As family physicians begin to expand their use of in-person care during the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians are now being asked to determine which patient care services should be conducted in-person and which should be conducted by phone/video.
As all of us are learning how to deliver care in the midst of this pandemic, we have created some decision-making tools to assist you in honing your clinical judgement.
1. How do you balance the benefits and risks of providing in-person or virtual care for patients?
- Beyond Essential Services in Primary Care provides a framework to assist with this question, based on the work of Dr. Tara Kiran and the BC Health Quality Matrix.
2. What is the most appropriate modality for each patient care service?
- Determining Clinical Appropriateness for Virtual Care Visits provides guidance for how to approach this question, based on recommendations from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC) and the CMA Virtual Care Playbook.
We encourage you to use these tools along with The Doctor is In: Recommendations for expanding in-person care in community-based physician practices.
Photo by Janine Robinson on Unsplash