April 5, 2020 - COVID-19: Physician Wellness

During this pandemic, as everyone is stretched physically and emotionally, it is important to be aware of wellness and its impact both personally and in the workplace. Join experts to learn about personal and collective resilience, identifying grief, stress and anxiety, and discover tools and resources for yourself, your colleagues, and your community.
 
Learning Objectives:

1. Recognize the importance of wellness, workplace safety and performance optimization in the context of a pandemic
2. Discuss anxiety, stress and grief responses to a pandemic
3. Describe concepts of personal and collective resilience and how they can be applied in a pandemic 
4. Identify and explore tools which can be used to enhance wellness, such as narrative medicine, mindfulness meditation and physician health program resources

Moderator:

Daniel Bainbridge, MD, FRCPC

Speakers:

Ted Bober, M.S.W., R.S.W.
Anita Chakravarti MD FRCPC
Mamta Gautam, MD, MBA, FRCPC, CPDC, CCPE, CPE
Saroo Sharda MBChB MMEd FRCPC

Speakers:

  Ted Bober, M.S.W, R.S.W.

Ted held clinical and leadership roles in hospital and community mental health settings before joining the Ontario Medical Association’s Physician Health Program in 2004. He currently serves as the Director of Clinical Services. The Physician Health Program provides support, advice, and advocacy for medical trainees, practicing physicians and physician leaders. As a consultant and coach, Ted has supported numerous professionals and safety-sensitive organizations to create work that is psychosocially safe, engaging, and meaningful. He recently served as a wellness advisor to health care teams working with Canadians in isolation in Trenton and Cornwall. He has presented at scientific conferences on professional health in Canada, the US, and the UK. Ted has co-authored the book, In the Line of Fire: Traumatic Stress in the Emergency Services published by Oxford University Press.


  Dr Anita Chakravarti MD FRCPC

Anita Chakravarti graduated from the University of Saskatchewan (UofS) College of Medicine and completed her Anesthesiology Fellowship at the University of Alberta (UofA).
She has been a member of the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Medicine and a professor at the College of Medicine, UofS, for almost 35 years.
In addition to providing service in Clinical Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, she was the first Medical Director of the Chronic Pain Center and a member of the core committee that worked to have Pain Medicine recognized as a sub specialty of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons . (Canadian Journal of Anesthesia February 2014).
Over the last decade, Dr. Chakravarti has focused on wellness initiatives for physicians and was on the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Expert Working Group on Physician Health (Royal College CanMeds 2015) and has published two articles on Resident Wellness.  (Canadian Journal of Anesthesia February 2017).  She has presented this topic at the International Conference on Residency Education (2016) and the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (2018, 2019).  She is also graduate and faculty of Mindful Practice ®  University of Rochester, New York  and CEO of [M]Power: Mindful Professional Practice. Currently she is Health and Wellness Promotion Lead at Continuing Medical Education, College of Medicine, UofS. Dr Chakravarti has recently been appointed Vice Chair of the first Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society wellness committee.


  Dr Mamta Gautam, MD, MBA, FRCPC, CPDC, CCPE, CPE​
 

Mamta Gautam is an internationally renowned psychiatrist, consultant, certified coach, author and speaker.  Working in Physician Health and Well-being since 1990, she is a pioneer in this field and is known as the “The Doctor’s Doctor”.  Dr. Gautam is the founding director of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine Wellness Program, served as the Expert Physician Advisor for the Canadian Medical Association Centre for Physician Health and Wellbeing, and currently chairs the Burnout Task Force at the Ontario Medical Association.
All of her educational, clinical, research and administrative work aims to promote Physician Health and develop Physician Leadership. She has created podcasts and videos on this topic, and authored articles, book chapters, and 2 international best-selling books. She brings this knowledge and expertise to PEAK MD, through which she consults to healthcare organizations and coaches senior physician leaders internationally.  Supporting and developing women leaders in medicine is an promote women in medicine.  She is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for her innovative work in physician health, and has been awarded Distinguished Fellowships in both the Canadian and American Psychiatric Associations

  Dr Saroo Sharda MBChB MMEd FRCPC 

Saroo Sharda is a practicing anesthesiologist, medical educator, writer and trained creative writing coach. She is an advocate for physician wellness, equity and antiracism, and has written and spoken widely about these topics, including publications in CMAJ, BMJ, The Globe and Mail and Today’s Parent. Dr Sharda has recently been appointed Chair of the first Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society wellness committee. She writes and speaks about what it means to be an anesthesiologist and how stories are a powerful means for connection and understanding. Dr Sharda is passionate about creating safe spaces where she teaches anesthesiologists how to use narrative medicine skills to reflect, restore and create clarity from chaos. She has facilitated numerous narrative medicine workshops for anesthesiologists and other physicians.
Dr Sharda is lead obstetric anesthesiologist at Halton Healthcare and an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Dept of Anesthesia at McMaster University. She holds a Masters in Medical Education and Currie Fellowship Award (Wilson Centre for Education, University of Toronto), with an expertise in interprofessional education and simulation.  She is the first anesthesiologist to be appointed as a Medical Advisor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
 

Moderator:

  Daniel Bainbridge, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Bainbridge completed both medical school and an anesthesiology residency program at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He subsequently completed a fellowship in cardiothoracic anesthesia at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Following this he started working at London Health Sciences Centre and was appointed the first Director of Perioperative TEE at LHSC. Over the last 10 years, he has held many positions including Coordinator of the Cardiac Fellowship Program, and Coordinator of the City-Wide Fellowship Program. Currently, he is the Director of Cardiac Anesthesia Program and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine Research Committee. At the national level, he served as Chair of the Annual Meeting Committee for four years, organizing the specialty scientific national meeting of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society and has served as the Vice President of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society and currently is the president of the Canadian Anesthesiologists Society.