This Resource Toolkit provides direct links to general COVID-19 literature, resources and guidance from reputable agencies, as well as specific COVID-19 topics such as medico-legal concerns. In addition, instructions and patterns for some simple do-it-yourself PPE projects are included.

GENERAL RESOURCES

• Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Resources

The CMA is working with the Public Health Agency of Canada, provincial and territorial medical associations, and the Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health to share the most up-to-date and reliable resources with physicians and patients.

Available at: https://www.cma.ca/cma-update-coronavirus

• Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Get the latest public health information from CDC.

Available at: https://www.coronavirus.gov.

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Get the latest research from NIH.

Available at: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus.

• National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)

Find NCBI SARS-CoV-2 literature, sequence, and clinical content.

Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sars-cov-2/.

WEBINAR-SPECIFIC RESOURCES

Webinar #1 – A Path to a New Vision: Our Starting Point.

Originally presented Friday, April 24, 2020.

Available at:

• COS PRC: https://cosprc.ca/path-to-a-new-vision-webinar-recordings/
• COS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk_B5JenFWk

Guidance

• COS / ACUPO Guidelines for Ophthalmic Care During COVID-19 Pandemic. March 20, 2020. Available at: https://cosprc.ca/resource/guidelines-for-ophthalmic-care/

Peer-reviewed literature

• Amanat F, Krammer F. SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines: Status Report. Immunity. 2020;52(4):583‐89. DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2020.03.007. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7136867/

• Cheema M, Aghazadeh H, Nazarali S, Zelyas N, Damji K, Solarte C, et al. Keratoconjunctivitis as the initial medical presentation of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Can J Ophthalmol. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjo.2020.03.003 Available at: https://www.canadianjournalofophthalmology.ca/article/S0008-4182(20)30305-7/fulltext

• Fernstrom A, Goldblatt M. Aerobiology and its role in the transmission of infectious diseases. J Pathog. 2013;2013:493960. DOI: 10.1155/2013/493960. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23365758/

• Kampf G, Todt D, Pfaender S, Steinmann E. Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents. J Hosp Infect. 2020;104(3):246-51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2020.01.022. Available at: https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(20)30046-3/fulltext

• Li J-PO, Shantha J, Wong TY, Wong EY, Mehta J, Lin X, et al. Preparedness among ophthalmologists: During and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Ophthalmology. 2020;127(5):569-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2020.03.037. Available at: https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(20)30319-5/fulltext

• Qiao C, Zhang H, He M, Ying G, Chen C, Song Y, et al. Symptomatic COVID-19 infection in eye professionals in Wuhan China. Ophthalmology. 2020: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2020.04.026.

• Seah IYJ, Anderson DE, Wang L, Rao P, Young BE, Lye DC, et al. Assessing viral shedding and infectivity of tears in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Ophthalmology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2020.03.026. Available at: https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(20)30311-0/fulltext

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Resources

Guidance

• Stanford Medicine / Anesthesia Informatics and Media Lab. COVID-19 Evidence Series. Addressing COVID-19 Face Mask Shortages.Available at: https://aim.stanford.edu/covid-19-evidence-service/

Do It Yourself (DIY) PPE

• DIY Face Shield (pattern, step-by-step instructions). Design by Dr. Colin Mann.

• DIY Slit Lamp Shield (pattern, step-by-step instructions and video). Design by Dr. Andre Ali-Ridha and Dr. Xavo Campos-Moller.

DIY Non-Medical Masks (patterns with step-by-step instructions)

• DIY Non-medical Mask 1. Design by Maria Rocha. Instructions by Polin Rocha.
• DIY Non-medical Mask 2. Drawings and design by Maria Rocha. Instructions by Lindsay Duczek.

Webinar #2 – A Path to a New Vision: Medico-Legal Aspects of Ophthalmology Practice During COVID-19.

Originally presented on Thursday, April 30, 2020.

Not available as a recording due to sensitive medico-legal issues.

• Canadian Medical Protection Agency (CMPA) Resources

CMPA is providing the latest information, advice and support related to medical-legal protection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Available at: https://www.cmpa-acpm.ca/en/covid19

Webinar #3 – A Path to a New Vision: Virtual Care – COVID and Beyond.

Originally presented on Thursday, May 7, 2020.

Available at:

• COS PRC: https://cosprc.ca/path-to-a-new-vision-webinar-recordings/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD2Ds7liATc&t=155s

Webinar #4 – A Path to a New Vision: Financial Implications of COVID – Beyond the Basics.

Originally presented Thursday, May 14, 2020.

Available at:

• COS PRC: https://cosprc.ca/path-to-a-new-vision-webinar-recordings/
• COS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b-EzIlcIm4

Webinar #5 – A Path to a New Vision: What Now? Optimizing Our New Normal.

Originally presented Thursday, May 28, 2020.

Available at:

• COS PRC: https://cosprc.ca/path-to-a-new-vision-webinar-recordings/
• COS YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/embed/FnroEQiUR6w

Tips for Including Interactivity in an Accredited Group Learning Activity

This four-page guidance document from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada includes a wide range of tips, tricks, and insights for including or increasing interactivity in group learning activities, as well as some related information for creating digital media. Additionally, the document outlines the minimum interactivity requirements for an MOC Section 1 activity.

Highlights include examples of interactivity in different settings; advice for hosting an online conference; links to video tutorials for turning power point presentations / slide decks into online videos; tips for mailing certificates, and more.

This resource is an excellent go-to reference for any CPD program planner creating accredited learning activities.

You can access this resource here.

There are numerous ways for trainees (CBD and traditional) to continue to develop the CanMEDS competencies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these opportunities occur in responding to the pandemic itself, whereas other opportunities may be used to help fill the gap when usual clinical duties are problematic due to safety concerns, PPE shortages, physical distancing constraints, etc. While the pandemic may be shifting our traditional approach to teaching, educators are encouraged to consider the opportunities arising for the development of competence across all CanMEDS Roles.
The Royal College collected suggestions and ideas for clinical and non-clinical educational experiences during COVID-19, and have organized these by the CanMEDS Role to which they most easily map.

Ideas for Teaching CanMEDS During COVID-19: This resource compiles ideas for clinical and non-clinical educational experiences during COVID-19, and is organized by the seven CanMEDS Roles. As you’ll see, many of these educational opportunities occur in responding to the pandemic itself, whereas other opportunities may be used to help fill the gap when usual clinical duties are problematic due to PPE shortages, physical distancing constraints, and other safety concerns.

Disruptions related to COVID-19 are likely to continue for quite some time. In response, programs are adopting innovative approaches to support resident learning in the clinical environment. Check out these ideas from your colleagues across Canada on how they are continuing clinical teaching during COVID-19, across a variety of clinical environments (inpatients or outpatient visits), for multiple educational purposes (e.g., direct observation, teaching, coaching and assessment), and for both formal and informal teaching (e.g., academic half days, journal clubs, clinical teaching, etc.).

Ideas for Clinical Teaching During COVID-19: The purpose of this document is to share tips and resources from the front line for continuing residency education while managing the pandemic and maintaining physical distancing.

Virtual teaching resources

In light of the clinical responses to COVID-19, many educators are making significant adjustments to clinical experiences and training opportunities for their residents. These changes include reductions in OR activity and in ambulatory clinic experiences as well as the cancellation of group learning activities like rounds, simulation sessions and other academic activities.
Given that disruptions related to COVID-19 are likely to continue for many months, programs are innovating and adapting in order to support ongoing resident learning.
Teaching virtually – given physical distancing constraints and concerns about resident safety, many programs have implemented, or may implement, virtual alternatives to traditional teaching approaches. This short document is designed to help programs teach residents in a virtual / remote manner.

This webpage from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada is temporary.

These 60-minute interactive, online workshops introduce the core components of Mindfulness Practice, an internationally recognized program to help physicians incorporate mindfulness into their clinical work. Instructors are graduates of the University of Rochester Medical Center Mindful Practice longitudinal internship program.

Webinar Details

Topic: Mindfulness workshops

Tuesday, June 2 – 8:00 pm (EDT)
Instructor: Dr. Anita Chakravarti
Language: English

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAoceiprTIrGtH_nX0tpUtEyv_WUDHRhf_D

Monday, June 8 – 8:00 pm (EDT)
Instructor: Dr Jillian Horton
Language: English

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tduCppz8tGdzUDa9T-3yCfGqQPe_jHm9k

Community Q&A: Things to Consider as You Prepare to Reopen Your Practice, by Sanjay D Goel, MD, Ann M Hulett, CMPE, Albert Castillo

View the full webinar recording here

In this MedEdTalks Micro-CE podcast, Rishi P. Singh, MD, and Dilsher S. Dhoot, MD, discuss current barriers to care of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and other management considerations for providers.

Listen here.

Harvard Medical School -Clinical Management Through COVID-19 Webinar Series

It is hard to believe it has been over a month since the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic and I can imagine we are all slowly starting to adjust to the new “normal.”  At times I feel completely bombarded by all of the information available about the pandemic – it really is coming at us from all fronts. Overflowing email inboxes, the news, social media, medical literature…the list just goes on! The rate of new information about COVID-19 seems to be exponential and it’s a challenge to keep up. I had been searching for a few “go-to” resources that would give high yield, digestible, up-to-date summaries on key COVID-19 topics. I wanted to share this month with you a great online, webinar series I have been really enjoying for the past few weeks. Harvard PGME has put together a special continuing education webinar series that is given by various Harvard affiliated faculty. Each week they cover two different COVID-19 related topics on two separate days. Each webinar is an hour in duration and if you cannot watch it live, it is recorded and may be viewed at a later date. It was very simple to register for the webinar and then log on to view it. If you want to watch one to get a feel for the style, I highly recommend watching the one titled “Immunological testing during COVID-19.”  It helped answer a lot of questions I had around immunity, testing, vaccines and also the big question “when and how is this going to end?”  While not an ophthalmology specific resource, I have found them to very useful and a great complement to the COS “A Path to New Vision” webinars.

Check it out here: https://postgraduateeducation.hms.harvard.edu/continuing-education/covid-19-resources-providers

Accredited for 1 AMA PRA category 1 credit; Unaccredited by Royal College of Canada

Recommended by Dr. Anu Mishra, MD, MS-HPEd

Practice Resource Centre Committee Member, Canadian Ophthalmological Society