A Message to our Residents and Fellows from Postgraduate Medical Education - April 6

These are challenging, uncertain and scary times. I can think of so many words – but none of them really capture how difficult things are right now for all of us.

Thank you again for the care you provide, and your patience and resilience during the pandemic.

There are a lot of questions and concerns with respect to PPE, availability, conservation measures and the ability to provide care safely – for us and our patients.

I don’t have all the answers – recommendations change almost daily as the patient population and PPE availability changes.

This has resulted in conservation policies with respect to PPE use and access. For different services and different units, the access will be different – but in general the nurse manager will be able to provide you with masks. Due to the shortage PPE is being conserved, and a guideline is the use of 2 non-N95 masks per day. Additional measures include limiting as much as possible the number of individuals entering patient rooms for assessment and care, etc.

Frequent updates, and useful links are provided on the hospital intranet sites for both London and Windsor hospitals. Two links I found particularly helpful are below and attached – a guide to PPE, and the principles of extended use and reuse of PPE. In addition, I have linked the Ontario Health notice on PPE from last week. The Schulich Medicine website has a separate PGME section where I am posting weekly updates.

Please let me know if you have additional questions or concerns, and I will do my best to help.

Warmly,
Lois and your PGME team