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McMaster Family Practice
690 Main Street West,
Suite A
Hamilton, ON
L8S 1A4
Phone:
Team A 905-521-5016
or Team B 905-521-5015
The following is general information about the clinic. Patients will find more on MFP's web site
This clinic is located at the recently renovated West End Clinic and cares for patients from Hamilton, Burlington and suburbs including Dundas, Ancaster and Stoney Creek. The clinic is associated with Hamilton Health Sciences and all staff physicians have active staff privileges at HHS and at St. Joseph's Healthcare.
The unit consists of seven practices organized into two teams. Each team includes staff physicians, nurse practitioners and residents. There are usually eighteen residents home-based with six or so being full-time during any one period. Residents carry their own practice within the seven teams, while gaining experience in team care and support.
All providers have access to state-of-the-art computerized patient information system. Work stations are available in all exam rooms and provide a real-time electronic day sheet with on-line access to patient information including lab work and radiology results. We anticipate having a full electronic medical record by the end of 2005.
Low risk obstetrics is handled by four on-site family physicians with a special interest in obstetrical care. They see our patients in conjunction with the resident and team to provide antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care. This has proved to be an excellent educational experience for our residents.
We also cooperate with community resource providers in the care of some of our patients at home. Some long term care patients may live in nursing homes or on the in hospital chronic care ward, with the unit physicians responsible for their care. Experience in the home care of a variety of patients, including geriatrics is part of the program.
Patient Demographics:
The practice population consists of over 9,000 patients with an age distribution representative of the Hamilton population. The patients include pediatric and geriatric age groups. Unit patients come from a wide range of socio-economic groups.
Patient Volume:
The unit conducts about 22,000 patient encounters per year. The average patient volume carried by a full-time resident in the unit is 100 per month (ranging from 75-150 encounters per month). Part-time residents spending one-half day per week in the unit usually see about 25 to 40 patients per month.
The unit is open Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. The evening, weekend and holiday hours are covered by an on-call schedule set by the chief resident. Residents take first call with back up by staff physicians. The call schedule for residents is usually about one in six. Our residents are on-call for their obstetrics patients as well, so that they may be available for deliveries. Weekend call is done city-wide, combined with the other teaching units.
Weekend and holiday on-call clinics, made by appointment, are shared with the North Hamilton Community Health Centre and Stonechurch Family Health, located at 549 Stonechurch Rd East (between Upper Sherman and Upper Otawa Streets), where the weekend on-call clinic is now located.
Practice Type:
McMaster Family Practice is part of the Primary Care Network. Instead of receiving fee-for-service payments for these patients we receive a monthly capitation budget based on the age and sex of the patient. A Patient Advisory Board has been created to facilitate patient input into the practice model.
Additional Resources:
Primary level laboratory services can be assessed in the clinic. Complete diagnostic and consultant services are available from McMaster University Medical Centre or from consultants in the community including those located in other hospitals. Consultants provide some on-site teaching consultations by coming to the clinic to see patients. These include psychiatry, dermatology and Internal Medicine clinics.
Philosophy:
Our goal is comprehensive, family centred, health care emphasizing health maintenance.
Mission Statement: We Care, We Educate, We Innovate
McMaster Family Practice strives to fulfil three interrelated mandates. This, our Mission Statement, reflects the triad of care, education, and innovation.
We Care:
We are a multi-disciplinary health care group dedicated to providing comprehensive, continuing care to a defined population. The Unit provides primary care, as well as access to secondary and tertiary services to families and individuals.
We Educate:
We encourage patients to assume an active role in their health promotion and maintenance.
We foster the education of a variety of health care professionals through our association with the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. Our patient population serves as the major resource to the ongoing development of Family Physicians through our Residency Training Program.
We Innovate:
We strive to integrate our competence with available community resources in order to provide efficient and effective health care. By working in partnership with the patient population to define future health needs, we seek to develop a creative model for delivery of Primary and Family Health Care.
Faculty Special Interests:
The faculty physicians have a wide range of research and clinic interests. These interests include biostatistics, breastfeeding, child abuse, chronic pain, compliance, computer applications, conflict resolution, critical appraisal, dermatology, the difficult patient, the dying patient, family centered newborn care, family dynamics, geriatrics, health promotion, hypertension, interviewing, mentally handicapped patients, palliative care, pediatrics, periodic health examination, obstetrical care, research design methods, sexual counselling, smoking cessation, weight counselling, women's health, vasectomies, circumcisions, other minor surgeries and international health.
Education Facilities/Features:
Most clinical and educational activities are centered in the team offices shared by residents, nurse practitioners, and staff family physicians. It is possible to monitor examination rooms by video camera and VCR's which are in each exam room. All residents can be monitored via three supervisor stations equipped with monitors.
The Health Sciences library is located on the McMaster University main campus. Each resident and clinician exam room has a computer with the electronic patient database (OSCAR) with direct links to SKOLAR and other internet resources. Software programmes such as WordPerfect and PowerPoint are available for residents preparing rounds. Access to the hospital electronic medical records and e-mail are also available.
Teaching, resources and evaluation scheduling are managed by the Education Secretary with input from the Education Coordinator and the Chief Resident.
Monday morning turnover rounds emphasize the problems and priorities of urgent and on-call core. Tuesday lunch rounds are based on the Practice Based Small Group Learning model of practical medicine.
Residents and staff prepare the Thursday morning rounds, which emphasize core components of our day to day procedure in pediatrics, obstetrics, and family medicine. Thursday noon sees the Consultant Rounds, when visiting experts provide teaching around specialized areas. Each Friday noon heralds Chart Rounds, during which impromptu presentations and discussions of interesting and challenging cases of the day/week are discussed
Further educational activities include the weekly Quality Assurance chart audit, and the monthly clinics in dermatology and internal medicine. There are weekly rounds in Evidence Based Medicine, and weekly Departmental Academic Half Day that covers the core content of Family Medicine.
Behavioural Science is a major part of the McMaster Residency Programme. Thursday afternoons are set aside for Behavioural Science seminars. These seminars are usually presented by residents and incorporate a family medicine tutor and a psychiatric resource person. The second part of the seminar is used for review of patient problems often using video taped interviews. A psychiatrist comes into the Unit one afternoon a month to provide teaching consultations.
In Closing:
McMaster Family Practice has been undergoing the change and growth of a Teaching Unit moving into the 21st century. We are proud of the care we provide our patients and the educational opportunities we offer our residents and students.
For more information you can contact the following people:
Unit Manager: Carol Ridge (905)521-2100 ext.75587 - email
Education Co-ordinator: Dr. Jan Baxter (905)521-5010 - email
Unit Directors: Dr. Cathy Risdon -email and Dr.Dale Guenter -email
McMaster Family Practice Staff More Info About MFP: