Hugh Allen Clinic
Family Health Group
P.O. Box 489
Sioux Lookout, Ontario P8T 1A8
Ph (807) 737-3803 ~ Fax (807) 737-1771
http://www.hughallenclinic.com/
For more information contact Linda McNaughton
Education Co-ordinator
Hugh Allen Clinic, Sioux Lookout
hac@slmhc.on.ca
Welcome to Sioux Lookout!
Sioux Lookout has a long history of providing clinical learning for medical students and residents. We have no doubt that the clinical experiences you will be exposed to over your rotation will be instructive and rewarding. In fact, learners have such good learning and social experiences in our community that we regularly have learners returning to Sioux Lookout for repeat clinical experiences.
We hope that your stay with us will be both educational and enjoyable. This outline will go over the expectations of this rotation as well as give you some basic information that will assist you in your practice here in Sioux Lookout. As well, we have included some information that will hopefully make your extracurricular life in Sioux Lookout more enjoyable as well.
Our community
“Halfway between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, north of the Trans-Canada Highway, Sioux Lookout sits nestled on the lakeshores of Pelican, Abram and Lac Seul with the rugged Canadian Shield as our backdrop. Our scenic municipality boasts a culturally diverse population of over 5,300 residents and we are proud to be the true “Hub of the North”, providing essential services to 30,000 people in 29 remote First Nation communities.
Sioux Lookout is a renowned, year-round tourist destination. Visitors and residents alike take advantage of a wide variety of outdoor recreational and sporting opportunities including water sports, hiking, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and incredible fishing!
We are also on a major growth curve with $200 million in capital projects to be undertaken over the next five years including a new state of-the-art hospital; train station redevelopment and downtown revitalization; fire attack base; airport expansion; and an increase in serviced residential, commercial and industrial land.
Whether you are considering a visit to our community, or a permanent move, we welcome you to this beautiful and unique wilderness community that we call home!”
Reference: excerpt from Municipality of Sioux Lookout website http://www.siouxlookout.ca/
The Hugh Allen Clinic
As of April 2010, the Hugh Allen Clinic comprises of eight family practitioners and one nurse practitioner. We each have a varied and interesting practice with much to offer. We are a cohesive group and have a working knowledge of each other’s patients and practice. As a group, we are extremely dedicated to the education of both residents and medical students.
You will be assigned to one or two primary preceptors. Each of our practices varies and has a great deal to offer in terms of education. Opportunities exist to tailor your learning experience to self-identified learning objectives, and you should discuss with your preceptor if you have specific learning objectives or clinical experiences that you desire during your time in Sioux Lookout.
It should be emphasized that the goal of this rotation is not service but education. As such, your clinical preceptors will always be available to you so that if you should ever feel overwhelmed or unsure of clinical management. You should never hesitate to contact them. Patient safety is paramount. If you feel uncomfortable with something, ask for help.
When you arrive in Sioux Lookout, you should begin your first clinical day by showing up at the Hugh Allen Clinic at 8am to see our Clinic Manager (hac@slmhc.on.ca). We will have some paperwork to go over with you, a pager to distribute, a schedule to review and will give you a tour of the clinic before turning you over to your preceptor for the day.
During the summer, Hugh Allen Clinic office hours are 8am-2 pm, except on Wednesday when hours are 8am-noon. During the winter, office hours are 8am–4:30pm Mondays and Fridays, 8am-6pm Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 8am-noon on Wednesdays. Every physician at the clinic works different clinic hours (altered periodically by required attendance at meetings, etc). It is suggested that you clarify your preceptor’s hours when you receive your schedule.
Hugh Allen Clinic Physicians
Dr Joe Dooley – clinic, ER, inpatient care, PN clinic, surgical obstetrics
Dr Joanne Fry – clinic, ER, inpatient care
Dr Sharen Madden – clinic, inpatient care
Dr Bob Minty – ER, anesthesia
Dr Jon Morgan – clinic, inpatient care, anesthesia, coroner, exercise stress testing
Dr Terry O’Driscoll – clinic, ER, inpatient care, obstetrics
Dr Mary England – clinic, ER, inpatient care
Dr Barbara Russell-Mahoney – clinic, ER, inpatient care
Dr. Andre Jakubow – clinic, ER, inpatient care, anesthesia
Amber Davis, Nurse Practitioner – clinic, Long-term care home, home visits
Hospitalist Call
You may be expected to participate in hospitalist call with your preceptor. This work can involve assisting in the operating room for emergency surgeries, being baby doctor at deliveries, admitting patients transferred back to our facility, admitting patients who have come through the emergency room, providing support to home care nurses in the community and helping out with walk-in patients at the clinic.
Emergency Room Call
You will be expected to the same amount of call as your preceptor, which can range from 1 in 4 to 1 in 7 call. You should expect to do one weekend of call per month with your preceptor (typically a Friday/Sunday or a Saturday). Some physicians chose to do 24 hour call shifts and others do 12 hour shifts. You will generally be doing call with the preceptor that you are assigned to for the month but if you feel the need for extra experience, you are encouraged to pick up extra call with any of the other physicians. If you are not able to work call with your preceptor due to holidays or attendance at mandatory educational sessions, you may be asked to make up call with an alternate preceptor. Our experience and opinion is that emergency room call in our community is a valuable learning opportunity for both acute and non-acute medical problems.
Rounds
Mandatory learning activities that you will participate in while in Sioux Lookout include multidisciplinary rounds held 8am Tuesday mornings at the 5th Avenue Site of the Meno Ya Win Health Centre. At these rounds inpatients looked after by Hugh Allen Clinic physicians are discussed as well as outpatients who are likely to end up in the emergency room in the near future. During these rounds you will have an excellent opportunity to present your inpatients and receive advice and feedback from the other physicians.
The Hugh Allen Clinic also holds educational rounds most Wednesday afternoon starting at about 12:30pm. These educational rounds are often problem based small group learning modules as well as other educational opportunities ranging from radiology rounds to presentations from visiting specialists. Periodically learners may be asked to prepare and present an educational round.
Continuity of Care
While you are here in Sioux Lookout, you will be expected to participate longitudinally in ongoing care of patients you have encountered though the clinic or emergency room. Whenever you have the opportunity you should try to follow all of your patients and any patient with an interesting clinical problem. This may involve ongoing office visits, inpatient care, operating room assists, home visits, etc. You are expected to see your inpatients daily and you will be expected to follow up on all laboratory as well as x-ray results on any of your patients, with assistance from your preceptor as needed.
GP Specialty Areas
In our practice we have family physicians with interests in specialised clinical areas including: obstetrics, anaesthesia, stress testing, oncology, palliative care, orthopaedics, sexual health, and exercise stress testing. If you have any interest in these areas of clinical work, speak with your preceptor to see if additional learning opportunities can be arranged.
First Nations Patients
Our practice provides you with a unique opportunity in that we see a large proportion of First Nation patients. The interaction that you will have with these patients will provide you unique opportunities to hone your communication skills with people who have a very different cultural and sociological background from yourself. Your preceptors will be an invaluable source of knowledge and experience in this area. These interactions will hopefully be very rewarding for both yourself and the patient.
On arrival, please speak with Dr Kelly and you will be given some cross cultural resource reading material to help orient you to cross cultural care giving. Most patients we see are Ojibway; some are Cree. The common shared language most First Nations patients speak is Oji-Cree.
Housing and Transportation
If you are in Sioux Lookout through the Northern Ontario Electives Program or through the NOSM family medicine program you will likely be staying in an apartment rented by NOSM (Northern Ontario School of Medicine). You should have received accommodation information and a set of keys for your apartment through NOSM prior to your arrival in Sioux Lookout. Learners are typically assigned an apartment to themselves, but occasionally you will have another learner sharing your apartment.
There is no public transportation in Sioux Lookout. If you have not brought a car or a bicycle to use be reassured that most everything is within walking distance. If you are on hospitalist or obstetrics call and are with the Northern Ontario Electives Program you should confirm with the program that taxis will be reimbursed through NOSM and find out how to submit for reimbursement. The emergency room is busy enough that you should remain on site for the duration of your shift. There are on-call sleeping accommodations at the hospital.
Community Life
Sioux Lookout has a great deal of recreational and entertainment opportunities. The recreational activities range from cross-country ski trails to great fishing and kayaking. There is an excellent library in town and various video stores. As well, the Hugh Allen Clinic provides gym memberships at the Recreation Centre and at the Best Western gym. The Recreation Centre provides you with an indoor skating rink, gym, squash courts, weight room as well as an indoor running track. Fitness classes and intramural sports are held at the Recreation Centre. The Best Western gym has cardio-equipment and weights as well as a small pool.
Through the winter months the Sioux-Hudson Entertainment series brings in some impressive shows to Sioux Lookout including modern dance, theatre, popular music and the symphony.
Enjoy your stay in Sioux Lookout!