Peer Engagement Program 2024-2025
Impact Report
In its first year, the Physician Peer Engagement Program brought Vancouver family physicians and their teams together to connect, exchange ideas, and share experiences. Applicants proposed event ideas and topics they felt were relevant and timely to the delivery of primary care in their community.
Our program objectives were to enhance community, foster collaboration across clinics, and share ideas, lived experiences, and spark innovation.
Full List of Events
Below is a list of all the event topics and the outcomes achieved, as described by the Physician Event Organizers.
Note: Reference to specific names have been removed for privacy.
Clinic Workflow Optimization
Event Topic
Outcomes Achieved
Clinic booking/cancellation/private services fee
Our clinic will revise private pay and no-show fee charges and review online booking protocols.
Increasing efficiencies and improving physician work satisfaction
We explored various topics that could lead to improved practice efficiencies, increased physician satisfaction, and quality improvement. Specifically, there is great interest in the role of new technologies that could be implemented to achieve these goals:
- AI Scribe – to trial this in the coming months.
- E-referrals network – participants to sign up for onboarding if not already done, and to encourage other colleagues to do the same.
- Streamlining workflows by removing outdated templates and forms from the EMR.
Improved MOA and Clinician communication; improved practice management and documentation best practices
Improved MOA booking and Clinician communication; improved practice management and documentation best practices and networking we have a word document for each working group.
Challenges and Practice Workflow Optimization of Family Practices in Downtown East Side
Our planned event aimed to bring together physicians, medical office assistants (MOAs), and clinic managers from our network of clinics in the Downtown Eastside to address critical safety concerns, workflow challenges, and best practices for patient care in this unique environment. Through collaborative discussion, we sought to enhance clinic operations, staff well-being, and patient safety, ensuring that our teams are equipped to navigate the complexities of working in this community.
Each participating physician plans to make specific changes to the clinic’s workflow to ensure patient care is enhanced.
The PAS - the good, the bad, the ugly. How to access the PAS system, how to manage your panel...
There has been so much confusion regarding the PAS (Provincial attachment system). Just to access it requires a lot of steps. Many physicians from different clinics have questions on how to access and manage this system and how to maintain their panel on the PAS. We arranged an event whereby physicians from 2-3 clinics came by with questions and a panel of lead physicians supported them regarding answering questions and workflow for the PAS – including where the MOA’s can assist. Each clinic also presented their work arounds for problems as well as their challenges.
- Efficient access to the PAS.
- Participants gained clearer insight into how their panel was classified on the PAS.
- Participants learned how to effectively manage their panel with regularity and as needed.
- Participants learned why certain panel management techniques did not lead to the expected outcomes.
- Tips and Trick to panel management from both clinics were shared and adopted.
Patient intake - Challenges and PAS Registry, Using AI Scribe in Practice
- We were able to discuss different workflows in onboarding new patient, the pros and cons of using PAS vs traditional method.
- We also discuss pros and cons of using AI scribe for family medicine.
Patient care techniques & clinic operation efficiency
- New peer network created between the two clinics.
- Exchanged ideas for improved clinical operation and workflow.
Optimizing primary care delivery
As a result of the event, I discovered how useful Ocean is and it’s something I want to learn more about. We also discussed using AI models in primary care. Different doctors had different pros and cons regarding the use of AI. One in particular was that one doctor felt that it did not suit their needs as their patients speak mandarin predominantly and the AI is not setup to handle different languages.
- AI use: will plan to explore further AI integration into the clinic. We currently use Tali but other models were discussed. consider language features for AI products.
- Ocean: will see when Ocean is available to Juno EMR. Our colleagues at [another clinic] use Oscar Pro and it is already integrated. this would reduce our costs as we currently pay separately for services that Ocean already provides.
- Locum recruitment: discussed various resources for locum recruitment, using Divisions to advertise and recruit.
- Improved Referral network: discussed that their clinic currently has a sports medicine trained locum and we have doctors in our clinic taking women’s health consults and skin biopsy clinics. Improved collaboration between family physician clinics and also improved patient access to biopsies for malignant or concerning lesions.
1. PCN resources & case discussions
2. Quality improvement project ideas
- As we shared our experiences with PCN resources and shared our cases, we learn what other patients can benefit from the different service types PCN offer.
- Others learnt from my guidance of using Pathways to explore what patients can benefit from the different PCN service types.
- Open discussions regarding Quality improvement projects were enlightening for all and great ideas came out of the discussions.
- A few of the attendees were excited to hear new ideas and will likely be approaching PSP with QI projects to improve patient care.
Introduce and connect with three neighboring family practice clinics
- Improved practice efficiency by hearing about another physician’s experience with AI Scribe and patient engagement software such as Cortico and OceanMD.
- New peer network – Established connections to share medical supplies and share vaccines.
- Next steps: Continue the communication among the clinics by possibly setting up a chat group to enhance collaboration and hopefully leading to improved patient care and operational efficiency.
Clinic Technologies
Event Topic
Outcomes Achieved
AI Scribes
My peers expressed interest in hearing more about this and they are interested in testing out AI scribes themselves. I shared with them resources I had developed. Two of my peers have opened up a QI project supported by PSP.
Patient Care
Event Topic
Outcomes Achieved
Shaping the Future of Primary Care Obstetrics in Vancouver
At our meeting, we were able to discuss and work on:
- System Review: describe our current model of delivering primary care obstetrics at [Hospital] and identify areas for improvement to better serve the growing patient population.
- Future Planning for our Group: discuss strategies increased workload.
- Physician Recruitment: brainstorm ways to attract and integrate more physicians into the group, in a supportive way.
- Scheduling: discuss how to improve scheduling and communication by implementing digital tools (calendars, software, ai).
- Fair Practice Management: explore models for equitable workload distribution.
Dealing with devastating diagnoses, trauma and death in Family Medicine; Use of AI in Primary Care
- Unstructured sharing allowed for peer support, networking and collaboration. We established that we were available to each other for on call peer support.
- Ddiscussion about use of AI – we discussed different options available on the Canadian market and the benefits of each to the programs. We especially noted the ones that provide more language translation ability and the different strengths of each program.
Improving Access to Long Acting Reversible Contraception and Maternity care for staff and students at UBC
- I expect increased referrals to our clinic for long acting contraception consults, insertions for students and staff on campus.
- I expect increased referrals to our clinic for staff and students on campus who are pregnant requiring prenatal, delivery and postpartum care.
- I was able to review and share with pharmacists a screening form for contraindications for nexplanon and IUD’s.
- New Peer networks were forms with pharmacists on campus (3 pharmacies), physicians at the one walk in clinic on campus and an NP clinic on campus, creating an avenue for referrals to clinic and improving access to providers who insert IUD’s(both hormonal and copper), nexplanons and who provide comprehensive maternity/postpartum and intrapartum care.
- Next steps will be for pharmacists, physicians and NP’s to fill out referrals via the referral forms I provided when seeing students or staff on campus who require contraception and maternity services and simply fax them to UBC clinic to receive these services.
- Outcomes from the above peer engagement can be gauged in the next 6 months but the number of referrals Clinic receives for contraception (iud and nexplanon referrals for insertion) and maternity referrals.
- Improved access to students and staff on campus who live in the corridor who need primary care services after pregnancy and postpartum care is finished with maternity provider for a family physician long term afterwards for longitudinal family practice connection. The clinic is a team based clinic and this will benefit patients without a primary care provider with a new baby tremendously. Criteria for attachment postpartum was reviewed with physicians and nurse practitioners as well as pharmacists.
Clinic Staff Safety
Event Topic
Outcomes Achieved
Clear & Present Danger
We discussed security and emergency planning in Chinatown. Real life practical solutions to (live longer) working in a challenging (often hostile) environment in Chinatown.
Cybersecurity & Physical Security
Healthcare professionals taking a Leading Role (assigned security officer (physician), with the IT support acting as a secondary role (adviser).
Physician Wellness
Event Topic
Outcomes Achieved
Operating a non-profit clinic in Vancouver's Downtown East Side: Common Challenges
This event brought together physicians from neighborhood patient medical homes to connect and learn from each other about clinical operations at each other’s clinics to see what might be shared and replicated to optimize patient care, staff safety, and well being.
This was an incredibly valuable event for both clinics. I took away new ideas and advice about clinic operations including advice for building an Indigenous Lens to care as well as plans for future collaborations in this area.
MD and NP Peer Support
We plan to actualize our plan of starting a Balint-style clinical support program for MDs and NPs.
Mental health resources in our community
- Mental health resources – we shared these with each other allowing us to gain better insight into the resources in our community, therefore improving care for our patients.
- Dermatology – we were able to learn about others’ clinic procedures when taking biopsies and learn about high risk patients and referral pathways/wait times.
- Learning about AI scribes with other clinics – we are learning about consenting process and how we can improve this in our clinics which has been invaluable practical learning.
- New peer networks created and we hope to strengthen these moving forward.
Going Forward
Want to hold your own event? The Peer Engagement Program will resume later this year; keep an eye out for a program announcement over email and Fast Facts newsletter.
