Practice management

I read the Presidents Message on Practice Management by Dr.Shirley Schipper with great interest. I applaud the initiative that is an important one for a neglected topic for Family Medicine Residents as they prepare for family medicine practice.

However if someone reading this article without prior knowledge of what has taken place for teaching practice management to Family Medicine Residents at the various Canadian Family Medicine Programs in the new millennium may get the wrong impression. They may think it was not taught or it was not a priority at the various family medicine residency programs across Canada prior to this initiative. This is not the case.

In December, 2001 Dr.Paul Humphries was the director of Postgraduate Education for the Family Medicine Residency program at the University of Alberta and being a bit of a visionary he saw the need for Practice Management to be taught to the Family Medicine Residents at the U of A. Knowing my passion for teaching medical students and Family Medicine Residents about Family Medicine and especially Practice Management he asked me to be the Coordinator of Practice Management Education for the Family Medicine Residency program at the U of A. I continued fulfilling this role until 2018 when the the new initiative occurred and my position was dissolved.

With the aid of a great support staff and with the support of the faculty at the U of A in the department of Family Medicine we successfully presented a 2 day seminar to the 2nd Family Medicine Residents and were available for consultation during the year if needed. This seminar was accomplished with the additional support of a Family Physician from the practice arm of the Canadian Medical Association/Practice Solutions (later called Joule). We were careful to avoid any bias by my presence through out the seminar. Each year up to 2017, an updated "Family Medicine Practice Management Booklet" was prepared and sent electronically to each of the U of A Family Medicine Residents. This included sample locum tenens contracts, how to start and write a medical legal letter and a checklist of things to do before starting Family Medicine Practice. The generic form of this checklist was adapted with my permission in 2017 and is now part of a Joule Practice Management Module in English and French.

I know it was not the intent of Dr. Schipper to underplay the role of other Family Medicine Preceptors have played in teaching practice management at various family medicine programs prior to this new initiative. I know this since I have read about her own positive experiences and as well she was supportive to me attending the above seminars during her time as as a past Postgraduate Family Medicine Director at the U of A. My point is that there were and are others like myself across Canada quietly preparing Family Medicine Residents for Family Medicine Practice that should not be forgotten.
In addition to this initiative by the CFPC please do not forget to let your Family Medicine Residents, CFPC's First 5 Years in Practice individuals and all Canadian Family Physicians know about other important practice management resources. These are such as through the Canadian Medical Association www.cma.ca (go to Member Resources, choose Resident Resources and slide down to Practice Management). On this site there are multiple modules some similar as those in the initiative but many more that that will help in learning about practice management for family medicine in Canada.

Thank you for reading my comments. Again congratulations on such a fine initiative by the CFPC.