Scientific program and educational objectives

Chania, Crete
May 17 to 20, 2027

Multidisciplinary Clinical Update : Rheumatology, Hematopathology, Psychiatry, Geriatrics and Medico-Legal Issues

Target audience: English-speaking family physicians and specialists

Scientific registration fee

  • Physicians and other professionals : 595 $ 
  • Resident : 150 $

This fee is payable only by the person requesting the attendance certificate. Spouses and accompanying persons may attend the talks at no additional cost. Accommodation must be booked through Cameleo CME. 

While we don’t expect the scientific program to change, we reserve the right to modify it as needed. 

For questions about a reservation or accommodations, please follow this link to the event or call 1-800-590-5995.

General learning objectives
By the end of this program, participants will be able to :

  • Assess and manage common rheumatological pathologies in primary care and determine when a referral is needed.
  • Apply key principles of hematopathology including the interpretation of peripheral blood smears and bone marrow/lymphoma pathology reports, the appropriate use of ancillary diagnostic tests, and the integration of digital pathology and AI into clinical practice.
  • Critically appraise how the legal standard of care — including the erosion of causation as a defence and the emerging expectations surrounding artificial intelligence — diverges from the evidence-based standard of care, and apply practical strategies that protect sound clinical judgment, defensible documentation and the physician-patient relationship.
  • Apply an individualized, evidence-informed approach to the assessment and management of major depressive disorder, taking into account antidepressant pharmacology, medical and psychiatric comorbidities, and clinical features such as irritability and anger to optimize patient outcomes.
  • Apply a structured office-based approach to cognitive, ethical and mobility issues in older adults, and develop individualized management plans grounded in frailty, capacity and functional safety.

Monday May 17, 2027

8:45 a.m to 9:00 a.m 
Welcome & Introduction

9:00 a.m to 10:00 a.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Defensive Medicine – Does the legal standard of care have an impact on the practice of medicine?
Mr. Darryl Cruz
Lawyer & Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Describe how the legal standard of care is established by courts and regulatory bodies, and distinguish it from the evidence-based standard derived from the scientific method.
  • Analyze how landmark court decisions and disciplinary rulings have modified clinical practice guidelines, including cases where the resulting change was not supported by sufficient data.
  • Identify defensive practices in their own clinical routine (over-investigation, over-referral, over-documentation) and assess their impact on patient outcomes, resource use and physician workload.


10:00 a.m to 11:00 a.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Practice of Medicine – Does it meet the standard of care?
Mr. Darryl Cruz
Lawyer & Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Assess whether the use — or the non-use — of AI clinical tools satisfies the legal standard of care and distinguish between AI as a decision-support adjunct and AI as a substitute for independent clinical judgment.
  • Examine the discoverability and disclosure risks associated with AI chat logs, prompts and outputs, and determine which documentation, retention and consent practices reduce medical-legal exposure.
  • Anticipate the medical-legal implications of patients using AI to self-diagnose, seek treatment or challenge care decisions, and apply communication strategies that address AI-generated information while preserving the therapeutic relationship.

 

11:00 a.m to 11:15 a.m : Break

11:15 a.m to 12:15 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
The Decline of Causation
Mr. Darryl Cruz
Lawyer & Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Define causation as a constitutive element of the legal test for negligence and differentiate it from breach of the standard of care and from damages.
  • Examine current jurisprudential and doctrinal trends that dilute the causation requirement, and explain how these trends shift physicians toward the role of guarantors of patient outcomes.
  • Anticipate the clinical and documentation consequences of a weakened causation defence and formulate measures that preserve a defensible record of clinical reasoning.

     

12:15 p.m to 1:45 p.m : Group lunch (included for everyone) 

1:45 p.m to 2:45 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Interpretation of Peripheral Blood Smear Findings in Primary Care: Clinical Relevance of Common Terminology
Rosemarie Tremblay-LeMay, MD
Hematopathologist, University Health Network, Ontario
Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Define common terms used in peripheral blood smear reporting.
  • Understand the clinical meaning of frequently reported smear findings and identify smear abnormalities that warrant urgent investigation or specialist referral.
  • Integrate smear findings with CBC parameters and clinical context to refine differential diagnosis.


2:45 p.m to 3:45 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Interpretation of Bone Marrow and Lymphoma Pathology Reports: Essential Terms and Ancillary Diagnostic Tests
Rosemarie Tremblay-LeMay, MD
Hematopathologist, University Health Network, Ontario
Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Describe the core elements of bone marrow and lymphoma pathology reports.
  • Explain the purpose and limitations of common ancillary tests including flow cytometry, karyotype, FISH, PCR, and NGS in lymphoma and bone marrow workups.


3:45 p.m to 4:00 p.m : Break

4:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Digital Pathology in Clinical Practice: Principles, Workforce Impact, Global Collaboration, and AI Applications
Rosemarie Tremblay-LeMay, MD
Hematopathologist, University Health Network, Ontario
Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Describe the general principles of digital pathology, including whole-slide imaging, digital slide management, and how digitized material is used in routine practice.
  • Identify the ways digital pathology can reshape pathology workforce organization, such as subspecialty coverage, workload distribution, remote sign-out, and collaboration across sites.
  • Recognize the main ways digital pathology enables AI applications, and the impact this may have on pathology clinical workflows, research and education.

Tuesday May 18, 2027

8:45 a.m to 9:45 a.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Diagnosis and management of cognitive disorders
Robert Lam, MD
Care of the Elderly and Family Physician
Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Recognize the clinical features of delirium, and apply an approach to its diagnosis and management.
  • Differentiate normal aging, subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild neurocognitive disorder (mild cognitive impairment – MCI) and major neurocognitive disorder (dementia), and select the office-based tests that can be used to assess cognitive, visuospatial and executive function.
  • Distinguish Alzheimer’s disease from other types of dementia on the basis of their clinical features.
  • Apply both non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic management strategies to the different types of dementia.


9:45 a.m to 10:45 a.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Geriatric ethics: levels of therapeutic care, obtaining do not resuscitate confirmation from patients and capacity assessment
Robert Lam, MD
Care of the Elderly and Family Physician
Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Develop medical management plans that incorporate level of frailty, biological (rather than chronological) age and life expectancy.
  • Complete do not resuscitate confirmation forms for your older adult patients.
  • Assess a patient’s capacity in the domain of medical “personal care” decision making using the ACE tool, and develop a plan when financial “property” capacity assessment is requested by a third party.
  • Identify the office-based test findings which would suggest that a cognitively impaired patient is unsafe to drive and determine when mandatory reporting to the Ministry of Transportation is required.


10:45 a.m to 11:00 a.m : Break

11:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Movement disorders in older adults: differential diagnosis and basic therapy
Robert Lam, MD
Care of the Elderly and Family Physician
Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Diagnose and manage Parkinson disease.
  • Differentiate Parkinson disease from the “Parkinson Plus” diagnoses of DLB, MSA (P&C), PSP, CBD (CBS) on the basis of their clinical features.
  • Perform a gait and balance assessment and prescribe the appropriate gait aid (examples are a single point cane or a rollator walker).
  • Develop an approach to gait disorders and falls in your older adult patients

Wednesday May 19, 2027

8:45 a.m to 9:45 a.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Individualized antidepressant therapy in patients with major depressive disorder
Toba Oluboka, MD
Psychiatry Emergency Service/Psychiatric Outreach Response Team
Consultant Psychiatrist, Addiction and Mental Health, South Health Campus, Alberta Health Services
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • To explain why one size does not fit all in the management of depression.
  • Differentiate the pharmacology of various antidepressants.
  • Evaluate how individualizing treatment in depression can improve functional outcomes.
  • Introduce a novel evidence-informed decision support tool for prescribers.


9:45 a.m to 10:45 a.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Major Depressive Disorder with Medical and Psychiatric Comorbidities: Clinical and Management Implications
Toba Oluboka, MD
Psychiatry Emergency Service/Psychiatric Outreach Response Team
Consultant Psychiatrist, Addiction and Mental Health, South Health Campus, Alberta Health Services
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Review the bidirectionality between MDD and comorbid medical conditions.
  • Review the impact of psychiatric comorbidities in the management of MDD.
  • Develop a treatment approach for MDD patients with comorbidities.


10:45 a.m to 11:00 a.m : Break

11:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Clinical Implications of Irritability and Anger in MDD
Toba Oluboka, MD
Psychiatry Emergency Service/Psychiatric Outreach Response Team
Consultant Psychiatrist, Addiction and Mental Health, South Health Campus, Alberta Health Services
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Understand the pathophysiological underpinnings of anger and irritability in MDD.
  • Review the clinical implication of Anger and Irritability in the longitudinal outcome of MDD.
  • Discuss the clinical management approaches in this patient population with emphasis on pharmacotherapy.

Thursday May 20, 2027

1:45 p.m to 2:45 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Rheumatology essentials for primary care physicians
Jean-Philip Deslauriers, MD
Rheumatologist, Chaleur Regional Hospital, Bathurst, New-Brunswick
Clinical teaching professor at Sherbrooke University

A review of clinical cases involving monoarthritis, polyarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Raynaud’s and polymyalgia rheumatica

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Select and interpret paraclinical tests using common scenarios in clinical practice.
  • Develop treatment plans for each of these scenarios.
  • Determine when to make rheumatology referrals.


2:45 p.m to 3:45 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Diagnosis and management of microcrystalline arthropathy (gout, pseudogout, hydroxyapatite)
Jean-Philip Deslauriers, MD
Rheumatologist, Chaleur Regional Hospital, Bathurst, New-Brunswick
Clinical teaching professor at Sherbrooke University

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Recognize the symptoms specific to these diseases.
  • Investigate cases appropriately.
  • Explain the basics of treating microcrystalline arthropathy.
  • Determine when a rheumatology referral is needed.


3:45 p.m to 4:00 p.m : Break

4:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m (including a 15-minute period question)
Diagnostic approach to inflammatory arthropathy and updated treatment guidelines for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis
Jean-Philip Deslauriers, MD
Rheumatologist, Chaleur Regional Hospital, Bathurst, New-Brunswick
Clinical teaching professor at Sherbrooke University

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to :

  • Differentiate between arthritis and osteoarthritis.
  • Use a structured diagnostic approach to correctly identify the type of arthritis.
  • Explain the basics of treating autoimmune arthritis.
Members of the scientific committee and collaborators
  • Gilles Brousseau, family physician, Gatineau, QC – scientific director
  • Maxime Britt-Côté, family physician, Ottawa, ON
  • Dimitrios Divaris, anatomopathology, Waterloo, ON
  • Jacinthe Lampron, general surgeon, University of Ottawa
  • Monica Rusu, family physician, Port Coquitlam, BC
  • Jade Séguin, pediatrician, Montreal, QC