It’s a pandemic. You need personal protective equipment. This should go without question.

But shouldn’t the very concept of being “personally protected” go beyond masks and goggles? What about all the other ways COVID-19 has impacted you, as a physician?

At Doctors Manitoba, we have just adopted a new mission and purpose as your medical association, and it couldn’t be more relevant than during the pandemic. We exist to strengthen and support the whole physician. Yes, this still includes your economic well-being, but it also includes supporting your mental and physical health along with your professional well-being too. And we know that all of these are at increased risk during COVID-19.

Today is World Patient Safety Day, and this year’s theme is Safe Health Workers mean Safe Patients. The World Health Organization has recognized that the safety risk among health care workers–particularly during the pandemic–includes not only increased risk of infection, illness and death, but also other forms of harm such as stigma, burnout, anxiety and depression.

Today’s COVID update focuses on strengthening and supporting you through the pandemic. Please take the time to review our “whole physician” pandemic update below, including resources, tips and more. You will also find today’s COVID situation update at the end of the message.

Protecting Yourself from COVID

Just last night, we held a major COVID-19 webinar on preventing spread and responding to exposures in your practice. Over 130 physicians tuned in to hear from Dr. Allen Kraut, an expert in occupational medicine, and Dr. John Embil, an infectious disease expert. They also heard from Dr. Fourie Smith about how his clinic responded after learning a patient had tested positive. A key focus of this session was on your physical well-being, with guidance on protecting yourself, your staff and your patients from infection.

Here are the top takeaways and resources from Dr. Embil and Dr. Kraut:

If you take the right precautions now, you can likely avoid the need to isolate if exposed to a positive patient. This means wearing the recommended PPE, including a mask and eye protection.

Check out Doctors Manitoba’s PPE page for a summary and links to Shared Health PPE guidance.

Check out Doctors Manitoba’s PPE page for a summary and links to Shared Health PPE guidance. Stay home if you have any symptoms. Use this Shared Health screening tool for physicians and staff. Get tested if appropriate. If you test positive, public health will advise you how long to stay home. The guideline is to stay home for 10 days from onset of symptoms and 3 days after symptoms resolve. If you test negative, you can return to work 24 hours after your symptoms resolve without the use of fever-controlling medications.

If a physician or staff member in your practice has symptoms, they should leave work or not come to work. They should get screened and go for testing if appropriate. They should self isolate pending results. If they test positive, public health will assess their contacts, including in the workplace, and advise if any other staff, physicians or patients should isolate. Again, using the right precautions including PPE, hand hygiene and physical distancing can help to avoid the need to isolate.

If someone in your household has symptoms, they should get tested. When should you stay home? If family member is a traveler or contact, you should stay home from work. If your family member is connected to a higher risk situation, you should not work while waiting for result and self-monitor. If you are in a lower risk area, you could consider working while waiting for test result. If you develop any symptoms, you should stay home and get tested.



If you travel outside of Manitoba and areas excluded from isolation requirements (currently western Canada and northwestern Ontario), you should isolate for two weeks after travel, even if you test negative. Physicians were reminded of the cautionary tale involving a physician who traveled briefly to Quebec from New Brunswick

PPE fatigue is a major concern, and has been connected to workplace infections in health facilities. All panelists spoke to the need to remind physicians and staff to wear PPE and to wear it correctly. Shared Health has a Wear it Right poster with reminders on how to wear, and not wear, PPE. Watch videos on properly donning and doffing PPE. Call Occupational Health at 204-926-1042 or 1-888-203-4066 for help



You can get more information from Shared Health’s site, including PPE guidance, infection prevention and control recommendations, and occupational health info and contacts.

If you missed it, you can now watch yesterday’s webinar online.

You can also see the key takeaways from a recent Doctors Manitoba webinar with Dr. Brent Roussin and watch it online too.

If you need help knowing what type of PPE you need or how to order / access it, check out our PPE resource page.

We are also hoping to hold a short webinar in the weeks ahead on protecting your family. While the evidence is still emerging, we know many of you want to avoid bringing COVID home from work, and avoid bring it to work from home. If you are interested in sharing your daily routine to help your peers, please email us at covid19@doctorsmanitoba.ca.

Psychological PPE

In addition to masks and other personal protective equipment, you need “psychological PPE” too.

The concept of psychological PPE draws a parallel between preventing the risk of physical harm from infection, and preventing the risk of psychological harm from the stress, burnout and fatigue that accompanies emergency responses. This is especially true in prolonged and uncertain situations like the one we find ourselves in today.

Practicing medicine is a high-pressure, high risk job at the best of times, and the pandemic only adds to this. A survey of Canadian physicians from before the pandemic found that nearly one third reported burnout or depression. This doesn’t go unnoticed by your patients. Before the pandemic, we had surveyed the public and found that while nearly all Manitobans agree that physicians care about their patients, only 44% think physicians lead a healthy lifestyle and 55% think doctors are overworked.

A more recent study from the UK found over 40% of physicians were struggling with mental health challenges because of the COVID-19.

It’s important to find wellness strategies that work for you and help you strengthen your resilience. Some of these strategies are similar to what you might recommend to your patients, while others are more targeted to demanding, high-stakes, high-risk jobs. Think corporate executives, elite athletes, military personnel and physicians.

We highly recommend taking some time to consider what works for you now, and not wait or assume you won’t need any help later. In a way, this is like ensuring those who may need an N95 mask later are told to get fit tested now, just in case.

To put it another way, this is similar to what we’re told while waiting for our plane to takeoff: if the oxygen masks fall, put your own mask on first so you are able to help the person beside you who needs assistance.

Your patients will need you throughout this pandemic, so take the time now to get “fit tested” for your psychological PPE.

Stay Well During the Pandemic (Updated)

We have created a new resource page on physician wellness during the pandemic. This includes a new guide to staying well during the pandemic, links to key physician wellness resources, and a reminder about the 24/7 supports available to you as a member.

Add This to Your Mobile Contacts

You never know if you, a family member, or a colleague will need help in the weeks or months ahead. Take a moment now to save this in your mobile contacts. It only takes a moment, and then it is there if and when you need it.

You can call our 24/7 Physician and Family Support Line for confidential counselling, legal support and many other services. Call 1-844-4DOCSMB (436-2762) and use company ID DOCSMB. You can also seek resources and support online at guidanceresources.com

CMA Wellness Hub:

This week, the CMA launched a new Physician Wellness Hub, an online platform with key resources and a virtual community for physicians, learners, and their families.

The Wellness Hub was created to drive change in the culture of medicine and to improve physician wellness individually and at the system level. There is information tailored to physicians and medical learners, as well as leaders.

While browsing the hub, assess your own personal risk of burnout or start to asses wellness within your organization.

Take a few minutes to listen to one of the courageous and de-stigmatizing wellness stories such as:

Professional Support for New Physicians

Starting a new practice is a major milestone for young physicians, and this milestone has only become more complex during COVID-19. We’re here to help you navigate this transition in your journey as a physician.

We are excited to announce two New to Practice webinars coming up in three weeks. The content will include:

What Doctors Manitoba offers you

Benefits and insurance

Billing: tips and common questions

Virtual care

Practicing during the pandemic

Q&A

Two sessions have been planned on October 7th and 8th at 5:30 pm. Both webinars are open to all members, though they are designed for senior resident physicians and physicians in their first X years of practice. Click below to register:

October 7 at 5:30 pm, focus on family practice. Register Now!

October 8 at 5:30 pm, focus on specialty practice. Register Now!

Please feel free to send in questions in advance to help us focus the content on your needs. You can email your questions to covid19@doctorsmanitoba.ca.

Financial Impact of COVID

One might think that a health emergency like the pandemic would be a money-maker for doctors? Well the truth is, it isn’t.

The pandemic has had significant financial impacts for many physicians. Patient volumes dropped for a variety of reasons. Maybe you’re a surgeon or radiologist and your work was suspended in the spring shut down. Or perhaps you’re a family doctor and patients thought they should delay seeking care. Many specialists reported that consultations slowed down. For some doctors, you couldn’t get the PPE you needed to see patients in person, and some have been forced to isolate and had to cancel days or weeks of visits.

On top of decreased volumes, many physicians have faced increased costs for extra staffing, cleaning, PPE or other precautions.

Whatever the reason, for some physicians the pandemic has caused financial hardship. We’ve heard of physicians struggling to make ends meet, resorting to government loans and subsidies, or being forced to lay off staff. We have even heard of some physicians applying for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

We’ve done the math, and our best estimate is that total physician compensation is down by at least $47 million this year in Manitoba.

Patient volumes have partially rebounded over the summer. Surgeries have resumed and there are new contracts to add extra volumes. Doctors Manitoba ran a public awareness campaign to remind Manitobans not to put their health on hold. We were successful in negotiating new tariffs for virtual visits, and we continue to advocate for additional tariffs as it has become clearer that we must learn to live with COVID-19 for many more months.

We know that what doctors want most is to get back to providing care to patients. We are continuing to advocate for what you need during the pandemic, including financial supports. We have raised the issue that eligibility criteria for many of the provincial and federal pandemic support programs excludes some physicians or doesn’t recognize the unique impact COVID-19 has had on doctors. We have also advocated for support for physicians who are told to stay home with symptoms or required to isolate.

Check out Doctors Manitoba’s Pandemic Financial Tips, including links to help you navigate provincial and federal pandemic supports and considerations for physicians who are also employers.

For physicians looking forward to retirement, you’ve had many concerns about how COVID has impacted your plans. There are two webinars coming up in the weeks ahead from MD Financial that may be of interest:

MD Financial Estate and Trust Webinar

When: September 29 at 8PM

Focus: Helping physicians create or update their legacy plans, including how to be prepared to minimize the burden on your loved ones.

Register Now!

Dr. Amy MD on Retirement Planning

When: October 22

Focus: Retirement Planning for physicians and their spouses

Save the date! Registration details will follow.

Pandemic Situation Update

Since Friday, there have been 107 new cases of COVID-19 identified in Manitoba. The test positivity rate is 1.7%. There were 11 new cases identified today, bringing the overall total so far in Manitoba to 1,500.

There are 293 active cases today, up from from 287 on Friday. There are 10 people in hospital, with two in ICU.

The province remains at pandemic response alert level yellow (caution). Starting tomorrow, the Prairie Mountain health region will be lowered to level yellow (caution) too as case numbers there have decreased. You can review today’s public health bulletin for more information.

Earlier this week, a school was elevated to a restricted status with specific cohorts within the school sent home for remote learning, and unaffected grades will continue with in-class learning. There have been seven cases involving students and staff identified so far at John Pritchard School in Winnipeg’s North Kildonan area, with about 250 students impacted by the move to remote learning. Public health officials believe some of cases were contracted within school, though no cases were symptomatic while at school. No new cases were identified today.

If you are still receiving back-to-school medical note requests, review our recent guidance for help. Physicians should ensure that they are familiar with the patient whose medical condition puts them at risk. If this is a household member and not the child who is attending school, the household member’s physician would likely be best positioned to provide the medical note rather than the child’s pediatrician or family physician.