Faculty day is an exploration of purposeful advocacy and personal growth
Ob-gyn faculty members come together for annual PD day to learn how to advocate for others and for themselves
The ob-gyn department’s annual Faculty Professional Development Day (FPDD) had faculty members looking both outward as well as inward.
Held every November 11, this year’s offering, “Advocacy in Action: Empower, Educate, Engage,” took place at at the Chestnut Residence in downtown Toronto.
Melissa Tai, assistant professor in the department and director of professional development, welcomed the 83 faculty members in attendance by considering the breadth of advocacy: from students to colleagues and from equity to innovation to learning.
“As ob-gyns, we’re at a very unique intersection of science, compassion and advocacy,” she said. “We are promoting the health of women across all stages of their life, protecting their autonomy and their dignity.”
This theme was picked up by the keynote speaker Modupe Tunde-Byass, associate professor and self-professed wife, mother, practising Christian, immigrant, proud Black women, ob-gyn educator and mentor. Her talk on leading with purpose touched on these perspectives by outlining her many advocacy positions throughout her distinguished career.
Her Black ancestry, she said, “is a history of survival, strength and a relentless pursuit of self-determination.” Tunde-Byass — who is a past president of Black Physicians of Canada — turned that historical lens on Covid 19 pandemic, explaining how the Black community, whose mistrust of and hesitancy towards vaccines are rooted in generational injustices, contributed to a three-times greater hospitalization rate.
Advocacy is not a solo sport, it’s a relay race."Modupe Tunde-Byass
“Advocacy in this case meant listening to that community,” she said.
Listening is a step towards education; education is a way to replace fear with facts. Tunde-Byass pointed to the level of misinformation on the internet and how physicians are failing to keep up with it.
“There’s so much out there,” she said. “We need to get on social media to educate the population so that they know what we are saying is evidence-based.”
Over the years, Tunde-Byass has been a strong advocate for women physicians, who can be pushed out of surgery by discrimination and harassment stemming from outdated attitudes of male colleagues, or systemic issues such as instruments and equipment designed for men.
While guidance and support are necessary, Tunde-Byass said that women tend to be “overmentored and undersponsored.” She advocated for more sponsorship of women, which can include amplification and sharing of accomplishments, writing letters of recommendations, inviting them to high-level meetings, among others.
Tunde-Byass shone a light on a number of other inequities that need to be addressed, such as underrepresentation of Black physicians, the overreliance on U.S. data for Canadian studies, the lack of access to contraception, the impacts of gender violence on patients, and the exclusion of pregnant and lactating mothers in research.
“Advocacy is not a solo sport, it’s a relay race,” she said. “I encourage you to pass the baton with care and conviction.”
Nathalie Fleming, a professor at the University of Ottawa, gave a plenary talk on the changing culture around wellness for physicians, explicated by the journey to create of The Ottawa Hospital’s in-house wellness program for its entire staff.
She began by canvassing the room to see “where we’re at today” using a colour-coded self-assessment tool, asking participants to anonymously share stressors particular to physicians via an app. She uses this method as a tool to touch base with colleagues: for example, before meetings. It’s a chance to refocus when working long hours.
“Sometimes we’re not resting properly, and we’re thinking about these high-risk situations we may be faced with. The time it takes away from our families, our personal lives — there is never enough time to do the work we want to do,” she said.
The innovative wellness program at The Ottawa Hospital began in 2019. A year later Fleming joined as Medical Director of Physician Wellness. As of today, there are three main Wellness Centre locations and a Family Medicine Clinic, with virtual options and a mobile wellness team, all offering a “one-stop shop of services”: mental health appointments, cancer screening, physiotherapy, conflict resolution, peer support, stress management, among others.
“Our support sessions are really, really popular,” said Fleming. She was told initially they were not something that doctors would go to but “in fact, it’s the opposite. We created an access to care that’s confidential, that’s credible, and people really believe in it.”
When the wellness program initially launched, medical staff accounted for about 10 per cent of support session bookings — that number is now 40 per cent.
The centers provided a financial return as well. Fleming estimated that in 2023–2024 alone, they saved 186,000 hours of mental health short-term disability across the hospital. The program is now considered a model for other health authorities in Canada, including two being developed in New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
“Culture change takes a lot of time. I feel stressed sometimes because I wish things would just happen like this,” said Fleming, snapping her fingers. “As surgeons we want things to happen quickly, but it does take time, as you saw from our journey.”
Workshop sessions
Homero Flores Mendoza, assistant professor, was attending his first FPDD and appreciated the scope of workshops on offer.
“More than anything, I want to get a sense on how to develop myself in the department and find a way of achieving those ultimate goals of promotion,” he said. He mentioned a particular interest in the financial lessons — though the retirement session he would save for another year. “I’m not going to that session yet,” he laughed.
Building a Financial Routine
Stephanie Zhou, clinical director of addiction medicine at Sunnybrook, walked participants through the ins and outs of strong financial habits. She learned them through necessity, having grown up in a household with little financial security; later, she studied macroeconomics during with her residency. Zhou, referencing Maslow's five-tiered hierarchy of needs, believes finances are a tool “to optimize my wellness, to achieve that top of the pyramid, the self-actualization piece.” Her advice included being intentional about purchases by converting their cost into hours worked and considering the number of uses each item will get. Coupon apps, credit card points and the like are an efficient way to accrue extra purchasing power. She emphasized to submit billings after each clinic day, particularly for those new to practice. Automating finances, too, while requiring an initial investment of time, saves money and stress later.
Advocacy for Clinical Faculty
Richard Pittini, professor and vice chair of education, and Adrian Brown, associate professor, outlined the procedures and gave advice for situations when a faculty member, for example, receives a learner complaint and requires an advocate for navigation and guidance. A common reaction when receiving a letter of complaint is to try and clear up the issue yourself, which is not the correct approach, nor is it to investigate the complainant. They advised calling a support person, a friend for emotional support, possibly a wellness lead, and giving your chief a head’s up. The nature of the complaint can run from an anonymous disclosure, where no action is expected beyond awareness, to an identified complainant, which can lead to disciplinary action. (Anonymous complainants, though, must have a UTORid and originate from an individual, not a group). To protect yourself in the initial follow-up meeting, Brown suggested “good meeting hygiene,” which includes getting the agenda in writing, knowing who exactly will be in the meeting, and asking who will be taking the minutes and where they will be distributed.
IPAC 101 for Ob-Gyns
Kate Bingham, from the Ministry of Health, along with Public Health Ontario’s Maureen Cividino and Anne Augustin provided an overview of the legislative framework and technical principles to control infectious disease transmission in clinical settings. They outlined the complaint journey of a reported lapse, including the follow-up, investigation and risk assessment, as well as some challenges when it comes to sterilizing ob-gyn equipment. Often these arise with inherited practice, when the manufacturer’s instructions are no longer available and the cleaning procedure is passed on by word of mouth. The last several years have seen rising complaints, most on the inadequate reprocessing of reusable medical equipment, with several examples that hit the media cycle. It is incumbent on physicians to institute preventative routines, from hand hygiene and other transmission-based precautions to patient-care equipment devices appropriately disinfected.
Career Transitions and Retirement
Paul Bernstein, Janet Bodley and Ivan Silver urged those in attendance to “think about smooth landing” as they ease into a career transition. Retirement is not just about finances but also identity and wellness, and often is accelerated by health issues, either of the physician or — just as commonly — their partner or spouse. “Surprises can challenge you,” said Bernstein. Incremental dips in performance are uniform across all medical professions, and the literature suggests that competency issues are reluctantly reported by colleagues — another difficult factor in any retirement decision. Retirement can feel like a leap into the unknown, so preparing yourself by establishing an echo career or serious hobby can deliver meaning in the long term. Bodley said, “It’s good to explore those things early. Maybe volunteering, caring for family members, having more time for your own exercise or your hobbies.” At Temerty Medicine, a multidisciplinary group of physicians has created a resource package of articles, podcasts and step-by-step protocols, and are soon to publish a detailed guidebook on transitioning to retirement.
