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Victoria Family Medical Centre

SITE FACULTY 

• Dr. Valiquet
• Dr. Cookson
• Dr. Grushka
• Dr. Pawelec
• Dr. Wickett

 

INTERESTS OF FACULTY

• Medical Education
• Palliative Care
• Care of the Elderly and Long-Term Care
• Primary Care Procedures
• Emergency Medicine
• POCUS
• Social Determinants of Health
• Addictions
• Medico-legal expert

 

TRAINING SITE/PRACTICE DESCRIPTION

Western University is the birthplace of Family Medicine in Canada, and the Victoria Family Medical Centre (VFMC)is one of the first clinical teaching centers for the discipline in the country.  It is an outpatient clinic of the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and a core Family Medicine training site for Western University. We provide primary care for a population of approximately 5000 socioeconomically diverse patients, and we are located on the east end of London, Ontario.

VFMC has four clinical teaching teams led by experienced and dynamic family physicians who are faculty members at Western University. We practice team-based care that includes collaboration with family practice nursing staff and interprofessional team members from the Thames Valley Family Health Team (TVFHT).  TVFHT staff include a social worker, psychologist, occupational therapist, pharmacist, dietician, and nurse practitioner. The centre also participates in a shared-care mental health program which includes a mental health nurse and psychiatrist who visit the centre weekly.

We practice within a Family Health Organization (FHO) structure with community family physician partners.

PRACTICE EXPERIENCE

The patient population at VFMC is culturally and ethnically diverse with a significant focus on care for vulnerable and marginalized populations. Family medicine residents training at VFMC will gain experience in a wide spectrum of comprehensive family medicine activities including office-based procedures, prenatal and postpartum care, child health, nursing home and long-term care visits, housecalls and hospital as well as home-based palliative care. We also provide care to individuals affiliated with community agencies such as Dale Brain Injury Services and Quintin Warner House- Mission Services addiction treatment centre.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

• Participate in practice-based research and Quality Improvement projects
• Collaborative projects with researchers from other Western departments
• Centre-wide Research Committee which meets bi-monthly to discuss faculty research projects and support resident research and quality improvement projects

EDUCATIONAL/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES

• Faculty to resident ratio of 1:2
• Office-Based Primary Care Procedures: fully equipped procedure room on-site
• Palliative care: at patient’s homes and at Parkwood Institute
• Care of the Elderly: Parkwood Veteran’s Care, Earl’s Court nursing home and Windermere on the Mount residential care
• Addiction treatment: support for Quintin Warner House participants
• Prenatal & Postnatal Care and Women’s Procedures
• Emergency Medicine: opportunity for elective shifts at the Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital ED (one of Western’s community teaching hospitals in the regional stream)
• Teaching opportunities: 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th year medical students at Western
• Academic activities: in-centre educational program for residents including interactive Wednesday morning sessions facilitated by faculty, interprofessional team members and residents, weekly Friday morning teaching rounds
• Practice management: billing seminars, quarterly team-based patient care meetings
• Mentorship: quarterly meetings with faculty advisor

• Office based clinics including procedures
• Long term care/palliative care rounds
• Sign in/sign out weekend rounds
• In-centre and department wide academic half days (Wednesdays)
• Multidisciplinary patient care rounds
• Friday Teaching rounds
• On Call responsibilities:
  • 1 in 8 weekday and 1 in 8 weekends
  • Includes after-hours evening and Saturday clinics