Programs & Services | Family Medicine | School of Medicine

One of the many advantages of being a patient at the Queen’s Family Health Team is the variety of programs and services available to you. All programs are covered by OHIP.

Consultation with a Dietitian

The Family Health Team registered dietitian is a professionally recognized expert in food and nutrition who helps individuals and their families make healthy nutrition and lifestyle choices.

Our registered dietitian can answer your questions about:

· The best way to eat to manage diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure

· Adjusting your diet to manage symptoms of IBS using the LowFODMAP diet

· Ensuring you choose foods to provide all the nutrients you need when following a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle

· How to manage your diet after being diagnosed with a food allergy or intolerance

· Eating well when you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy

· Feeding your child

· General recommendations about fuelling your body when engaging in sports

· Weight management

· Healthy diet

When answering your questions, the focus is always on making practical nutrition recommendations you can apply to your own lifestyle.

The Queen’s Family Health Team offers a point-of-care anti-coagulation clinic for patients who are taking anti-coagulation medication (e.g. warfarin, often known as Coumadin). The clinic is co-ordinated by our nurse and pharmacist to work with patients to monitor lab and point-of-care results (e.g. blood samples that are collected and processed on-site), adjust medication, and educate patients and their family members.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapists are highly trained health care professionals who enable individuals to lead independent and satisfying lives by developing the skills for the occupations of living.

Services typically include:

Customized treatments and programs aimed at improving abilities to carry out the activities of daily living (e.g. bathing, dressing, feeding oneself, homemaking, leisure activities, etc.)
Comprehensive evaluation of home and job environments and recommendations for adaptations to improve abilities and/or reduce the risk of injury
Assessment and treatment for performance skills (those skills/components required to perform activities)
Prescription and education in the use of adaptive equipment or aids

Smoking Cessation

The Queen’s Family Health Team has launched the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation, a program developed at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Members of our clinical team have completed specialized training in smoking cessation counselling and are available to meet with patients to discuss options and strategies for reducing or quitting smoking.

As part of this program, patients receive ongoing intervention and follow-up, in person and over the phone. As a result of a partnership with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, we are also able to offer free nicotine replacement therapy to patients enrolled in this program. For more information, please call us or speak to your health care provider at your next appointment.

* You do not need to have a firm quit date before meeting with one of our counsellors. Many patients meet with a counsellor simply to investigate their options and determine when they might be ready to quit.

Memory Clinic

The Memory Clinic is a multidisciplinary team that assesses patients with memory concerns. This is done with a variety of cognitive testing and other tools with both the patient and their family. The goal is to provide a comprehensive assessment or diagnosis of cognitive concerns to aid the family physician in the care of the patient along with providing the framework for the caregivers and the patient to help them on their journey.

For many, memory loss conditions, early diagnosis and treatment can help to maintain independent living and quality of life for as long as possible.

Our Memory Clinic Team comprises three family physicians, registered nurses, an occupational therapist, a pharmacist, and a representative from the Alzheimer Society.

The Memory Clinic is held once a month at 145 Station Street. Each appointment will take approximately 3 hours. Patients are required to bring along a family member or someone who knows them well; this will help ensure a thorough assessment.

If you would like an assessment by the Memory Clinic, please speak to your family physician.

Falls Prevention

Our pharmacist and occupational therapists facilitate a Falls Prevention Clinic. This clinic provides a multi-factoral falls assessment and thorough medication review. This clinic is geared towards patients who:

- Have fallen or almost fallen within the last 12 months

- Worry about falling

- Feel unsteady on their feet

Pharmacist Services

Our pharmacist helps to provide comprehensive medication therapy management through patient centered pharmaceutical care by working in partnership with patients and caregivers to ensure safe and effective medication therapy using a collaborative team-based approach.

Services our pharmacist provides:

General comprehensive medication assessments and reviews
Chronic disease management (e.g. chronic pain, COPD, diabetes, heart failure, hypertension)
Specific programs focused on high risk medications and medication deprescribing where appropriate (e.g. anticholinergics, opioids, sedative-hypnotics)
Care for vulnerable patient populations at risk of adverse events (e.g. post-hospitalization, elderly with polypharmacy, those requiring healthcare system navigation)
Education to patients, caregivers, family physicians, other health professionals and learners

System Navigator

The role of the system navigator is to help patients navigate the health care system, especially community supports and resources. The system navigator is the lead for Health Links patients and works with these patients to create coordinated care plans.

Lung Health | Spirometry Clinic

Patients who answer “yes” to any number of questions on the Canadian Lung Health Test can be referred for a spirometry test.

Click here to view the Canadian Lung Health Test.

The purpose of spirometry is to confirm diagnosis' such as asthma and COPD, with the goal of improving patient self-management of symptoms. By learning to better control COPD, patients can avoid ER visits and hospital admissions.

If you feel that you would benefit from a spirometry test, please speak with your physician regarding a referral.

24-hr Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is a clinical tool for collecting multiple blood pressure measurement to better assist clinicians with the diagnosis and management of hypertension.