Why Screening?

Improvement Facilitator Training Session 1 Day 1

Objectives

• To understand why the focus is on screening and prevention

Why Screening?

TOP Data

Family physicians do a good job of screening patients – when patients book screening appointments!

About 1/3 of patients with physicians do not present for screening

The “Gap” in Screening

Process Change

Panel Identification and Continuity

Opportunistic and/or Outreach Methods

Hyp

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Dys

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Cerv

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Exer

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Toba

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Alco

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Screening

Flu

Vacc

ine

What we know…

Good things happen when provider and patient come together for

screening

Whether “opportunistically”…

“While you’re here…”

… or through “outreach”

The Clinic

The Patient

“We invite you…”

Aren’t these the least ill patients??

“Studies indicate that most cardiovascular deaths occur in patients who were never diagnosed with vascular disease”

National Post, February 24 2013

• These are tomorrow’s seriously ill patients.

• “I wish we had caught this earlier.”

Summary

• Improving screening rates now can prevent serious illness later

• More than 1/3 of attached Alberta patients aren’t being screened

• We need to look at different strategies for screening than we’ve used in the past