The Ontario Women's Health Council awarded the OCFP a grant to develop a Mainpro® C program on Osteoporosis and Fall Prevention.
This comprehensive medical education program is based on our review of approaches to CME with proven abilities to increase knowledge, improve professional practice and ultimately improve patient health outcomes. The role of the family physician in the prevention, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis's is well established; however, osteoporosis is under diagnosed and undertreated. This program includes a multi-faceted education program that uses a variety of educational methods to inform and change practices amongst medical students, family medicine residents and family/general practitioners (ie. small group cased based sessions). This program focus is on 3 areas - bone health, risk factor assessment, falls and fracture prevention.
The learning objectives of this program include: - Using appropriate strategies to identify high risk patients
- Using diagnostics tests such as the BMD in an appropriate fashion
- Recommending non pharmacological and pharmcological approaches for the prevention and treatment of Osteoporosis in women and men.
Canadian Quality Circle (CQC) Initiative:
The CQC Project is an integrated disease management project to improve adherence to the current Canadian guidelines on the management of women with osteoporosis. Quality Circles provide an opportunity for peers to meet together in small groups to identify, analyze, and find solutions to challenges in osteoporosis management that exist among those who work in the same environment. This program integrates the problem-based small group learning method. Each Quality Circle incorporates a trained Family Physician Facilitator (QC Champion), a local osteoporosis specialist (QC Expert) and 8-12 local Family Physicians (QC Members). Each Quality Circle meets as a group 2-3 times over the course of twelve months for interactive, osteoporosis discussions. In addition, each QC Member completes data collection forms for a selection of patients to track assessment and management of osteoporosis in their practice. To date, there are 44 circles located across Canada.