Stronger together

Francine Lemire

Dear Colleagues,

As I embark on my journey in the footsteps of the 4 previous Executive Directors and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the CFPC—Drs W. Victor Johnston, Donald Rice, Reg Perkin, and, most recently, Cal Gutkin—I am filled with both trepidation and enthusiasm. I feel trepidation because there will be challenges in following an Executive Director and CEO who was at the helm for 17 years, and who became a very seasoned leader, well respected by everyone. I feel enthusiasm because Cal has left us a tremendous legacy to build upon. In my first address to our profession through our well regarded journal, Canadian Family Physician, I plan to share with you the themes I have chosen in order to continue the CFPC's commitment to supporting you, our members, and the discipline of family medicine and family practice.

With the signing of my new contract, a representative of the selection team said, “Francine, you need to think of a theme to define your term as CEO, and of 5 or 6 defining words.” I was relating this story to my husband during (what I thought was) a casual walk. To my surprise, Jamie thought that I should have 3 qualifiers and no more. He used the analogy of a triangle: “A triangle is a whole geometric form; you can't break it—think of the pyramids, which have lasted to this day, built on the triangular model.”

Stronger together, Plus forts ensemble, is the theme I have chosen. It is important—as we continue with the implementation of 2 important initiatives, the Triple C curriculum and the Patient's Medical Home—to work together, as peers, with our patients, with family medicine learners, with other specialty colleagues, and with other health care providers. We must remember the important synergy that we can be instrumental in creating and that we must embrace to ensure that our patients can access meaningful, person-centred care, in a timely manner, in family practice and as part of a seamless system of care. We need to increase capacity in family medicine research to ensure that the effects of our work are well captured. We are also making improvements to Mainpro^®, to ensure that this program better supports the continuing professional development initiatives of our members; we will aim to facilitate continuing professional development that emerges right at the point of care, in our members' practices.

The 3 defining words will be innovate to improve, inspire, and influence. I have qualified innovate because I realized that innovation does not necessarily result in improvement; yet meaningful improvement is usually associated with an element of innovation. Family doctors have an important contribution to make as members of teams, in continuous quality improvement, and in demonstrating the important contribution of family practice to the provision of efficient care. Let us seize this opportunity. The choice of inspire was confirmed in a conversation I recently had with Dr Bob Woollard of the University of British Columbia. If we are serious about this synergy and about maintaining the robustness of family medicine and family practice in Canada and beyond, we must inspire and learn from one another. Going forward, the CFPC and its Chapters need to continue to interact effectively with federal, provincial, and territorial governments, sister organizations, and the public—and to influence practice, health system design, and health policies—in a manner that can best support health, person-centred care, and community engagement—hence the third defining word, influence.

Finally, let me explain the reason for the title of this column—Cumulative Profile. In reading Cal's Vital Signs articles, and referring back to them over the years, I have come to realize that through this column we really have an overall perspective on the evolution of family practice during the past 17 years. A good, updated cumulative patient profile is much more than a list of problems. I have always been impressed by the importance of the cumulative patient profile as an opening door into my patients' world and lives. I hope that this column will remain an opening door into the world of family medicine and family practice, and that a tapestry of our discipline will continue to emerge and evolve. I will be inviting, from time to time, other members of our CFPC Senior Staff, as well as chairs of committees and working groups, to contribute to this column. We are privileged to have more than 1000 engaged members who contribute their time and expertise to helping shape the direction of the organization. Let us capitalize on this and enable you, our members, to hear from them and connect with them.

I look forward to connecting with you as well, as we move forward together. I plan to do my best to keep you abreast of evolving discussions.