Top-performing medical clinics: Here are four reasons for their success
The most accessible clinics, which managed to offer up to 100,000 appointments to their patients in the last year, have implemented several common measures to improve their efficiency. Here are the main ones:
• Also read: Discover the 10 medical clinics that have given the most appointments over the past year
At least 20 doctorsDue to hospital or CHSLD obligations and holidays, a large pool of family doctors is needed to offer so many appointments.
"That's what it will take in 2025. There must always be around ten of them on duty, every day," calculates Dr. Georges Zaarour of District Medical in Montreal.
"There's strength in numbers," says Dr. André Berdnikoff of the Pierre-Boucher Medical Clinic in Longueuil, which has 44 physicians. This means there are always doctors there providing follow-ups, emergency walk-ins, or offering quick appointments for clinic patients whose doctor is absent, for example.
• Also watch this video podcast from Alexandre Dubé 's show, broadcast on QUB platforms and simultaneously on 99.5 FM Montréal:
Most medical clinics have nurses in charge of triage, asking initial questions about the reason for the appointment and taking vital signs. Provided by the government to GMFs, they allow doctors to be more efficient. However, the number of these nurses remains insufficient, which is why many clinics hire their own teams.
Dr. Jean-Daniel Lalande of the Mieux-Être Medical Center emphasizes that nurses are present even on weekends, which motivates doctors to work on these days.
One of the waiting rooms at the Pierre-Boucher Medical Clinic in Longueuil, late in the afternoon on June 18. Photo by Hugo Duchaine
In Longueuil, Dr. André Berdnikoff indicates that some colleagues and he himself pay out of their own pockets for a nursing assistant to support them.
Effective platformsNo more wasted time waiting on the phone for an appointment; clinics that offer more than 100,000 appointments per year have fast online appointment systems.
Many clinics now offer scheduled appointments at various times throughout the day. Wellness centers have their own "patient portal" where you can book appointments up to two months in advance with your doctor.
Operating in a more traditional way, the Pierre-Boucher Medical Clinic deploys a small army of telephone operators and secretaries for patients who still prefer to call.
Several rooms at the same time and specialists nearbyMore and more clinics are being designed to have more consulting rooms than doctors. As a result, there is always a turnover of patients ready to be examined.
The buildings also house outpatient services provided by specialists, and they share the same office space. "We know each other, we pick up the phone, and the patient is seen. It's a fantastic convenience," says Dr. Berdnikoff.
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LE Journal de Montreal
