23 | Streamlining Your Practice Part 3: Taking Control with Dr. Sarah Smith

07/22/22 • 29 min

One Nail at a Time: Insights for Building Your Patient's Medical Home

In the final episode of a 3-part series on streamlining family practice, we talk to Dr. Sarah Smith about how she transformed her practice by taking control of the aspects that she could.
Listen as Dr. Smith describes how she realized that she needed to change the way she practiced, set a goal of getting home on time (and without extra work to do during evenings and weekends), and worked with her team to make her goal a reality. She shares how she gets 'today's work done today' and provides tips and strategies that others may find helpful in streamlining their own practices.

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22 | Streamlining Your Practice Part 2: Tech Forward Family Practice with Dr. Kelly MacGregor

In part 2 of a 3-part series on streamlining family practice, we learn more about the unique 'tech forward' approach that Dr. Kelly MacGregor and her colleagues have adopted at their clinic. While the overall approach may not suit every practice, there may be elements that family docs could consider testing in their own practices.
Listen as Dr. MacGregor describes how her clinic has addressed privacy concerns related to use of technology. She also talks candidly about the products they use and the financial investment (spoiler alert: it's minimal!), and provides her advice for clinics interested in starting to incorporate more technology.
Resources mentioned by Dr. MacGregor that CMPA has approved for Canadian use and meet current privacy legislation requirements*:

Electronic medical record - Accuro by QHR Technologies
Secure, EMR integrated messaging - Medeo Healthmail
Secure, EMR integrated patient questionnaires and forms - Ocean by CognisantMD
Remote, EMR integrated cloud based fax - Unite Communications
Online scheduler - Accuro by QHR Technologies
Appointment reminders - Cliniconex
Virtual platform - Doxy.me
VOIP phone service - Line2
Multi platform, multi user smart phrase manager - TextExpander

BOOK: Slow Medicine - Dr. Victoria Sweet MD PhD

*Not intended as product endorsement

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24 | A Closer Look at Primary Care Nursing with Melissa Waddell

In this episode, we're joined by Melissa Waddell in her role as President of the Alberta Primary Care Nurses Association. She talks about the future of nursing in primary care as we move toward a greater focus on team-based care and sharing the load to manage the care deficit. Melissa provides some details on the current scopes of practice for Alberta nurses - particularly RNs and LPNs, and highlights areas where they can provide excellent support in busy family practices.
Alberta Primary Care Nurses Association
Primary Care Nursing in Alberta: A Guide to the Role
Primary Care Nurse Scheduling Guidelines