News

2025 Virtual Webinar Series: Rheumatology for Primary Care

Provider

University of Ottawa’s Office of Continuing Professional Development

The Webinar series clarifies the rheumatology referral process, provides information on community-based resources for arthritis care, and outlines when to order common rheumatology labs and how to interpret their results.  Incorporates participant questions (collected before each session) about patients in their practice in order to ensure each session is as relevant and useful to the audience as possible. The...

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Changes to CHEO Phlebotomy Services, New Form Required for Children with Specialized Needs

Starting December 1, 2024, CHEO’s blood work services are changing, with a new required exception form for some referrals. Below is an overview of the updated policy to guide you when referring patients to CHEO for blood work. 

Children under five years old 

• Children under five can be referred to CHEO for blood work with a standard requisition from a health care provider. 

Children five years and older with special medical requirements, accompanied by an exception...

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HIV and STI testing updates

Updated Testing Algorithm for HIV Diagnostic Serology

The Public Health Ontario Laboratory (PHOL) testing algorithm for HIV Diagnostic Serology was updated in September 2024.

In Ontario, any HIV diagnostic serology samples that screen reactive undergo confirmatory testing. A confirmatory antibody test is performed first, and if positive, results are reported as positive. If the confirmatory antibody test is negative, indeterminate, or untypable, specimens now undergo HIV-1/HIV-2 PCR testing. HIV...

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Online CME: Ongoing Registration for 2SLGBTQ Foundations and more, Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO)

Provider

Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO), a program of Sherbourne Health.

Foundations RHO remains the only government-funded program in Canada dedicated to improving 2SLGBTQ health outcomes. 2SLGBTQ communities face specific health challenges and barriers to accessing care. RHO offers training for healthcare and social service providers to increase their clinical and cultural competency in caring for their 2SLGBTQ service users.

• Online, always available: 2SLGBTQ...

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Professional Resources & Development Opportunities

1. Influenza and Respiratory Infection Surveillance Resources 2024-25, Public Health Ontario (PHO), variety of new and updated resources, including:
   • Update to the Ontario Respiratory Virus Tool (ORVT) to provide more comprehensive data on respiratory virus activity in Ontario for the 2024-2025 season (updated weekly on Fridays at 11:30 a.m., with data up until the previous Saturday)
   • Updated Integrated Respiratory Virus Risk Indicators surveillance report.
   • New best-practice resource, developed by the...
     
     

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