UBC Objectives: Family Medicine, UBC Objectives: Care of Children + Adolescents, UBC Objectives: Mental Health, UBC Objectives: Collaborator & Priority Topic: Disability

By the end of postgraduate training, using a patient-centred approach and appropriate selectivity, a resident, considering the patient's cultural and gender contexts, will be able to...

• Describe community-based care resources and rehabilitation services available
• Monitor and coordinate care of children with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or serious disease, using available community supports as necessary
• Identify mental health resources in the community and appropriately connect people to these resources
  
• Use referrals, support networks and community resources as part of a patient-centred management plan

Disability
Key Feature 1: Determine whether a specific decline in functioning (ex: social, physical, emotional) is a disability for that specific patient.
Skill: Patient Centered, Clinical Reasoning
Phase: Diagnosis

Today I spent the afternoon in my home family clinic. Within 3 hours of seeing patients, I had developed management plans that included referrals to at least 3 different allied health care professionals, which is pretty standard in a comprehensive family practice. Community resources and professional supports can be extensive in urban centres such as Vancouver, so it really is beneficial to ask patients about what sorts of limitations their medical issues are creating for them - be they social, physical, or emotional - in order to access an extensive network of supports that can make a world of difference. I have always been asking my preceptor whom I am working with if they have a go-to professional or community resource in the indicated area, but it's about time I start building my own database of community-based resources and rehabilitation services to refer patients to. Thanks to a formal lecture given to my cohort of residents near the start of residency, I have some excellent resources to get me headed down a path of less resistance in order to suffice and surpass my patient's allied health and community resource needs. The online resources that I find particularly glorious for (resident) physicians working in British Columbia:

No more excuses for me! Time to explore the options, find some health allies, and be resourceful in this province ripe with community support services.