The special feature of the Jeffery Hale Clinic is that patients do not necessarily have to see a doctor. Health professionals such as pharmacists, physical therapists and nurses have enhanced powers that allow them to care for patients.
It works great!” says Michaël Larocque, director of Jeffery Hale’s small emergency clinic. I would be surprised if we scratched the model!
The clinic’s year-long pilot project is coming to an end. It ends at the end of May next year. The government will then analyze the results over the summer and autumn to make recommendations. The province will then decide whether to set up similar clinics elsewhere in the province.
Michaël Larocque does not hesitate to point out that the clinic’s clientele would inevitably have ended up in the emergency departments of hospitals in the Quebec region.
“We’re waiting for the ministry [de la Santé] to see if it will be extended, but we have had positive feedback on this project. We know that other regions of Quebec are also interested in setting up smaller emergency clinics. »
– A quote from Michaël Larocque, chief of services at the Jeffery Hale Minor Emergency Clinic
Michaël Larocque is director of the Jeffery Hale Minor Emergency Clinic. He admits it took longer than expected to recruit everyone, but he’s confident the concept will stick.
Photo: Radio Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
The Jeffery Hale Clinic aimed to accommodate 30,000 people in one year. Since May, nearly 20,000 patients have consulted a clinician. The target may therefore not be met, but the clinic’s administration explains that the staffing challenges have delayed the hiring of staff. The clinic has been running at full speed since last fall.
CLI professionalsJeffery Hale small emergency lunch
Open daily from 8am to 8pm.
The spark of change?
Various medical professionals confer behind the scenes at the Jeffery Hale Minor Emergency Clinic. Nurses, doctors, pharmacists … all discuss to solve the small health problems of the patients who come here for advice.
Between 70 and 90 people come to the clinic every day. The small team is trying to prove that Quebec’s healthcare system can do it better – and most importantly, differently – by leveraging their expertise to the full.
Patients who come to the clinic often have a sore throat, urinary tract infection, back pain, or want to renew their medication.
Nurses examine patients at the Jeffery Hale Clinic before referring them to the right healthcare professional. This can be an IPS, a physiotherapist or a pharmacist.
Photo: Radio Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
Thanks to a collective prescription – a kind of special permission from a doctor – other health professionals at the clinic can initiate diagnoses and treatments.
Pharmacist Andrée-Ann Parent can therefore prescribe medicines or adapt prescriptions for diseases that are already known.
I think that our project will be a bit of the initial spark to, among other things, expand the pharmacist’s field of competence in multidisciplinary teams, she says.
The Minor Emergency Clinic Pilot at Jeffery-Hale Hospital
EMISSION ICI PREMIÈRE • First hour
The Minor Emergency Clinic Pilot at Jeffery-Hale Hospital. 9-minute audio content, ICI Premiere broadcast. listen to audio.
Duration of 9 minutes08:36
If the problem is beyond the pharmacist’s abilities, she calls the local doctor.
“100% of the patients are satisfied! They are especially happy to avoid long hours of waiting for a doctor’s visit when I can solve their problem! »
— A quote from Andrée-Ann Parent, pharmacist at the Jeffery Hale Minor Emergency Clinic
The pharmacist points out that the waiting time with her is often a quarter of the waiting time at the doctor’s.
Andrée-Ann Parent is a pharmacist at Jeffery Hale Hospital’s Minor Emergency Clinic. She says her work at the clinic “uses all her expertise well.”
Photo: Radio Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
Quebecers Waiting for a General Practitioner (GAMF)
** As of February 15, 2023
** GAMF: Access to the general practitioner from a single source
The Jeffery Hale Minor Emergency Clinic is designed primarily to serve orphan patients who do not have access to a family doctor. But all patients are accepted.
Kathleen Déry is a nursing assistant and team leader at the Jeffery Hale Minor Emergency Clinic. She explains that her job at the clinic is “stimulating and rewarding” because the nurses can take care of a patient.
Photo: Radio Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
A rewarding job
It’s enriching to be able to look after a patient, breathes Kathleen Déry.
The practical nurse has been working in the clinic since the beginning of the project.
Nurses also play a central role in the clinic as they are the first to assess patients and then direct them to the right healthcare professional.
The trajectories are all different and it requires us to catch even more fire! It becomes really more stimulating for us to work as a team. […] It’s very stimulating to make connections and see people rethinking the healthcare system, explains Kathleen Déry.