The future is bright for Blue Sky Family Medicine!

If you Google “blue sky clinic Poteryko,” you will see that way back in 2018, we (with two young, bright Family Doctors) presented the fundamental concepts of the Blue Sky Family Medicine clinic (and the Primary Care Plus model of care with compartmentalization of roles (hospital, community/triage and clinic) and triad-care practices, see blog post Nanaimo Has Too Many Family Physicians…) to the rest of the province via a GPSC-sponsored webinar. We chatted about the importance of Relational Medicine versus Transactional Medicine and many other ways to make Family Medicine thrive in community again.

https://www.jcc-resourcecatalogue.ca/en/permalink/divisionresource1118

Some of the groundwork came from a research paper written by another two bright, young UBC Family Practice residents (Chris Yeker and Jesse Wolfe) about the Perceived Barriers to Full-Service Family Practice: A Survey of Family Practice Residents (we watched in awe as Principal Investigator or PI).

And lastly, every January during a UBC Family Medicine Residency Behavioural Medicine teaching session we do a Russian engineering exercise called a TRIZ with the first year (R1) Family Practice residents. It’s a great way to get a healthier perspective and find solutions for an ailing primary care and healthcare system. The residents teach me! We start with the Black Sky (all the things that don’t and won’t work in the current medical system) and then move on to a Blue and Better Sky with realistic and specific solutions. It is always so fun and inspiring.

The sad truth is that this concept clinic was ready to help and heal the community way back in 2018. It has had little support from government and local bureaucratic organizations. Some have said that this innovative, creative and holistic approach to Family Medicine is “ahead of the curve.”

Let us know when the curve catches up…

Peace.