Queen's University - Department of Family Medicine

The Vision for the Department of Family Medicine is to be acknowledged for its excellence in primary care delivery, education, and research. This includes being recognized as valued partners and opinion leaders in family medicine and primary care within Queen's, in our communities, and internationally. The Department of Family Medicine has taken the lead and acquired $825,000 in funding from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MoHLTC) and the Physician Services Committee to undertake a collaborative faculty development project. This initiative was designed to ensure that new community family physician faculty are well supported through a province-wide structure focused on professional development, and to build the capacity of our Distributed Medical Education Faculty of Family Physicians to increase the number of qualified community teachers across Ontario. It is imperative that we avoid a lag time by helping new teachers acquire core skills as soon as they assume teaching responsibilities, in recognition of the need for rapid implementation of the Phase Two Expansion already underway, and to ensure that experienced faculty members develop the skills to effectively mentor new teachers. This 18 month project is designed to achieve this goal. Click here for details.

Collaborative Environment in which health professionals are integrated into the clinical, education and research processes This 18 month project is designed to achieve this goal. The Department was recently awarded $376,396 by HealthForce Ontario’s Interprofessional Care/Education Fund. This grant was provided to lead sustainable cultural change in primary care practice and education, stressing the merits of interprofessional care by: embracing it as best practice at all levels of health care and education systems; providing support for the simultaneous advancement of care and education, including systems, processes and tools to enable best practice; and fostering awareness with stakeholder groups as to the merits of collaborative approaches to care and how they positively impact access to and quality of patient care. Click here for details

The nature of primary care requires a network – a system in which health care professionals and providers can work together in collaborative teams. The provision of long-term care, palliative care, and caring for patients with chronic diseases also necessitates partnerships with support services and community-based organizations. More work needs to be done on how patients and practitioners can access primary care services regionally, leading to a positive impact on patient care. This will also further the equalization of care across the region, to ensure equity in access to primary care and the quality of care received.

The 2002 Romanov Report “emphasized the importance of collaborative teams and networks in future primary care models. In keeping with the Department of Family Medicine’s vision of being recognized as valued partners and opinion leaders in Family Medicine and Primary Care within Queen's, in our communities, and internationally, DFM has taken on a leadership role in the formation of the Primary Health Care Council of South East Ontario. The Council’s mandate is to provide collaborative leadership for the planning, delivery and evaluation of Primary Care services within the South East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), creating a forum to address common issues pertaining to primary care across the continuum of health care.

The “Founding Council” will serve for four years. It will be tasked with establishing linkages and standing committees with regional perspective and to provide a system for input to the LHIN. It will host an annual primary care forum. Toward the end of the initial term, a working group will be established to review organizational structure, terms of reference, and membership. Click here for details

This project is now in its 14^th year of providing technical assistance to the Ministries of Health and Faculties of Medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). Funding for the first 10 years was provided through a series of contribution agreement with CIDA. Since 2005 funding has been under a contract with the World Bank’s Health Sector Enhancement Project. The focus of programming has the reform of the primary care system in BH through the development of a model of Family Medicine. Our emphasis continues to be on educational and professional development across a spectrum of levels and disciplines.

The Global Health Working Group is a new working group which formed in the fall of 2008 with a first meeting in October. The purpose of this group is to develop a comprehensive program of Global Health for the Department of Family Medicine, including core curriculum, eventual third year curriculum, and coordination of the Department’s Global Health initiatives. The three meetings in 2008 mainly focused on developing a coherent understanding and definition of Global Health, which was defined in broad terms as health for all, with a focus on health of the underserved, be they aboriginal Canadians, new Canadians, Canadians living in inner cities, or global citizens living in underserved situations in other countries. The concept of Global Health was framed around the CanMEDS-FM role of Healthy Advocate, and implicit in this formulation was the inclusion not only of purely “medical” skills, but also skills of advocacy, awareness building, research, and development of a global consciousness.

Looking forward to 2009, the model was presented to and approved by the Department at the first Department meeting in January. The Working Group has been able to move ahead with setting up a Global Health Office and hiring an adjunct faculty member to work on initial curriculum development. The objectives of the Working Group for 2009-2010 will be to develop core curriculum for all Department of Family Medicine residents in Global Health, to develop Pre-Departure Training curriculum for residents planning clinical rotations overseas, and to start developing third year curriculum in Global Health with the hope of having a preliminary program in place by July 2010. In addition, the working group will continue to work on coordinating the Department activities in Global Health as well as building relationships with similar working groups in other departments within Queen’s University and within other Faculties of Medicine within Canada.


Overview Head's Message About the Department Special Projects News and Events Professional Opportunities Links Contact Us		SPECIAL PROJECTS Provincial Faculty Development Initiative The Vision for the Department of Family Medicine is to be acknowledged for its excellence in primary care delivery, education, and research. This includes being recognized as valued partners and opinion leaders in family medicine and primary care within Queen's, in our communities, and internationally. The Department of Family Medicine has taken the lead and acquired $825,000 in funding from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MoHLTC) and the Physician Services Committee to undertake a collaborative faculty development project. This initiative was designed to ensure that new community family physician faculty are well supported through a province-wide structure focused on professional development, and to build the capacity of our Distributed Medical Education Faculty of Family Physicians to increase the number of qualified community teachers across Ontario. It is imperative that we avoid a lag time by helping new teachers acquire core skills as soon as they assume teaching responsibilities, in recognition of the need for rapid implementation of the Phase Two Expansion already underway, and to ensure that experienced faculty members develop the skills to effectively mentor new teachers. This 18 month project is designed to achieve this goal. Click here for details. Interprofessional Collaborative Care Project Collaborative Environment in which health professionals are integrated into the clinical, education and research processes This 18 month project is designed to achieve this goal. The Department was recently awarded $376,396 by HealthForce Ontario’s Interprofessional Care/Education Fund. This grant was provided to lead sustainable cultural change in primary care practice and education, stressing the merits of interprofessional care by: embracing it as best practice at all levels of health care and education systems; providing support for the simultaneous advancement of care and education, including systems, processes and tools to enable best practice; and fostering awareness with stakeholder groups as to the merits of collaborative approaches to care and how they positively impact access to and quality of patient care. Click here for details Primary Care Council of South East Ontario The nature of primary care requires a network – a system in which health care professionals and providers can work together in collaborative teams. The provision of long-term care, palliative care, and caring for patients with chronic diseases also necessitates partnerships with support services and community-based organizations. More work needs to be done on how patients and practitioners can access primary care services regionally, leading to a positive impact on patient care. This will also further the equalization of care across the region, to ensure equity in access to primary care and the quality of care received. The 2002 Romanov Report “emphasized the importance of collaborative teams and networks in future primary care models. In keeping with the Department of Family Medicine’s vision of being recognized as valued partners and opinion leaders in Family Medicine and Primary Care within Queen's, in our communities, and internationally, DFM has taken on a leadership role in the formation of the Primary Health Care Council of South East Ontario. The Council’s mandate is to provide collaborative leadership for the planning, delivery and evaluation of Primary Care services within the South East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), creating a forum to address common issues pertaining to primary care across the continuum of health care. The “Founding Council” will serve for four years. It will be tasked with establishing linkages and standing committees with regional perspective and to provide a system for input to the LHIN. It will host an annual primary care forum. Toward the end of the initial term, a working group will be established to review organizational structure, terms of reference, and membership. Click here for details Development Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina This project is now in its 14^th year of providing technical assistance to the Ministries of Health and Faculties of Medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). Funding for the first 10 years was provided through a series of contribution agreement with CIDA. Since 2005 funding has been under a contract with the World Bank’s Health Sector Enhancement Project. The focus of programming has the reform of the primary care system in BH through the development of a model of Family Medicine. Our emphasis continues to be on educational and professional development across a spectrum of levels and disciplines. During this year, we completed the tenth year of Family Medicine specialization, the sixth cycle of the highly successful Program of Additional Training for doctors and nurses and achieved the training numbers noted in the table below. Other highlights from 2008 included: · Celebration of 10 years of Family Medicine development at an international conference hosted by colleagues in Tuzla, BH, the location of the first Family Medicine Teaching Center in eastern/central Europe. · Development of a handbook for clinical skills to be provided to all students and residents of FM · Collaboration with the World Health Organization in their primary care project, developing, conducting and evaluating a series of clinical audits. · Negotiation of a CDN$1 million extension of project activities through October 2010. This will bring total project funding since 1995 to approximately $20 million. Click here for details Global Health Working Group The Global Health Working Group is a new working group which formed in the fall of 2008 with a first meeting in October. The purpose of this group is to develop a comprehensive program of Global Health for the Department of Family Medicine, including core curriculum, eventual third year curriculum, and coordination of the Department’s Global Health initiatives. The three meetings in 2008 mainly focused on developing a coherent understanding and definition of Global Health, which was defined in broad terms as health for all, with a focus on health of the underserved, be they aboriginal Canadians, new Canadians, Canadians living in inner cities, or global citizens living in underserved situations in other countries. The concept of Global Health was framed around the CanMEDS-FM role of Healthy Advocate, and implicit in this formulation was the inclusion not only of purely “medical” skills, but also skills of advocacy, awareness building, research, and development of a global consciousness. Looking forward to 2009, the model was presented to and approved by the Department at the first Department meeting in January. The Working Group has been able to move ahead with setting up a Global Health Office and hiring an adjunct faculty member to work on initial curriculum development. The objectives of the Working Group for 2009-2010 will be to develop core curriculum for all Department of Family Medicine residents in Global Health, to develop Pre-Departure Training curriculum for residents planning clinical rotations overseas, and to start developing third year curriculum in Global Health with the hope of having a preliminary program in place by July 2010. In addition, the working group will continue to work on coordinating the Department activities in Global Health as well as building relationships with similar working groups in other departments within Queen’s University and within other Faculties of Medicine within Canada. Click here for details.