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Second Edition - October 2014
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FAMILY DOCTOR EDUCATION AND NETWORKING
The first two Continuing Medical Education (CME) events on prenatal care (May 8) and postpartum care (June 19) were both a resounding success! Both events were booked to capacity well in advance and received high evaluation scores from participants. A second prenatal care event was offered on September 18.
In collaboration with UBC's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) department, the Maternity Committee is applying for ethics approval to provide data from Perinatal Services BC (PSBC) to doctors participating in the October CME on genetic screening. This data would include the number and type of genetic screening tests ordered in comparison to industry benchmarks.
BUILDING A NETWORK OF MATERNITY CARE PROVIDERS The Maternity Care "cheat sheets" that first circulated locally in February before being shared provincially by PSBC in May, have now received national attention. The Committee is providing support to adapt the "cheat sheets" for use by the Reproductive Care Program of Nova Scotia. The first edition of the Maternity Care Provider Network List was circulated to members participating in the May and June CME events to facilitate referrals to Family Doctors providing maternity care. While evaluation is still ongoing, future considerations for management and the sharing of this list will be discussed on an ongoing basis at Committee meetings. Please contact Mike Rowlands at mrowlands@divisionsbc.ca for more information.
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MEMBERSHIP PROJECTS
The Membership Committee works tirelessly to develop and implement new projects and programs that are propelled by the needs and ideas of its members. It's those ideas that have resulted in the recent development of two projects to help Vancouver's Family Doctors.
 1) The VDoFP Clinical Dropbox Tool (originally pitched by Dr. Daniel Ngui through the VDoFP's Doctors' Den Program), now has more than 200 active users. The Committee recently sent a Dropbox Tool update, which includes new forms, resources, and referral forms for doctors. Content in the tool is consistently updated by member contributions, which keeps content up-to-date and relevant. 2) The CME Doctor's Lounge Series is another significant component of our work these last few months. The Series aims to create, enhance, and master family doctor networking, mentorship, and knowledge exchange. On August 6th, 2014, more than 40 VDoFP members attended the "Sync. Download. Save. Helping Doctors Become Techies" event. This event was an interactive workshop where VDoFP members led discussions and shared their technology expertise. The Committee is hosting another similar event on December 3rd. Anyone interested in attending can register through FastFacts or by contacting Halla Elmobayad. For more information click here.
ANNUAL VDOFP OPEN HOUSE
 On July 15th, the Membership Committee also hosted their annual VDoFP Open House. Members, community partners, stakeholders, and staff attended the all-day event to network and learn more about our work. It was also a great opportunity for members to connect with our staff and engage in conversations about the VDoFP.
INTERACTIVE LEARNING SESSION
The Membership Committee, in partnership with the Practice Support Program (PSP) and the UBC Division of Continuing Professional Development (UBC CPD), offered part 1 of the Insulin Initiation & Management for Type 2 Diabetes in Family Practice program on October 7th. The October 7th session was the first of two interactive learning sessions that are separated by an eight-week action period. The team of expert presenters includes Dr. Bob Bluman (Family Doctor), Dr. Breay Paty (Endocrinologist), Ms. Anar Dossa (Pharmacist), and Ms. Patty Phillips (Diabetes Nurse Clinician). The program is designed to improve a Family Doctor's level of comfort when caring for diabetic patients who use, or are considering using, insulin. The session was full and a great success.
For more information about this event, or any other Membership Committee activities, please contact Halla Elmobayad.
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PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY
The last quarter was very active for the Continuity of Care Committee (CCC). The Committee successfully delivered its pre-feasibility study and recommendations to pursue implementation of the Pathways project, which now has its own Leadership Team. The CCC will continue providing strategic input towards the project in the following ways:
- Pathways Data Collection: participating in discussion with the Pathways Leadership Team and providing ideas for approaching Specialist groups to join the project
- Pathways & Engagement: offering ways to collaborate with Pathways engagement
TELEMEDICINE
 The CCC is exploring the issue of telemedicine and its impact on Family Doctors and the Triple Aim (the best care, for the whole population, at the lowest cost). The Ministry of Health is currently conducting an assessment on how this technology should be integrated into the healthcare system. To support the VDoFP, the CCC is preparing a white paper that will review available literature on the impact of telemedicine.
NEW PROJECTS
The CCC continues to participate in a variety of health authority projects. In fact, Providence Health has asked the CCC to participate in two new projects. One addresses Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) re-admissions, and the other looks at polypharmacy. Both allow the CCC to continue to build relationships with healthcare partners to advance the goal of improving the patient's journey through the healthcare system.
Please contact Brian Rowland at browland@divisionsbc.ca for more information.
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"...we want to connect the physicians who do deliveries, with those who are seeking to refer their patients if they do not do deliveries themselves."
- Dr. James Lai, Primary Maternity Care Network Committee
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EMERGENCY CARE JOURNEY REVIEW
The Mental Health Committee Division members and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority are committed to enhancing the mental health system of care in Vancouver through a variety of projects, including the Emergency Care journey from home to Family Doctor to hospital. The Committee is currently looking at the journey to develop a better path for patients. A new Outpatient Shared Care Model is being developed and trialed within VDoFP with the hiring of a behavioural health consultant. This model will help stabilize patients and will provide quick access to services for appropriate treatment.
E-MENTAL HEALTH ONLINE PROGRAM
The Internet is being used as an interactive tool for E-Mental Health online therapy at VGH Psychiatry. Patients can complete coursework with on-site staff support and can continue using the online tools once they are back in the community. The Hub helps provide access to information, diagnostic tools, and psychological treatments for patients with depression and anxiety.
NEW ACUTE BEHAVIOURAL STABILIZATION UNIT AT ST. PAUL'S HOSPITAL
The Committee has supported the new St. Paul's Hospital's outpatient Acute Behavioural Stabilization Unit (ABSU), located in the emergency department. The Committee recently toured the new Mental Health Wellness clinic, which is designed to offer shared care, outpatient referral, reproductive psychiatry, and internal hospital referrals. ABSU provides specialized care for patients who come to the emergency department with serious and complex mental illness and/or addiction with functional impairment. This includes the severely addicted and mentally ill population (SAMI). The ABSU is the first unit of its kind in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
Please contact Debbie Clyne at dclyne@divisionsbc.ca for more information.
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"That's one of the big pluses of Family Practice - we get to see our patients over time and get to know them pretty well."
Dr. James Lai, Primary Maternity Care Network Committee
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RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI) FOR FAMILY DOCTORS
The main priority of the IT Committee is to provide Vancouver physicians with the best value and greatest ROI for their Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). The IT Committee continues to coordinate a number of initiatives that will assist and support the use of EMRs. Recently, the Committee held a
 workshop on Family Doctor EMR investments and how it relates to data quality and standards. The September 17th workshop, titled "Optimizing Your EMR Investment", allowed all 28 participants exchanged tips on how to efficiently use the EMR software. Additional Committee initiatives include: - Train the Trainer: preparing a program proposal that provides support for Medical Office Assistants (MOAs) through EMR-specific user groups
- EMR Communications: improving communication materials to provide additional information about EMRs to members, while working collaboratively with other Committees at VDoFP
- Pathways: supporting the Pathways project (for additional info on Pathways, click here)
WE NEED YOUR INPUT: SURVEY
To better gauge a Family Doctor's needs and appropriately craft our learning sessions, the IT Committee has developed a survey and your input would be invaluable. To participate in the survey, click here.
OSCAR USER GROUP LEADS
After a well-deserved rest over the summer, our regular EMR User Groups (MedAccess, Intrahealth, and Wolf) are in full swing again. These meetings allow us to welcome both new and experienced users. The response to these sessions has been positive with increased attendance at recent meetings. However, we need a minimum of eight members in attendance to continue to hold these sessions. There have been a few meetings that have been cancelled due to poor registration. Please send us your feedback here so we can enhance these EMR sessions.
We are looking to recruit Oscar User Group Leads (a doctor who can lead the development and facilitation of the Oscar EMR user group sessions with the support of VDoFP staff and will be remunerated for their time). To register for our next group, contact Marcel Bosio.
If you are passionate about IT, we want you on our Committee. Contact Satnam Sekhon.
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MENTORSHIP PROGRAM UPDATE
The Residential Care Committee is happy to announce three of the five participating mentor pairs have now completed the Mentorship Program and the feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. This project
has introduced new Family Doctors to residential care work and assisted several others nearing retirement through succession planning and finding care for some of their residential patients.
HOME HOSPICE PROGRAM
The Residential Care Committee has been working closely with the Practice Support Program (PSP) and Vancouver Coastal Health's Home Hospice program to develop a PSP-type module on Palliative Care in Residential Care Facilities. This program was launched in September following strong interest from residential care providers. It targets leading Family Doctors in Residential Care and will support specific palliative improvement projects for these facilities.
ENHANCED HOUSE PHYSICIAN
 The Residential Care Committee has sent out initial emails to physicians within selected residential care facilities to gauge participation interest for the Committee's Enhanced House Physician Network Pilot project. This aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using an "enhanced house physician model" in the hopes of increasing interest and entry into residential care work. The project will also analyze the effects of leadership and initial funding as key factors in attracting a group of Family Doctors to form a supportive house physician network.
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"Our CME events, like our committee, were formed on advisement of our members. The response and the feedback has been really great."
Dr. James Lai
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The VDoFP will be introducing Pathways, a web-based resource for Family Doctors and MOAs that facilitates optimal patient referrals to Specialists. Pathways was created for doctors by doctors in the Fraser Northwest Division where it has been successfully piloted. Should the pilot in Vancouver be a success, the goal is for province-wide implementation. Family Doctors and Specialists agree that Pathways solves many of the issues formerly experienced with the referral process. Family Doctors can find the right Specialist with only a few clicks of the mouse, resulting in dramatic time savings. Specialists can indicate what they are most interested in seeing and what they do not see or do, thus improving the appropriateness of referrals.
The Division has hired JTJ Consulting Inc. to manage the project. The JTJ team consists of Stephen Torrence, Karen Golden and Michelle Harding and the Leadership Team is composed of Dr. Terry Chang, Dr. Fiona Duncan, Cheryl Hogg and Stephen Torrence. JTJ also participates in the Pathways User Group along with Dr. Fiona Duncan, the Division GP representative.
 With the largest population of physicians in BC, the usefulness of Pathways to all users depends on obtaining complete, accurate data. Our goal is to register 70% of both Family Doctors and Specialists and have the system operational in Vancouver by March 31, 2015. On August 25th, three MOAs will join the team. In early September the team contacted Specialists in Vancouver. The MOAs identify themselves as JTJ Consulting associates and quickly and accurately collect data that will be used to populate Pathways. Once the Specialist data collection is fully underway Family Doctors enrolment will commence. The Division membership will be kept updated on the Pathways pilot. Information will appear regularly in FastFacts. A Pathways page has also been added to the VDoFP website and JTJ has begun to communicate about Pathways via Twitter: @JTJConsulting Please contact Stephen Torrence at 604.992.2594 or info@jtjconsulting.ca for more information. He welcomes all inquiries. |
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