Research Report February - March 2009

Special Events / Notable Opportunities and Happenings

• Congratulations to Susanne Naoum, whose presentation on hospitals providing maternity care at NAPCRG was picked up by the Medical Post.
• Dolovich L, Gagnon A, McAiney CA, Sparrow L, Burns S.  Initial pharmacist experience with the Ontario-based MedsCheck Program. Can Pharm J 2008;141(6):339-345, was the most read article on www.cpjournal.ca for the month of January. There have been requests for reprints from a pharmacy chain wanting to use the article in a pharmacist education package.
• Thanks to everyone who worked on submissions for AFP innovation funding as well as Department of Family Medicine pilot funding applications.
• Congratulation to Lisa Dolovich, who has been appointed to the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network (DSEN) Advisory Committee.
  

Publications:
Coker E, Papaioannou A, Kaasalainen S, Dolovich L, Turpie I, Taniguchi A. Nurses' perceived barriers to optimal pain management in older adults on acute medical units. Applied Nursing Research. doi:10.1016/j.apnr.2008.07.003.

Walsh AE, Armson H, Wakefield JG, Leadbetter W, Roder S. Using a Novel Small-Group Approach to Enhance Feedback Skills for Community-Based Teachers. Teaching and Learning in Medicine. 2009; 21(1):45-51.

Karwalajtys T, Kaczorowski J, Hutchison B, Myers MG, Sullivan SM, Chambers LW, Lohfeld L. Blood pressure variability and prevalence of hypertension using automated readings from multiple visits to a pharmacy-based community-wide programme. Journal of Human Hypertension. 22 January 2009; doi:10.1038/jhh.2008.163. Advance online publication.

Joseph LF, Brown JB, Stewart M. Exploring family physician stress: Helpful strategies. Can Fam Physician. 2009; 55:288-289. e6.

Chalmers B, Kaczorowski J, Levitt C, Dzakpasu S, O‘Brien B, Lee L, Boscoe M, Young D for the Maternity Experiences Study Group of the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System,Public Health Agency of Canada. Use of Routine Interventions in Vaginal Labor and Birth: Findings from the Maternity Experiences Survey. Birth. 2009; 36(1):13-25.

Funding Awarded:
Marshall D, et al. Aging at Home. Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant LHIN. $1.5 Million, (3 years)

Kasperski MJ, Mottershead M, VanderBent S, Buchman S, Levinson A, Darby D, Marshall D, Husain A, Arnold R. The Continuum of Care in the Home: Enhancing the Competencies of CCAC Case Managers, Home Care Nurses, Family Physicians, and Health Professional Team Members. Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. $250,000, (1 year)

Dolovich L et al. CHAP - McMaster University Facilitation of Evaluation Planning for Primary Care Projects. CIHR. $24,850, (1 year)

Submitted Funding:
Moore A. Perception of clinical practice guidelines among clinicians when caring for complex elderly patients. Janus Research Proposal Development Grant. $1500, 2009.

Centre for Effective Practice and collaborators [Bean T, Graydon J, Jin M, Lang K, Meuser J, Rogers J, Salach L, Vigar D, Cotter D, Craig P, Hussey B, Dewhirst K, Dykeman M, Avorn J, May F, Allen M, Austin Z, Cadarette S, Dhalla I, Dolovich L, Goeree R, Haynes RB, Holbrook AM, Levine M, Mamdani M, Paterson M, Pullenayegum E, Raman Wilms L, Regier L, Straus S, Thabane L]. Implementation of a Province-Wide Academic Detailing Program. Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. $30,471,397, May 2009 – April 2012.

Cairney J (Co-PI) Kurdyak P (Co-PI) Gnam W, Matheson F, Rehm J, Schaffer A, Streiner D, Vigod S, Wade T.  Mental Health and Health Service Use in the Population: Linking Population-based Data to Administrative Records. Canadian Institutes for Health Research. $197,407, (3 years)

Lee J (PI). Development of a Mobility Clinic in Primary. Ontario Neuro-Trauma Foundation. January 2009 ($68,000)

Lee L (PI), Stolee P. Evaluation of the Centre for Family Medicine Family Health Team Memory Clinic. Ontario College of Family Physicians.

Lee L (PI). Exploring Inter-professional Education Opportunities for K-W Physicians. Ontario Medical Association. ($1,750)

Lee J (PI). Inter-professional Education Opportunities. Ontario Medical Association. January 2008 – January 2009 ($1,750)

Lee J (PI), Lee L.  Memory Clinic for  MCI and Dementia. MOHLTC/MCTU Inter-professional Education and Care Fund. January 2008 ($223,000)

Lee-Poy M (PI), Brown JB, Stewart M. Patients views on discussing their personal or spiritual beliefs with their family physician. January 2007 – June 2009

Lee-Poy M (PI), Brown JB, Stewart M. Spirituality & Healthcare: Family Physician’s perspective on discussing patients’ personal or spiritual beliefs. March 2009 – July 2009

Lee-Poy M (PI), McMillan C. The ‘use of self’ in medicine. (Funds requested: McMaster University)

Lee J (PI), Alfieri M, Lee L. The Development of a Distributed, Inter-professional Residency Program. McMaster University, Dept of Family Medicine pilot study grant. January 2008 – September 2009. ($5,000)

McMillan C (PI). Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training in PrimaryHealth Care Research. CIHR – Research Fellowship Position ($37,500)

Lee J (PI), Lee L.  The Primary Care Memory Clinic:  Translating Inter-Professional Care into Inter-Professional Education. MOHLTC/MCTU Inter-professional Education and  Care Fund. January 2008 – March 2009. ($327,000)

Lee L (PI). The Situational Cues that Prompt Reflection-in-Practice in Community Family Physicians. Dept. of Family Medicine Research Trust Fund study grant. May 2008 – September 2009 ($1,500)

Lingard L (PI), Schryer CF, Spafford MM, Tallett S, Fleming-Carroll B. Trajectories of collaborative care: Case studies of communication on inter-professional teams. Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). January 2008 ($179,106)

McMillan C (PI). What do the Voices of Adolescent Girls tell us about the Impact of (Dis)Connection on their Body? January 2007 – January 2009. ($6,000)

by FHS Advancement
March 11, 2009

Every patient trusts their family doctor to run a safe and efficient medical practice.
To ensure this happens, researchers in McMaster University's Department of Family Medicine have developed a program which assesses a family practice's quality of care and provides service improvement suggestions. 

Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care funded the project to recommend a quality improvement program for the province. Current programs studied included those in Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Europe and the United States. 

Dr. Cheryl Levitt, a professor in the Department of Family Medicine in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and past president of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, is project leader of the Quality in Family Practice program. 

The program promotes a self-assessed, voluntary model of quality assessment for family practices. Doctors, nurses and administrators learn how to rate themselves and their practice, decide what their priorities are and then work with the project's advisors to make changes, prior to a formal external assessment.

Dr. Levitt said these changes could range from something as simple as safely storing prescription pads under lock and key or eliminating mercury-based blood pressure monitors in a doctor's office, to establishing a tracking system to follow patients admitted to hospital and those with high blood pressure or setting up an eco-friendly office.

The assessment tool features more than 80 quality indicators which are divided into five sections: Factors affecting patients (such as respecting patient rights to formally complain); physical factors (appropriate disinfection and sterilization facilities); clinical practice systems (use of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines); practice and patient informational management (appropriate medical record-keeping); continuous quality improvement and professional development and quality of work life (providing a range of educational resources and materials for members of the medical practice).
Initially, McMaster researchers tested the new tool on two large group family practices in Mount Forest and Kitchener-Waterloo and a solo practice in Hamilton. It was followed by further testing in seven family health teams throughout Ontario.

"It was extremely well received," Dr. Levitt said.

Ultimately, Dr. Levitt said, the hope is to develop a program that could be used to assess the quality of family practices across Canada. "We would like to establish provincial and, eventually, national programs where family practices voluntarily agree to be assessed by a panel of peer experts to ensure standards meet government, public and professional expectations."