Phoenix Medical Practice now has its own YouTube channel. This lets us provide videos for our patients. For example, we have a favourites list of health promotion videos from the excellent NHS Choices website.
Also, we will be adding links to health education videos for patients who are having tests or proceedures, such as the Animated Medicine presentation on Bowel Cancer Screening.
April 22, 2011
April 17, 2011
Health PEI Primary Care Networks
Unfortunately, I can't find anything on Health PEI's website to link to. However, Health PEI was presenting its view for the future of primary care in PEI. There were over 100 professionals present at the Stanley Bridge Resort, including family doctors, nurses, other health professionals, and administrators.
Deborah Bradley, Executive Director of Community Hospitals and Primary Health Care, and her colleagues - including Dr Richard Wedge, Executive Director of Medical Affairs, and a brief visit by Keith Dewar, Chief Executive Officer - talked about the type of service they wish to see in PEI.
Health PEI would like to see modern, collaborative health care provided by teams of professionals - doctors, nurses, and other health care workers - working together to provide the best care to the patient. They listed the keys to good health care as being equality, quality, efficiency, and sustainability. If this sounds familiar to our patients, it's because Health PEI's was describing the Phoenix Medical Practice. They even based their key factors on our motto: equality, quality, accessibility, sustainability.
The Phoenix Medical Practice was the only fee-for-service medical team to attend the conference. We were also the largest contingent, with 12 members of the team attending including our management team. Talking to other delegates there, the recurring comments from doctors and nurses present was that they had heard this all before many times but that they were no closer to achieving these ends in reality. Several family doctors commented that there was no mention of how Health PEI was going to implement this model of care.
This is the key problem facing Health PEI: they know what health care should look like, but they don't know how to get there. There was indeed no mention of a blueprint for developing this service, there was no mention of a timetable, and no talk of implementation. It has been at least 10 years since PEI's health managers first started talking about collaborative models of primary care, and to date we have seen almost no progress towards this model.
Another interesting point is that collaborative care, which is what we practice in the Phoenix Medical Practice, involves a team of professionals working together closely in a community medical center. Health PEI's planned primary care networks are actually an example of 'co-operative care' in which professionals work together separately towards a similar goal. Co-operative care is less complex to set up but is also less efficient and less effective than collaborative care.
Finally, the fact that we were the only fee-for-service unit represented is a worrying sign. Half of patients in PEI are served by fee-for-service doctors. If they are not engaged in the modernisation process, then clearly the plan will fail at it's first key test: equality.
So Health PEI has many challenges to face before modern primary care will be widespread in PEI:
1. It has to move from the planning stage of the development cycle to the implementation stage
2. It has to engage its own front line staff in the change process. We noted that the great majority of professionals attending the conference were not engaged and did not think the process of change would happen.
3. It needs to get physicians using a Electronic Medical Record that has the required 'high architecture' features. The current systems - Deltaware's iCore and Cerner - both lack these key features and are not suitable for collaborative care or for quality and outcomes measurement.
4. It has to engage the fee-for-service physicians in the process of change.
5. It has to resist the temptation to re-invent the wheel: PEI is a tiny province and does not have the skills or knowledge base to invent something as complex as this. Far better to take what is already working elsewhere and tweak it so it works here.
The good news is that Health PEI now has a powerful ally in the Phoenix Medical Practice. We are already where Health PEI would like to be, and we have a large team with the training, experience, and skills to implement change. We are also busy building the necessary infrastructure for that change to be possible:
1. We have implemented a high architecture electronic medical record (OSCAR), which is an essential part of quality care delivery and measurement.
2. We have implemented training programs for the key professionals - nurses and receptionists - and we have access to training programs for the other key groups: doctors and managers.
3. We have built a network of guidelines to allow other professionals to safely and effectively work collaboratively with family doctors.
4. We are building links with the other key stakeholders: for example UPEI for RN training, Holland College for LPN and medical receptionist training.
We are therefore offering to use our unique capabilities to help Health PEI implement the changes that it views as essential to the future of health care on PEI. By using the Phoenix Medical Practice as an example of what can be achieved in PEI we can dispel the commonly held view that improving health care delivery in PEI is not possible. By providing tours of our facility to doctors, nurses, politicians, and managers we are able to let them see what their modern health care system will look like. By offering training sessions and clinical placements to doctors, nurses, managers, and office staff we will be able to spread to other parts of PEI the necessary skills and experience which are currently lacking.
The future of health care in Prince Edward Island is already here. We just need to use the skills and training that we already have to spread that future around the province. The success of the Phoenix Medical Practice is therefore central to the success of health care in PEI.
April 7, 2011
Dr Shirin Majdi Zadeh to train as Family Doctor in Baltimore
We are delighted to announce that Shirin, one of our Health Care Technicians, has been accepted into a family practice residency program in Baltimore.
Many of our patients will know Shirin from her work in the practice.
Shirin trained as an M.D. in Tehran, Iran, and moved to PEI with her husband in 2009 as part of the Provincial Nominee Program. As an International Medical Graduate (IMG), Shirin was not licensed to practice medicine in Canada. She therefore joined the Phoenix Medical Practice as a Health Care Technician while she was applying for a family practice training program in the U.S. She has been in the U.S. attending interviews since December.
We have just heard that she has been accepted into a Family Practice Residency Program in Baltimore. She wanted to do her Family Practice residency program in Canada, but it is almost impossible to get on a Canadian training program. It's a national disgrace that 75% of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) moving to Canada will never be able to practice medicine here. It is hard enough for poorer countries to lose valuable resources such as highly-trained physicians, but for Canada to simply throw those physicians on the scrap heap is barbaric.
One problem IMGs face is that it takes them several years of taking expensive examinations in Canada before they can apply for a license, but when they apply they are told they have spent too long away from clinical work to be considered. Our Health Care Technician program is designed to overcome that problem: IMGs are able to be productive working in a clinical environment by carrying out clinical tasks that do not require a medical license. Shirin reports that her interviewers showed a lot of interest in her experience working in our modern collaborative medical practice. This helped her successfully fight off stiff competition for the training post.
We wish Shirin and her husband all the best in their move, and we would like to thank her from all of the staff and patients for her hard work and dedication during her time with the Phoenix Medical Practice.
Many of our patients will know Shirin from her work in the practice.
Shirin trained as an M.D. in Tehran, Iran, and moved to PEI with her husband in 2009 as part of the Provincial Nominee Program. As an International Medical Graduate (IMG), Shirin was not licensed to practice medicine in Canada. She therefore joined the Phoenix Medical Practice as a Health Care Technician while she was applying for a family practice training program in the U.S. She has been in the U.S. attending interviews since December.
We have just heard that she has been accepted into a Family Practice Residency Program in Baltimore. She wanted to do her Family Practice residency program in Canada, but it is almost impossible to get on a Canadian training program. It's a national disgrace that 75% of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) moving to Canada will never be able to practice medicine here. It is hard enough for poorer countries to lose valuable resources such as highly-trained physicians, but for Canada to simply throw those physicians on the scrap heap is barbaric.
One problem IMGs face is that it takes them several years of taking expensive examinations in Canada before they can apply for a license, but when they apply they are told they have spent too long away from clinical work to be considered. Our Health Care Technician program is designed to overcome that problem: IMGs are able to be productive working in a clinical environment by carrying out clinical tasks that do not require a medical license. Shirin reports that her interviewers showed a lot of interest in her experience working in our modern collaborative medical practice. This helped her successfully fight off stiff competition for the training post.
We wish Shirin and her husband all the best in their move, and we would like to thank her from all of the staff and patients for her hard work and dedication during her time with the Phoenix Medical Practice.
April 2, 2011
We'll be at the LPN Nursing Association Spring Conference
The Phoenix Medical Practice is at the cutting edge of modern primary care in Prince Edward Island and the Maritimes.Our Nursing Team are at the center of our drive to improve patient care in the province. We have three Licenced Practical Nurses (LPNs) in our nursing team. They are working to their full scope of practice which is allowing us to deliver higher quality care to our patients than has every been seen before in Prince Edward Island. Dozens of lives will be saved over the next 5 years, largely due to the hard work, dedication, training, and skill of these nurses.
So we are delighted that Dr Coull has been asked to speak at the LPN Spring Conference this year on behalf of the Phoenix Medical Practice about Primary Care Nursing. The Phoenix Medical Practice will also have a stall at the conference, and we hope to be able to meet and talk to as many LPNs as possible on the day.
You can download the slides from Dr Coull's talk "LPNs and Primary Care Nursing" here.
March 29, 2011
Phoenix Medical Practice Diabetes Care saving lives
Diabetes is a disease on the rise. As we live longer, with a poor diet and lack of exercise, more and more of us will become diabetic.
The Phoenix Medical Practice has a unique capability in PEI: we can use our cutting edge electronic medical record to search for diabetics and follow them up closely. This means that our Diabetes Nurse, can easily find out which of her patients have not been attending their follow up appointments. Of course, having our own Diabetes Nurse in the practice means that our diabetic patients get a fantastic service. The Practice Nurse and Medical Team work closely together under one roof. This means great communication and great care.
The main test for how well a diabetic is doing is the HbA1c test. This test measures the average sugar in your blood over the last 3 months. We know from research that the higher your HbA1c, the higher your chances of dying. Patients with a higher HbA1c are almost twice as likely to die over a 5 year period than patients with a good HbA1c.
Another capability we have is the ability to look at how well we are doing now or in the past. Our electronic medical record means that we can search in seconds for the average HbA1c from 18 months ago. It was 8.2. Another search for a year ago shows it had fallen to 7.85. A third search shows that our average HbA1c is 7.7 today.
This means that over the last 18 months we have reduced their chance of dying over the next 5 years by as much as 25%. Not only does this mean that our patients are going to live longer and be healthy longer, but they will be getting admitted to hospital less which means taxpayer's health dollars can be spent better.
We're really proud of the hard work of the whole team - from the receptionists who enter this data into the computers, to the nurses who encourage and educate patients, to the patients who are working hard to keep themselves healthy.
Congratulations and keep up the good work!
The Phoenix Medical Practice has a unique capability in PEI: we can use our cutting edge electronic medical record to search for diabetics and follow them up closely. This means that our Diabetes Nurse, can easily find out which of her patients have not been attending their follow up appointments. Of course, having our own Diabetes Nurse in the practice means that our diabetic patients get a fantastic service. The Practice Nurse and Medical Team work closely together under one roof. This means great communication and great care.
The main test for how well a diabetic is doing is the HbA1c test. This test measures the average sugar in your blood over the last 3 months. We know from research that the higher your HbA1c, the higher your chances of dying. Patients with a higher HbA1c are almost twice as likely to die over a 5 year period than patients with a good HbA1c.
Another capability we have is the ability to look at how well we are doing now or in the past. Our electronic medical record means that we can search in seconds for the average HbA1c from 18 months ago. It was 8.2. Another search for a year ago shows it had fallen to 7.85. A third search shows that our average HbA1c is 7.7 today.
This means that over the last 18 months we have reduced their chance of dying over the next 5 years by as much as 25%. Not only does this mean that our patients are going to live longer and be healthy longer, but they will be getting admitted to hospital less which means taxpayer's health dollars can be spent better.
We're really proud of the hard work of the whole team - from the receptionists who enter this data into the computers, to the nurses who encourage and educate patients, to the patients who are working hard to keep themselves healthy.
Congratulations and keep up the good work!
February 5, 2011
New! Clinical Services Development Manager: Liz Sajdak
We're delighted to announce we have appointed Liz Sajdak as Phoenix Medical Practice's new Clinical Services Development Manager.
The Clinical Services Development Manager is responsible for helping develop and run our primary care services. She will assist with the recruitment of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to our primary care team and liases with other services such as Health PEI and other health agencies.
Liz Sajdak trained as an RN in the UK and worked as a Health Visitor in England. She spent several years working as a National Health Service manager in the UK before moving to PEI. After moving to PEI she spent a year working for Health PEI developing clinical services for the province.
Currently Liz is working on helping us to roll out our Antenatal Shared Care service in PEI. She is also keen to meet patients and ask them their views on the current service, so don't be surprised to see her in the waiting room.
If you have any suggestions for services you would like to see in the Phoenix Medical Practice, ask to speak to the Clinical Services Development Manager.
The Clinical Services Development Manager is responsible for helping develop and run our primary care services. She will assist with the recruitment of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to our primary care team and liases with other services such as Health PEI and other health agencies.
Liz Sajdak trained as an RN in the UK and worked as a Health Visitor in England. She spent several years working as a National Health Service manager in the UK before moving to PEI. After moving to PEI she spent a year working for Health PEI developing clinical services for the province.
Currently Liz is working on helping us to roll out our Antenatal Shared Care service in PEI. She is also keen to meet patients and ask them their views on the current service, so don't be surprised to see her in the waiting room.
If you have any suggestions for services you would like to see in the Phoenix Medical Practice, ask to speak to the Clinical Services Development Manager.
January 22, 2011
New Practice Manager: Jane Davis-Moore
We're delighted to announce that Jane Davis-Moore will be starting work as our new Practice Manager from Monday the 24th of January 2011.
Jane is an experienced people manager, finance, and general operations manager. She moved to PEI with her family from the UK two years ago.
The Practice Manager is a key member of our team. She makes sure that the practice runs smoothly by overseeing the reception team, dealing with any complaints from patients, and handling any day to day issues as they arise.
The Practice Manager also makes sure that we are constantly improving the service we offer our patients: for example, by looking for patient feedback and organising high quality staff training.
Jane is an experienced people manager, finance, and general operations manager. She moved to PEI with her family from the UK two years ago.
The Practice Manager is a key member of our team. She makes sure that the practice runs smoothly by overseeing the reception team, dealing with any complaints from patients, and handling any day to day issues as they arise.
The Practice Manager also makes sure that we are constantly improving the service we offer our patients: for example, by looking for patient feedback and organising high quality staff training.
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