The program offers focused, accredited training sessions for physicians and their medical office assistants (MOAs) to help them improve practice efficiency and to support enhanced delivery of patient care. The goals of the PSP are to improve physician professional satisfaction and patient access to, and quality of, care. Includes accredited learning modules in Patient Self-Management and Group Medical Visits and Health Literacy. Six- to eight-week action periods follow each learning session and are a time when PSP participants try out what they’ve learned in their own practice with the Regional Support Teams available to provide ongoing support.
The goal of this learning module is to enable GPs and their staff to help patients take a bigger role in managing their own health. This requires building the patient’s confidence in their ability to change and to adopt healthier behaviours. Through this module, physicians learn how to help patients identify behaviours they are prepared to change and how to help them develop a plan for changing those behaviours, one step at a time.
Physicians also learn how to: assist patients in setting goals for self-directed changes of behavior;
provide consistent evaluation of patient self-management plans; and educate patients about healthy lifestyles and behaviours. After completing the Patient Self-management module, physicians and MOAs will be able to:
- help patients set goals to facilitate self-directed behaviour change;
- provide patient support for solving daily problems;
- conduct consistent patient evaluation and follow up of self-management plans; and
- educate patients on healthy lifestyles and behaviours.
In addition to the self-management module itself, other modules also incorporate self-management support as an important change management component. For example, the Mental Health module includes a number of tools such as mood-enhancing practices, relaxation techniques, and other cognitive behavioural skills practices. Similar tools are also included in the Child and Youth Mental Health module, which emphasizes behavioural interventions over pharmaceutical approaches.
The Chronic Disease Management module is based on the Care Model, where self-management support is one of the major strategies to improve patient care and health outcomes.
For more information, please visit http://www.gpscbc.ca/psp/practice-support-program