Clinical Tools & Resources

Looking for IPAC/PPE guidelines for your practice?

The OCFP has outlined pandemic-related measures for infection prevention and control, including: screening, masking, PPE, physical distancing, cleaning, and ventilation. Use this resource to reduce the risk of transmission in your office.

Looking for tips on conducting in-office COVID-19 assessments?

The OCFP has listed several tips for assessment of COVID-19 patients in your office. Included are tips for: staff, screening and flow, PPE and cleaning. Use this resource to reduce the risk of transmission in your office.

Need to know how to use N95 respirators in your practice?

The OCFP has summarized key pieces of information regarding the use of N95 respirators in your practice. Use this resource to find out where to order N95s and how to extend their usage.

Looking for guidance to help manage alcohol use disorder in your older patients?

The Canadian Coalition for Seniors Mental Health (CCSMH) created this guideline on the prevention, assessment, and management of alcohol use disorder among older adults. This guideline provides useful guidance for either preventing the development of alcohol use disorder or optimally assessing and treating older individuals who have developed such a disorder.

Need to manage alcohol use disorder and at-risk drinking in your patients?

This clinical review provides evidence-based information and advice on the management of at-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Need a quick-reference tool that summarizes the interventions available to help you manage patients with alcohol use disorder?

This pocket reference contains guidelines and helpful tips to assist you in talking to patients about their alcohol use and managing at-risk drinking and alcohol use disorders.

Looking for information on how to recognize and treat common substance abuse disorders in your patients?

This reference booklet is designed to help you recognize and treat the most common substance use disorders: nicotine, alcohol, and opiods. The booklet provides information on how to screen for each disorder, pharmacoptherapy options, non-pharmacological treatment, withdrawal management, as well as patient and caregiver resources.

Offer your patients an easy to access option for addictions treatment

The Rapid Access Addiction Medicine Clinic (RAAM) provides low barrier access for patients seeking treatment for any substance use disorder. Patients do not need an appointment and are seen on a walk-in basis. This clinic will provide brief counselling, prescribe medications (including anti-craving medications for alcohol and buprenorphine/naloxone for opiate use disorder) and connect patients with community treatment programs.

Help your patients talk about alcohol use with their health care providers

This resource will help your patients to talk about their alcohol use problems with you or other health care professionals. It provides a checklist of items to go through when talking with a health care provider about their problems with alcohol use.

Need to refer your patient to an online recovery support program?

This website offers 24 hour access to patients who need help in recovering from a substance use disorder. The site is completely confidential and provides individuals with positive coping skills and lets them work at their own pace of recovery.

Looking for a low risk alcohol drinking patient handout?

This patient pamphlet offers your patients quick tips on how to limit their alcohol consumption, and describes several alcohol consumption practises that are considered to be lower-risk.

Looking for a brief educational video for your patients on low risk alcohol drinking?

This brief video is intended for patients and summarizes Canada's Low Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines pamphlet. The video describes what a standard drink is, what the guidelines are, and helps patients make more informed decisions around alcohol drinking.

Need to refer your patient to Alcoholics Anonymous to help manage their alcohol use disorder?

Alcoholics Anonymous is a long-standing support resource for people who have problems with their alcohol use. The website offers resources to people who struggle with alcoholism, their family and friends, and even their caregivers.

Need to refer your patient to a SMART recovery program?

SMART Recovery is a global community of people and families working together to resolve addictive problems. The site offers free group discussion meetings, where participants learn from one another using a self-empowering approach based on the most current science of recovery.

Looking for a quality standard on how to identify and manage anxiety disorders?

This quality standard from the National Institue for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) covers identifying and managing anxiety disorders in adults, young people and children in primary, secondary and community care. The standard covers a range of anxiety disorders, and it describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

Looking for guidelines to help you diagnose and treat anxiety in your patients?

These guidelines were developed by Canadian experts in anxiety and related disorders through a consensus process. The guidelines are to assist clinicians with the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety and related disorders by providing practical, evidence-based recommendations.

Need a tool to help you screen for social anxiety disorder in your patients?

The Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) is a 17-item questionnaire developed by the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department at Duke University. It is effective in screening for, and measuring the severity of social anxiety disorder.

Looking for a tool that assesses General Anxiety Disorder?

The GAD-7 anxiety scale is a brief 7-item questionnaire that rapidly assesses the severity of anxiety based on the frequency of experiencing each item over the past 2 weeks.

Looking for a tool to help you assess if your patient has potential PTSD?

The PCL-5 is a 20-item self-report measure that assesses the 20 DSM-5 symptoms of PTSD. The PCL-5 has a variety of purposes, including: 1) monitoring symptom change during and after treatment, 2) screening individuals for PTSD, 3) making a provisional PTSD diagnosis. This tool can be completed by patients in a waiting room prior to a session or by participants as part of a research study.

Looking for a tool to help you assess if your patient has probable PTSD?

The Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) is a 5-item screen that was designed to identify individuals with probable PTSD in primary care settings. The measure begins with an item which assesses lifetime exposure to traumatic events, and if a respondent indicates that they have had any lifetime exposure to trauma, the respondent is instructed to respond to 5 additional yes/no questions about how that trauma exposure has affected them over the past month.

Looking for guidelines to assist you in assessing and treating patients with eating disorders?

This guideline covers assessment, treatment, monitoring and inpatient care for children, young people and adults with eating disorders. It aims to improve the care people receive by detailing the most effective treatments for anorexia nervosa, binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa.

Feeling like the pandemic has you broken?

This brief article provides advice to clinicians on how to approach self-restoration after a sustained pandemic by applying the principles of the Kintsugi Mind: relating, resourcing, repatterning, reprocessing, reflecting, and ritual.

Are your cancer survivor patients feeling worried they will get cancer again?

This questionnaire aims to better understand the experience of worries about cancer recurrence in patients who have been previously diagnosed with cancer. It is a simple 9-question form that asks patients about their thoughts related to cancer recurrence.

Looking for a tool to help you screen your patients for perinatal anxiety?

This tool assesses the degree to which over the previous month, a person has experienced signs of anxiety related to an upcoming or recent birth. The tool contains 31 items, which are rated on frequency of experience over the past month.