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Family medicine physician advisor role

Are you a family physician who has a passion for providing antenatal care and supporting pregnant individuals throughout their pregnancy journey? If so, Prenatal Screening Ontario is seeking to engage you in a family medicine advisor role focused on designing, implementing, and evaluating new screening systems to enhance pregnant individual and fetal health outcomes. 

Who we are

Prenatal Screening Ontario (PSO) is funded by the Government of Ontario to coordinate and oversee the operations of prenatal screening services in Ontario, supporting a cohesive and high-quality screening system. Part of PSO’s role is to be Ontario’s resource for pregnant individuals, families and health-care practitioners looking for information and updates related to prenatal screening.  

PSO is a program of the province’s maternal, newborn and child registry, the Better Outcomes Registry and Network (BORN) Ontario. BORN is a prescribed registry established in Ontario under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA) for the purpose of facilitating and/or improving the provision of health care in our province, with a vision for the best possible beginnings for lifelong health. 

BORN and PSO are funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and administered by the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). 

What we do

PSO currently oversees prenatal screening for fetal aneuploidies (e.g.trisomy 21 and 18), a service provided through Multiple Marker Screening (MMS) and Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT).  Ontario’s Ministry of Health has tasked PSO with expanding antenatal screening options. The initial expansion, planned for 2025,will introduce screening for fetal blood type through fetal DNA circulating in the pregnant individual’s blood[tentatively named the Prenatal Blood Incompatibility (PBI) screening program].  This program will reduce unnecessary health-care utilization by enabling a) a more effective and efficient approach to Rh Immune globulin prophylaxis for RhD-negative pregnancies, as well as b) more targeted high-risk follow-up for alloimmunized pregnant individuals.  Additional screening opportunities are on the horizon as part of future initiatives. 

As the province’s perinatal and child registry, BORN aims to enhance its role in supporting family practice settings.  This entails exploring ways to optimize registry data utilization by practitioners and pregnant individuals. For example, registry data could be shared with practitioners to support risk stratification and counselling, or technology could be developed to streamline data-sharing and shared care between family practice and obstetrical care practitioners.  

Family medicine physician advisor opportunity

To facilitate this work and provide a robust and evidence-informed foundation for change, PSO and BORN are seeking to engage expertise in family medicine, with a particular focus on antenatal care.

Specific responsibilities

The Family Medicine Physician Advisor will collaborate closely with BORN and PSO leadership and other subject matter experts. A pivotal aspect of the role will involve participation in the PBI Implementation Advisory Group. The responsibilities of the Advisor will include:

  1. Informing overall program implementation, and conducting early operational evaluations by sharing advice, approaches, and active involvement in the following endeavors:
    • Facilitating knowledge translation and change management necessary to change well-established existing prenatal care management processes for the prevention of Hemolytic Disease of the Fetus and Newborn (HDFN) among primary care, obstetrical care, maternal-fetal medicine, and transfusion medicine laboratory providers.
    • Providing expert input on the practical aspects of implementing PBI screening in primary care settings.
    • Offering guidance on the development of knowledge translation strategies for primary care providers.
    • Applying an access and equity lens to program design, including referral, and data flows.
    • Advising the Ministry of Health on policy changes required to support the new screening program.
    • Participating in the design and development of an operational oversight model.
    • Taking an active role, potentially co-chairing, in the PBI Implementation Working Group.
  2.  Leveraging their existing expertise and network to identify, connect, and recruit partners for participation in implementation, advisory, or other activities as needed.

Administratively, the Advisor will receive support by the BORN Ontario/ Prenatal Screening Ontario Clinical Content Specialist and Project Manager assigned to program development. The support offered will include various tasks such as scheduling meetings, conducting minor research, gathering information, preparing reports and recommendations, and other pertinent activities.

Term and remuneration

The first term of the Family Medicine Physician Advisor will be from July 15, 2024, until October 15, 2025. The expected commitment of the Advisor is 4-6 hours per week with remuneration in the form of a quarterly stipend of $12,500. Term extensions will be determined as needed.

Qualifications

  • MD eligible to practice in Ontario and in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. (Mandatory)
  • Family Medicine certification (CCFP) from the College of Family Physicians of Canada. (Mandatory)
  • Minimum of 5-10 years’ clinical experience and active in providing routine antenatal care. (Preferred)
  • Experience working across a range of practice settings in Ontario (e.g. Independent Practice, Community Health Centres, Urgent Care Centres, Rural Health Clinics, Hospitals). (Preferred)

Other relevant skills and expertise

  • Knowledge translation and education initiatives. (Preferred)
  • Change management, quality, or process improvement. (Preferred)
  • Policy development or role in advising at the regional, provincial, or federal level(s). (Preferred)
  • Experience working with and/or identifies as a member of an equity-deserving group. (Preferred)

Application/expression of interest

Interested candidates are invited to submit their CV and a cover letter outlining their interest and related experience to pso@bornontario.ca.

Evaluation criteria

Candidates will be selected based on the highest total evaluated score determined from the qualifications listed above.

Points will be awarded based on the following qualification criteria:

  • Experience providing routine antenatal care. (up to three points)
  • Experience working across a range of practice settings. (up to three points)
  • Other relevant skills and expertise. (up to three points)

The evaluation criteria are weighted to a total of 18 points and include the following:

Overview of evaluation criteria
Evaluation criteriaScoring
Qualification criteria 9
Interview 9
Maximum points available 18