Spring 2017 (Volume 27, Number 1)

Training Our Colleagues–McMaster Clinical Day in Rheumatology

By Raj Carmona, MBBS, FRCPC

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In addition to training the rheumatologists of tomorrow, the McMaster Division of Rheumatology recognizes the need to equip our primary care allies to better care for patients with rheumatic diseases. In pursuit of this goal, the inaugural McMaster Clinical Day in Rheumatology was held on November 4th, 2016, at the Hamilton Convention Centre.

The idea of this clinical day originated from discussions at our annual divisional retreat, and planning began eight months prior to the day. I had the esteemed privilege of leading the Planning Committee and co-chairing the conference with Dr. Alf Cividino, our divisional chair. Given that primary care allies were a main target, we invited two family-physician colleagues (Dr. Lauren Cameron and Dr. Rick Black) to join us on the committee. Their perspectives were important in shaping the contents of the program. To assist with advertising, behind-the-scenes logistics and actual roll-out of the conference, we recruited the McMaster Faculty for Continuing Health Sciences Education (CHSE). Rennée Tremblay, our Rheumatology Program Coordinator, was also instrumental in these roles. We partnered with a number of industry sponsors whose contributions were invaluable to the delivery of the program.

Since I am certain that no one will accuse me of any bias whatsoever, I can declare that the program’s agenda was super stellar! Equally stellar was the theme of the day – “The Pearls You Need to Know”. This theme guided all sessions, as we sought to provide our attendees with high-yield pearls to benefit their daily clinical practice. Topics included Approach to Inflammatory Arthritis (Dr. Kim Legault), Lab Tests in Rheumatic Diseases (Dr. Mark Matsos), Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (Dr. Alf Cividino), Biologics and Safety (Dr. Raj Carmona), Connective Tissue Diseases in Primary Care (Dr. Maggie Larché), Vasculitis in Primary Care (Dr. Nader Khalidi), Osteoporosis (Dr. Arthur Lau), Back Pain (Dr. Raj Carmona), Osteoarthritis (Dr. Lawrence Hart), and Emergencies in Rheumatology (Dr. Sankalp Bhavsar). Break-out sessions on physical examination skills were a major attraction. We focused on key examination pearls to help our participants detect swollen joints and diagnose common musculoskeletal conditions.

The rapid registration for the conference was also a testament to the stellar curriculum offered, and maybe, just maybe, the keen yearning for rheumatology knowledge among our primary care colleagues. Based on discussions with CHSE about inaugural events, we had anticipated about 125 registrants. However, we had to close off registration more than two weeks prior to the conference. This is usually when most programs accelerate their marketing to reach target registration. Due to the logistics of running break-out clinical skills sessions, we stopped registration at 210 participants. Amongst others, this included 114 physicians (mostly family doctors) and 61 allied healthcare professionals.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The talks were all highly rated (as highly as the food, and probably better than the cannolis!) The clinical skills sessions were also highly valued. Many respondents indicated that the conference improved their skills in taking a rheumatological history, their confidence in musculoskeletal physical examinations, their ability to Choose Wisely in ordering investigations, and their confidence in interpreting test results. Many suggestions for future topics were received, as well as requests to make this an annual conference.

By any measure, the inaugural McMaster Clinical Day in Rheumatology was a resounding success. Based on the feedback we received, we are confident that we fulfilled our overarching objective of equipping our primary care allies to better care for patients with rheumatic diseases. Planning is well underway for the 2017 iteration (fhs.mcmaster.ca/conted).

Raj Carmona, MBBS, FRCPC
Associate Professor of Medicine,
Division of Rheumatology
Director, Medical Foundation 5, MD Program
McMaster University,
Hamilton, Ontario