Burn and Frostbite injuries represent two extremes of thermal trauma that can result in significant morbidity, long term disability, and mortality if not managed promptly and effectively. Despite differing mechanisms - heat induced coagulative necrosis in burns and cold - induced cellular injury and microvascular thrombosis in frostbite - both conditions require rapid assessment, early resuscitation, and coordinated multidisciplinary care to optimize outcomes.

This presentation reviews pathophysiology, classification, and current evidence- based management of burns and frostbite injuries across the continuum of care. Key topics include initial assessment of burns, estimation of total body surface area, fluid resuscitation strategies, pain control, wound care and indications for surgical intervention. For Frostbite injuries, emphasis will be focused on rewarming techniques, vasodilators considerations, wound management and prevention of secondary tissue loss.

By integrating current guidelines with practical clinical strategies, this session aims to enhance provider confidence in recognizing, stabilizing and managing thermal injuries, as well as early identification of injuries that potentially might require further referral and specialized care in burn centres. The ultimate goal is to improve patient outcomes in both acute and specialized care environments.

Anaphylaxis is a life threatening hypersensitivity reaction with rapid systemic onset characterized by airway, breathing and circulatory problems associated with skin and mucosal changes and may cause death.1 This reaction occurs when IgE antibodies or direct mast cells are activated causing a sudden release of chemical mediators like histamine from mast cells and basophils.2 Most common causes of anaphylaxis include reactions to foods, insect stings, medications and latex.1 The treatment is solely IM Epinephrine. The purpose of this presentation is to review anaphylaxis by definition, IgE mediated presentations, review treatment and further enhance knowledge about biphasic anaphylaxis for physician assistants.

Biphasic reactions are signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis which can occur up to 12-14 hours after the initial phase of the reaction has waned.3 Biphasic reactions require the same treatment with Epinephrine IM as soon as possible, however, occur through a different pathway. There are mild to severe complications associated with biphasic reactions. Keeping biphasic anaphylaxis in mind is vital for patient safety, observation times after giving the epinephrine dose should be minimum 6-8 hours depending on severity of symptoms.4 This presentation demonstrates using evidence based medicine the appropriate observation time for biphasic anaphylaxis and compares multiple studies and outcomes.

For physician assistants in the critical care role or outpatient primary care, knowledge about anaphylaxis and biphasic reactions is vital given the high mortality and morbidity. With rapid recognition and treatment there is a potential to prevent multiple deaths and/or serious complications.

Neuroplasticity is far more than an interesting neuroscience concept—it is one of the most powerful tools a Physician Assistant can introduce to patient care. It influences how we assess patients, prescribe rehabilitation, educate families, and advocate for recovery after neurological injury. (Don't worry—there won't be a quiz on long-term potentiation...)

This presentation translates the science of neuroplasticity into practical, evidence-based strategies that can be applied immediately in clinical practice. Rather than viewing recovery as something that simply happens with time, participants will learn how purposeful, task-specific interventions can actively shape neural reorganization and maximize functional outcomes.

Participants will explore how key neuroplastic principles—including specificity, repetition, intensity, salience, timing, and meaningful practice—can be integrated into rehabilitation planning, patient education, and everyday clinical decision-making. These concepts will help PAs set realistic yet hopeful expectations, motivate patients to engage in recovery, and reinforce habits that promote lasting functional gains.

The session also highlights the PA's role in interdisciplinary rehabilitation, advocacy, and improving access to timely, evidence-based care. Participants will leave with practical tools they can apply immediately—whether in the emergency department, inpatient unit, outpatient clinic, or community setting—to help patients achieve meaningful improvements in function, independence, and quality of life – truly embodying “Impact in Action.”

After all, while neurons may fire together and wire together, great rehabilitation teams learn together and improve patient outcomes together.

The clinical PA career trajectory typically involves three phases- novice, developing and experienced. For many PAs, once they reach a level of experience and confidence that allows them to function efficiently and comfortably in clinical practice, they begin to wonder about opportunities for career expansion. Canadian PAs have successfully pursued roles in teaching, research, entrepreneurship, management & community outreach. This panel discussion will explore the pathways of impactful PAs and highlight their professional advocacy skills. Panelists will discuss their career advancement journey, challenges they overcame and rewards they achieved by expanding their roles in clinical and nonclinical settings. Attendees will have the opportunity to reflect on their own career development and set strategic goals for growth in an attainable way.

Let's stay up to date on gynecologic topics! In this session we will review what is new in the literature and practice guidelines for obstetric, gynecologic and urogynecologic care. Updates on endometriosis diagnosis guidelines, partner treatment in BV, menopause treatment and much much more. Opportunity for a gynecology "ask me anything" at the end of the presentation to help improve your patient care.

Clinical reasoning is the defining skill of every clinician, yet it often remains invisible—taught implicitly and assumed rather than explicitly modeled. For physician assistants (PAs) supervising learners in real-world practice, the challenge is magnified by time pressures, patient flow, and competing clinical demands. This session explores practical strategies for teaching clinical reasoning without slowing care or overburdening supervisors. Attendees will learn how to recognize and articulate the thought processes behind decision-making, use brief teaching moments effectively, and integrate reflective questioning into routine patient encounters. By making clinical reasoning visible, supervisors can foster learners’ diagnostic skills, improve patient care, and support the development of independent, reflective clinicians—even in high-volume, time-constrained environments. This session is designed for PAs, preceptors, and clinical educators seeking actionable strategies to enhance teaching impact at the bedside.

Navigating the care of a patient receiving dialysis can be intimidating for clinicians, particularly when managing complex medical issues outside of nephrology. Whether practicing in the emergency department, specialty clinic, or primary care setting, physician assistants and other clinicians will encounter patients who depend on dialysis as a life-sustaining therapy. This presentation aims to increase clinicians' confidence in caring for dialysis patients while highlighting the importance of collaboration between nephrology, primary care, and other specialties.

The kidneys perform seven essential functions that maintain homeostasis, and dialysis helps replace several of these functions when kidney function has progressed to end-stage kidney disease. During this presentation, we will explore five of the seven major functions of the kidney and discuss how their loss affects our dialysis population. We will review the role of nephrology in managing patients receiving dialysis and identify common medical issues and interventions that can be addressed by other clinicians.

To provide practical tools for the care of dialysis patients, this presentation will focus on common clinical challenges including hypertension, electrolyte abnormalities, diabetes management, anemia, and Bone mineral metabolism. Review recommendations from the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO), Diabetes Canada, the Canadian Society of Nephrology, and Hypertension Canada. The goal is to equip physician assistants and other clinicians with a practical framework for recognizing and managing common complications of advanced kidney disease while knowing when collaboration with nephrology is essential..

Back by popular demand! Join your colleagues for a fun-filled, delightfully nerdy medical trivia competition. Participants will have the chance work in small groups to demonstrate their knowledge across general and specialized medical topics and review key concepts. This interactive session will be packed with fun, learning and a bit of friendly rivalry.

Urgent care clinicians frequently evaluate high-volume, low-acuity complaints where common diagnoses (“horses”) predominate. However, rare but high-risk conditions (“zebras”) may present with subtle or nonspecific features, creating a risk for missed or delayed diagnosis in fast-paced settings. Recognizing these atypical presentations is critical to improving patient safety and outcomes.

This presentation reviews the management of common urgent care complaints while expanding differential diagnoses to include clinically significant “zebras.” Participants will learn to identify key historical clues, physical exam findings, and red flag symptoms that warrant additional workup or escalation of care. We will define “zebras” in the urgent care context, focusing on conditions that mimic benign presentations yet carry potential for serious morbidity if overlooked.

This topic is highly impactful, as urgent care providers play a pivotal role in early detection of serious illness. Strengthening the ability to recognize when a common complaint may represent a serious diagnosis can reduce diagnostic error, prevent complications, and improve continuity of care. Attendees will gain actionable tools to enhance clinical reasoning and confidently identify “zebras” in everyday practice.

In emergency medicine, the greatest challenge is often not making the diagnosis but deciding what to do next. Determining which conditions require urgent intervention, structured follow-up, or no further escalation is critical to patient safety, resource stewardship, and high-quality care. This session will use a case-based approach to explore common ED diagnoses that create uncertainty in disposition and next-step management. Through practical, high-yield cases — including first seizure, new atrial fibrillation, and selected orthopedic injuries, participants will review evidence-informed management pathways and practical decision thresholds. Emphasis will be placed on recognizing conditions that require immediate action, identifying presentations that can be safely managed with outpatient follow-up, and avoiding unnecessary investigations and referrals. Building on a highly rated session delivered at CAPA 2025, this presentation will provide physician assistants with clear, practical frameworks to navigate uncertainty at the point of care, supporting safer discharges, more efficient use of resources, and improved continuity across care settings.

Pediatric musculoskeletal injuries present unique diagnostic and management challenges, with missed or delayed diagnoses carrying significant consequences for patient outcomes. This session, aligned with the conference theme “ImPAct in Action!”, equips clinicians with practical strategies to recognize, triage, and manage high-yield pediatric cases, including septic arthritis, compartment syndrome, elbow and forearm fractures. It also highlights commonly missed paediatric musculoskeletal injuries, as well as commonly overtreated paediatric injuries.

Participants will explore evidence-informed approaches to radiograph interpretation, emergency management strategies, and immobilization techniques, while emphasizing patient safety and clinical efficiency. The session also highlights the role of the PA Orthopaedic Navigator in optimizing referral pathways from emergency and community providers to fracture clinics, demonstrating a system-level solution that reduces delays, streamlines care, and improves patient outcomes.

By combining clinical pearls, case-based discussion, and practical workflow strategies, attendees will leave prepared to enhance their diagnostic accuracy, implement timely interventions, and integrate collaborative care models into practice. This session showcases impact in action by improving patient care, supporting interprofessional collaboration, and strengthening system efficiency in pediatric fracture management.

A: “In this panel discussion, multiple contestants vie for CAPA glory in a classic game show format.”

Q: “What is JePARODY: OB/ER/PSYCH/???? edition?”

That's right folks, join us for this once in a lifetime event to see Gabe DeMone battle it out with Erin Unger and Katrina Pullia to see who can get to the diagnosis first. Gabe, a lifer in the ED is quick and keen to diagnose fast. Erin, a lifer in gynecology, doesn’t really care about things above the umbilicus or below the knees. Katrina, a lifer in psych, can really tackle social determinants of health, but what about below the collar bone? Watch how they battle to see what the chief complaint might be!

Don’t tell them, but topics will include common abdominopelvic presentations in both the ED and the family medical office. To keep things fun any system is up for grabs so consider this a great (and fun?) review of clinical reasoning. Heckling is not only allowed, but encouraged.

RF, CCP, ANA, dsDNA - what does this mean? As Physician Assistants, we need to recognize when it is appropriate to refer to rheumatology. With more PAs working as first-line providers in primary care and emergency settings, it is increasingly important to recognize how to approach patients presenting with possible inflammatory disease. This session will focus on identifying features of inflammatory pain, reviewing key clinical clues to common rheumatologic disease, and outlining the initial workup for suspected inflammatory arthritis or autoimmune disease. Attendees will also learn what evaluations can be initiated prior to rheumatology referral to facilitate timely diagnosis and management.

Feedback is widely recognized as an essential component of professional growth in both PA education and clinical practice. Most PAs acknowledge its value in developing competence and progressing toward expertise. Yet in day-to-day practice, feedback is often avoided, undervalued, or poorly received. This is not surprising – feedback can be difficult to give and even more difficult to receive, and many PAs have experienced uncomfortable or ineffective feedback moments.

This session aims to demystify the process of giving and receiving feedback by reframing it as a dynamic, relational process rather than a one-way transfer of information. Drawing on current medical education literature, including feedback literacy, coaching models, and psychologically safe learning environments, we will explore best practices for improving feedback in both academic and clinical contexts.

We will develop an appreciation for the psychological responses that feedback can evoke. Understanding these responses can help PAs and learners engage more productively with feedback and enable educators, peers, and supervisors to deliver it in ways that are constructive and well-received. Participants will be introduced to practical strategies, including structured feedback conversations, reflective prompts, and techniques to enhance learner receptivity. Common barriers, such as time constraints and hierarchical dynamics, will also be addressed.

By reframing feedback as an ongoing component of lifelong learning, this session supports more meaningful and effective professional growth.

This session will review ten potentially practice changing articles from the recent literature. The articles are chosen for there relevance and likelhood of chagning current practice.

The Articles are chosen by a team of Academic Physicians from Dalhousie University. The artcles come from acadmeic Journal clubs and trusted sources including; Primary Care Rap, Best Bets, and Peer.

Foot and lower-limb complaints are a frequent reason patients seek primary and urgent care, yet conservative, function-focused management is often fragmented across the system. Canadian Certified Pedorthists are allied healthcare professionals trained in lower-limb anatomy and biomechanics who specialise in assessment, gait analysis, and the design, fitting, and modification of custom foot orthotics, orthopaedic footwear, and related interventions. As collaborative members of the healthcare team, Pedorthists routinely work alongside physicians, nurse practitioners, and other providers to support mobility, reduce pain, and help patients maintain healthy, active lives.

This session aims to strengthen awareness, referral confidence, and interprofessional advocacy for pedorthic care within the broader healthcare community. Attendees will leave with a practical collaboration framework: when pedorthic referral is most helpful, what to include in prescriptions and shared documentation, and how orthotics, footwear, and therapeutic modifications can complement medical management plans. The session will also address common barriers (patient expectations, access, and coverage discussions) and provide language to support patient-centred, team-based decision-making.

Genetics is increasingly relevant across all areas of clinical practice. This session will provide Physician Assistants with a practical refresher on core genetics concepts, including genetic testing, pharmacogenetic testing, common indications for referral to genetics, and strategies for communication genetics concepts to patients. Participants will also be introduced to Ontario Health resources and guidance documents that support appropriate genetic testing and referral decisions. Attendees will leave with practical tools to confidently incorporate genetics into everyday patient care..

Quality improvement (QI) in healthcare is the method by which we continuously identify, investigate and address issues in our healthcare system to ultimately enhance patient safety, increase quality of care and improve our system. Physician Assistants (PAs) hold a unique position that is able to identify inefficiencies in practices, advocate for safe and high quality care and lead teams towards positive change. As such, PAs are well suited to lead and participate in QI work. However, engaging in it can sometimes be a daunting task when the terminology and tools may be unfamiliar and our time is limited. At the end of this session, attendees will recognize the role that PAs can play as QI champions and be empowered with the knowledge and tools to do so. Using a mix of didactic and hands on teaching and learning approaches, participants will be introduced to key concepts and values in QI. They will explore foundational methodologies and tools that are used in QI. They will be able to begin to apply these tools to real-world challenges, including challenges they may face in their own environments and consider ways that they can initiate, lead and support QI work as part of their practice.

More information Coming Soon.