should happen with dean(s)
Question Period
Remaining minutes – Open
GIC Investment (Maharshi/Jen)
2024/2025 Budget Proposals
Website updates
Survey facilitation
CMSA Linkedin account
Action Items
Encourage participation in CMSA Advocacy Survey (reach out to tutorial groups, clinical skills groups, group chats, etc.)
Maren - speak to family med interest group and various family med reps to discuss best course of action for social media advocacy project
Raf - talk to Kerry about EDI concerns within our class
Maren & Gen - discuss with Raf about community outreach high school program
Jennifer - GIC investment
Lexyn - create new Linkedin account