The Queen's Family Health Team, operating through the Queen's Department of Family Medicine, is welcoming new patients.
With two downtown clinic locations, at 220 Bagot St. and 115 Clarence St., the Queen's Family Health Team (QFHT), is the Department's Kingston site. With the recent expansion of its education program, new family physician faculty members have joined the department, increasing capacity and enabling the team to accept new patients.
Queen's University is home to a distinguished academic health sciences centre devoted to training doctors, nurses and other health professionals. The Department of Family Medicine has the largest residency program at Queen's, providing graduate-level specialty teaching for medical doctors who want to become family physicians. Called “residents,” these medical doctors get on-the-job training at sites in Kingston, Belleville, Peterborough, Oshawa and smaller communities across Eastern Ontario.
“The academic environment at Queen's has attracted exemplary new faculty members who will be involved in teaching and scholarly work,” says Dr. Glenn Brown, Head of the Queen's Department of Family Medicine.
“New faculty in the Department of Family Medicine at Queen's University will accept new patients into their family practice and model excellence in clinical care. They will also help to ensure that everyone in the Kingston area has access to a family physician.”
The QFHT is an inter-professional collaboration of doctors, residents, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, a dietitian and a pharmacist, all working together to provide quality, patientcentred care. The team provides a wide variety of programs and services that complement its general practice, including a diabetes program and foot care services; smoking cessation program; obstetrics (prenatal care and delivery); Well-baby Program, paediatrics and lactation consultation; and mental health care and counselling. On-site speciality clinics for chronic pain, asthma and general internal medicine are also provided.
To augment its programs and services, the team continuously works to create additional resources and tools for its patients. For example, LCD screens offering helpful health care information, tips, local services and important reminders were recently installed in waiting rooms.
Dr. Brown points out that patients of the Queen's Family Health Team benefit from a unique environment that celebrates the passion of a team of professionals who work together to provide quality, patient-centred care while also training and mentoring its residents. In turn, resident medical doctors bring a fresh perspective to the practice, keeping the team at the forefront with the latest medical information and technologies. As a valuable component of this education process, QFHT patients have the opportunity to participate in a variety of cutting-edge health care programs.
“The participation of our residents in the clinical program allows us to offer patient-centred care in an expert inter-professional environment, Dr. Brown says. “Our patients clearly appreciate being part of this innovative teaching environment.”
The College of Family Physicians of Canada requires that teaching physicians meet national standards and exemplify the best in family practice. The QFHT's faculty members have earned many awards that reflect their dedication to family medicine, Dr. Brown points out. They are actively involved in research and developing innovative programs to treat illnesses, manage chronic conditions and maintain good health.
Dr. Karen Hall Barber, Physician Lead for the Department's Kingston site, explains that, through their willingness to participate in the education process, QFHT patients are a major partner in the training of tomorrow's family doctors. At some appointments, patients may see a physician resident rather than their family doctor, who is supervising that resident and always overseeing patient care. And sometimes, because teaching takes time, patients may be asked to spend an extra few moments in the waiting room before their name is called. But Dr. Hall Barber says QFHT patients value the unique benefits they enjoy as a direct result of their participation in this education process.
“When a resident meets with one of our patients, that patient is being seen with ‘a fresh pair of eyes' and often benefits by having a longer appointment time than he or she would normally experience. Our residents' role in our team approach to providing quality care is highly beneficial to our patients,” says Dr. Hall Barber.
“We always place our patients first. We try to treat our patients the way we expect our own family members to be cared for.”
To accommodate its patients' schedules, the QFHT also offers an After Hours Clinic at its 220 Bagot St. location. After clinic hours, patients can speak with the team's physician on call.
The care that patients receive at Queen's Department of Family Medicine, one of Canada's most respected academic health science centres, is greatly enhanced through a team approach that combines expertise, innovative programming and a commitment to excellence.
o become a patient of the Queen's Family Health Team or for more information, call 613-533-9303 or visit www.qfht.ca. Patients of all ages are welcome – from babies to seniors, mothers-to-be and new mothers, students and families of military personnel.
