An RPPEO Christmas

We're about to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This year's office festivities are in the hands of our administrative assistants. Beginning on December 4, each department will organize a day of office merry-making. Our traditional annual contest will name a departmental winner by choosing whose day is the most jolly and full of the Xmas spirit.

To continue our Christmas traditions, Richard’s party will be on December 19. Let the festivities begin!

We're hiring!

It's time to bring some new talent in to help us reach our vision in continuing education and quality.

We're looking for two people to join us as soon as possible. But, while we'd love to hire quickly, we won't compromise on the type of of people we are looking for: they've got to be talented team-players.

Speak Up for Patient Safety

We were out there promoting what we do during last week's Canadian Patient Safety Week. Using social media, we reached out to reinforce one of our key messages: patient safety is our priority!

Culminating the week, several team members represented the RPPEO at the TOH Patient Safety Conference on Friday. We were fortunate to present our quality improvement work on documentation as a poster at the conference.

Better Patient Safety Knowledge, Tools and Process

The RPPEO is pleased to announce that we are hosting the 2020 PCP scenarios beta testing event. On December 4 at our head office in Ottawa, representatives from the provincial Base Hospitals will test newly developed PCP certification scenarios. These tests are part of making the certification process rigorous and fair.

Research is moving into the Quality & Patient Safety portfolio. The work of the RPPEO's research team already contributes to the knowledge base for safe and quality care. This alignment will allow the RPPEO to benefit from our in-house ability to deep-dive into understanding issues that affect patient care. The Senior Management Committee approved this re-alignment as part of their review of the RPPEO's organizational structure.

Speak Up for Patient Safety

It's Canadian Patient Safety Week. Under the banner, #ConquerSilence, this week is devoted to encouraging everyone involved in healthcare to say something whenever they have a concern.

This week, the RPPEO will take to social media to encourage paramedics to report their concerns about patient safety to us. We're highlighting the RPPEO's fair and just approach and the new tools we're building to help paramedics speak up.

Now we're committed!

Spring 2021 CME announced, staff working on content

We pushed the little green 'go' button launching Cycle 1 2021 CME last week.

New to our line-up this year is a series of four one-hour workshops featuring paramedics who are content specialists. Registration is now open for paramedics to attend the virtual live events with four presenters that Jeremiah has lined up across May 4, 5, and 6.

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Methoxyflurane Study Launches Treatment Phase

Our research study will begin to use Penthrox on the road in Hastings-Quinte starting on Wednesday.

Since Health Canada approved Penthrox for pain relief use in Canada in 2018, paramedic services have been adopting the non-opioid analgesic.

The low-dose medication is delivered to patients by an inhaler which patients who have acute trauma may use themselves when they're in the care of paramedics. Patients report improvements in pain scores, with "side effects" that include dizziness and euphoria.

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From the Region

Two more paramedic services in our region announced projects last week to bolster their community paramedic programs in long term care with new government funding announced last year.

Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Service is building a community paramedicine program that's responsive to people "at-risk" of requiring long-term care who are not yet wait-listed. Chief Doug Socha announced last week that the project has received approval for four years of funding totaling $6M.

Jeffrey Carss, Chief of the Leeds Grenville Paramedic Service, joined municipal and provincial leaders to announce last week that their long term care project is receiving just over $3M. Their project is also aimed to provide some home care services to help people stay in their homes longer.

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Welcome to the team, Ivy!

Ben is pleased to announce that we have a new Data Analyst! Ivy Ma will join Quality & Patient Safety at the RPPEO in this new role on February 22. With orientation at The Ottawa Hospital today, expect to find Ivy in our RPPEO places starting on the 23rd.

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Ingrid Heading to Queens U

The call to higher learning whispers in many ears.

Now, Ingrid has decided to heed the call! She begins her pursuit of a PhD at Queens University later this year.

In her research for the degree from the University's Faculty of Education, Ingrid plans to look at the future of licensing and certification exams in health professions.

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