Ultimate Blogging Championship

Category: Uncategorized

  • Innovative Community Partnership Reduces ER Visits

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation

    PRESENTER (S): Katherine Campbell, BSc., MHS

    FHT/ORG: Dryden Area FHT

    ABSTRACT: An innovative program was developed to address senior community service needs providing the opportunity to reduce ER visits while focusing on supporting seniors in their home setting of choice. The Dryden Area FHT in partnership with Patricia Region Senior Services (PRSS) has developed a position that has evolved to assist in service integration through a Community Service Guide (CSG). The CSG attends hospital morning interdisciplinary meetings to discuss patient care within the site and visits with in-patients that may benefit from the FHT and PRSS programs. The CSG attends the ED and collects the referrals for the day which are then distributed for physician/NP follow-up. The CSG receives all referrals for the FHT and navigates the patient through the system.  The seniors are then linked into the PRSS community programs for services as identified.  In addition, the FHT has developed senior outreach clinics addressing caregiver burnout, education, medication reconciliation, treatment and chronic disease management/prevention.

    Click here to view presentation.

  • Emergency Department Visits

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation

    PRESENTER (S): Kirk Miller, Business Services Manager

    FHT/ORG: Guelph FHT

    ABSTRACT: Emergency departments see rostered patients for non-urgent care every day. Using acute care resources to process non-urgent visits is costly and impedes access for patients requiring urgent care. The WWLHIN has targeted a 10% reduction in CTAS 4 and 5 for hospitals in the region. The Guelph Family Health Team (GFHT) began a study of Guelph General Hospital (GGH) ED visits using a Learning community PDSA approach in March 2011. This presentation summarizes the methods for data collection, the process to present data to physicians, the collaborative work between GFHT and GGH and the strategies to achieve ED visit reductions.

    Click here to view presentation.

  • iPrep: Illness Prevention and Rehabilitation Program

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation PRESENTER (S): Dr. Lori Teeple FHT/ORG: Bluewater Area FHT ABSTRACT: To assist participants to transform their lifestyle into one of healthy eating and exercise so as to achieve and maintain a healthier body weight and waist circumference to prevent or remit disease such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events.  Target Group: Patients with BMI > 25 and Waist Circumference WC>102 cm (men) and WC> 88 cm (women). Program Objectives: 1. To help six women achieve a weight loss of 10% of their body mass in 12 months through a combination of education, mentoring and coaching utilizing advanced internet technology and weekly/bi-weekly visits.   2. The program will be evaluated on an annual basis by determining the number of females who have completed the 12 month program and reduced their weight and waist circumference, creating a healthier body and rehabilitating disease such as diabetes, hypertension and lipid disorders.  The program will give the females encouragement to continue with their ongoing lifestyle changes.  Each participant will be asked to complete and evaluation upon the completion of program. Evaluation: The iPrep program was started January 2011 and after six (6) months all participants have seen positive results and are encouraged about their lifestyle changes.  The program is looking to expand the number of participants and include men. Click here to view presentation.

  • Central Intake Triage

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation PRESENTER (S): Dr. Kathleen Brooks, M.D., FRCP (C); Mary Jane McDowell, MSW FHT/ORG: Prince Edward FHT ABSTRACT: Within the services offered by the Prince Edward Family Team nowhere is critical decision making more important than at the point of entry to our mental health system. At a time when demand for mental health services exceeds available resources, the importance of effective triage at the front door takes on increased importance. Mental health agencies can sometimes be reluctant to divert scarce clinical staff, especially the more experienced, in order to perform the role of coordination, intake and triage. The PEFHT views mental health intake as a critical decision point in serving our patients with mental health issues and as such our first hire to the program was a social worker who assumed the title of mental health program coordinator. Experienced and effective coordination and triage provides for a cohesive, accessible and equitable use of a limited resource. Click here to view presentation.

  • Pan-Canadian PHC Indicators

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation PRESENTER (S): Brenda Tipper, M.H.Sc; Jennifer D’Silva, M.Sc. FHT/ORG: Canadian Institute for Health Information ABSTRACT: In 2006, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) released 105 consensus and evidence-based pan-Canadian primary health care indicators (PHC) with which to measure and compare PHC at multiple levels across jurisdictions in Canada.  This year CIHI is embarking on an initiative to identify and update two priority sets of indicators. One set will be oriented to policy-makers for use in assessing the performance of the primary health care system and another to providers of PHC for use in monitoring quality within their organizations and practices. While the project is currently ongoing, the list of identified priority indicators for PHC providers will be presented along with an overview of the changes made to update the indicators and lessons learned along the way. Potential data sources and intended use of the indicators will also be discussed. Click here to view presentation. (Hold cursor over top left corner of each slide to see additional background on the slide.) Click here to view the 15 indicators for which data can be drawn from EMRs that meet OMD spec 4.0.

  • AFHTO 2011 Conference: The value continues …

    What an amazing experience this morning, October 26, to be in one room with over 500 people from 146 FHTs across Ontario, listening to the newly re-elected and re-appointed Minister of Health expressing her appreciation and support for family health teams. This AFHTO 2011 Conference marks a huge step forward in the development of Ontario’s FHTs.  FHTs from all 5 waves are now fully operational and serving over 20% of Ontarians.  The FHT model is receiving plenty of positive attention within Ontario and beyond – as we heard from yesterday’s opening speaker, Steven Lewis, and today’s panel on the Future Direction for Primary Care within Ontario’s Health System – Susan Fitzpatrick, ADM, MOHLTC Negotiations and Accountability Management Division; Greg A. Reed, President and CEO, eHealth Ontario; and Dr. Stewart Kennedy, President, Ontario Medical Association and physician in the Harbourview Family Health Team. From the many posters and presentations in the break-out sessions, we saw ample evidence of the innovations and improvements FHTs are making in delivering accessible, comprehensive, high-quality, patient-centred care.  Threaded throughout the two days were many calls to keep going – there is so much we can do to continue improving outcomes for patients, and to improve how we manage and use information to support quality improvement and prove the value of FHTs. No surprise – many challenges remain.  Conference participants raised a number of these in the thoughtful questions to the Minister and other plenary speakers, and in the Leadership Program breakout discussions.  These breakout sessions generated action ideas that FHT leaders, individually and collectively through AFHTO, could take to address challenges and advance improvement. Informal hallway discussions certainly generated many more thoughts and ideas. The AFHTO 2011 Conference is one point along a journey:

    • For your reference, a number of conference presentations are posted on AFHTO’s members-only website – http://www.afhto.ca/members/ (then click on “conference materials”).  Results from the AFHTO-OMA physician survey are already posted there; more will be posted over the next several days.
    • The proceedings from the Leadership Program will be summarized and posted on http://www.afhto.ca/members/ in a few weeks.
    • The AFHTO executive and board will take all of this into consideration when it meets on November 30 to review the strategic plan and map out priorities for the next year out.
    • From the interest expressed over the course of the conference, we know there will be many AFHTO members willing to lead or serve on working groups to help move us all forward.

    Thank you again to all the AFHTO members who served on the working groups and as on-site volunteers to make the AFHTO 2011 conference possible.

  • Motivational Interviewing

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation PRESENTER (S): Jessica Kelly, Registered Dietitian FHT/ORG: Stratford Family Health Team ABSTRACT: For Registered Dietitians and other health care professionals, facilitating positive lifestyle and behavioral change is a major part of one’s job, especially when it comes to chronic disease management.  While it can be rewarding, it often proves to be quite challenging at times.  One way to facilitate behavior change that seems to be slowly emerging in not only the literature but in workshops and conferences is “motivational interviewing” (MI).  There are many formats one can take to learn more about MI, however it can often appear difficult to turn the theory of MI into application.  This workshop is designed to share some practical tried and tested methods of how one can implement specific motivational interviewing strategies to not only provide a more rewarding experience for their patients, but make their own job appear less challenging. Click here to view presentation.

  • The Enhanced 18-month Well-Baby Visit

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation PRESENTER (S): Dr. Jean Clinton; Dr. Jean Mullens FHT/ORG: McMaster University, Offord Centre for Child Studies & Hamilton FHT ABSTRACT: The Province of Ontario has implemented an enhanced 18-month well-baby visit to shift the focus from a well-baby check-up to a pivotal assessment of development.  Standardized tools (the Rourke Baby Record-Ontario and Nipissing District Developmental Screen (NDDS)) are recommended to facilitate health care professionals to have a broader discussion with parents on child development, parenting, literacy, and connecting to local community services.  An educational webportal (www.18monthvisit.ca) has been developed to provide education and support for the visit.  The webportal includes downloadable versions of the recommended tools, key resources, learning modules, blogs, discussion forums and more. Click here to view presentation.

  • Emergency Department Visits

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation PRESENTER (S): Kirk Miller, Business Services Manager FHT/ORG: Guelph FHT ABSTRACT: Emergency departments see rostered patients for non-urgent care every day. Using acute care resources to process non-urgent visits is costly and impedes access for patients requiring urgent care. The WWLHIN has targeted a 10% reduction in CTAS 4 and 5 for hospitals in the region. The Guelph Family Health Team (GFHT) began a study of Guelph General Hospital (GGH) ED visits using a Learning community PDSA approach in March 2011. This presentation summarizes the methods for data collection, the process to present data to physicians, the collaborative work between GFHT and GGH and the strategies to achieve ED visit reductions. Click here to view presentation.

  • Occupational Therapy in Family Health Teams

    2011 AFHTO conference presentation PRESENTER (S): Laura Turner, OT, Project Coordinator; Shellie Buckley, RN, Project Coordinator FHT/ORG: Stratford FHT ABSTRACT: Working in primary care on a Family Health Team is a new and emerging practice area for occupational therapists. Sharing common values of health promotion and wellness, occupational therapists and FHTs utilize varied models of service delivery to best address patient needs. A collaborative team effort is required to ensure that occupational therapy is a good fit with established teams, effectively meets the needs of rostered patients and does not duplicate existing community services. The objectives of this presentation are to share our experience providing OT in a FHT, including steps taken to design and implement a successful pilot project, the development of referral criteria for OT, an overview of patients who received therapy, examples of the interventions provided and a summary of the outcome measures and results used to demonstrate the value of this project. Plans to expand the role of occupational therapy will be included in this discussion. Click here to view presentation.