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Clinical Care | Office Readiness
How-tos, checklists, decision trees and other practical tips, including for patients with special conditions; assessment and testing tools; support for operating your practice; considerations for in-office care
Screening
Active screening: By phone | Passive screening: Office signage
Virtual Care
Directive #2 is opening up in-person care, with details outlined in the Health Sector Restart document, yet it is VIRTUAL FIRST for the foreseeable future.
- Symptom list of COVID-19
- COVID-19 Remote Consultations - Quick guide to assessing patients by video or voice call (BMJ)
- CFPC/CMA Virtual Care Playbook Guide for Providers
- CMA/CFPC/Royal College Virtual Care Guide for Patients
- CPSO's COVID-19 FAQs for Physicians
- Toolkit for Telehealth and Palliative Care (Centre to Advance Palliative Care)
- OCFP's COVID-19 Messages for the Public
Chronic Diseases - Managing Virtually
- Is it COVID-19 or Is it Heart Failure? Management of Ambulatory Heart Failure Patients (Canadian Cardiovascular Society)
- Tips, pitfalls and red flags for family physicians caring for patients with cardiovascular disease during the COVID-19 pandemic (Canadian Cardiovascular Society)
- Remote Congestive Heart Failure and Diabetes Management (Simcoe Diabetes Cardio Renal Clinic)
- Managing type 2 diabetes during COVID-19: a guide for primary care providers (CEP, Diabetes Canada, DFCM UofT)
- Rapid guidance in treating patients with asthma during COVID-19 - position statement (Canadian Thoracic Society)
- Rapid guidance in treating patients with COPD during COVID-19 - position statement (Canadian Thoracic Society)
In-Person Care
Detailed considerations for setting up for in-person care
- How to Collect a Nasopharyngeal Specimen - video (NEJM Procedure video: Collection of Nasopharyngeal Speciments with the Swab Technique)
- How to Collect a Nasopharyngeal Swab (Ottawa Public Health)
- Preparing to Resume In-person Care: A COVID-19 checklist for community-based practices (OMA - June 2020)
- Guide to Re-opening Your Office (Southwest area of OH West)
Summary information for in-person care
- Considerations for In-person Visits When Phone/Video Isn't Enough - two-page summary (OCFP – updated January 2021)
- Practice Tips for In-office Assessments (OCFP – December 2020)
- Re-introduction of In-office Primary Care (Southwest area of OH West)
- Post-COVID Primary Care Reboot? (Drs. Kim Wintemute and Guylène Thériault in CFP)
- Ramping-up In-person Office Visits in Primary Care in the Aftermath of COVID-19 (Dr. Tara Kiran in CMAJ)
- Immunization/prenatal schedule | Infographic (St. Michael’s Hospital)
- PPE and Infection Control for In-office Assessments | Healthcare Provider Precautions - two-page summary (OCFP)
- Environmental Cleaning and Disinfectants for Physicians’ Offices (BC Centre for Disease Control | BC Ministry of Health)
- Masks: Key Tips for Wear and Disposal (one-pager)
- How to Remove Disposable Gloves (Govt of Canada) (Described video with transcription)
- Key Tips for Sanitizing Your Mobile Phone
COVID-19 Care
Most family physician offices are NOT performing COVID swabs. If you do swab in office:
- Wear gowns, gloves, eye protection and surgical masks
- Follow Public Health Ontario’s testing procedures to safely collect and send appropriate specimens for COVID-19 to PHO
- If using a community lab, such as LifeLabs or Dynacare, call to let them know you have COVID-19 swabs to send. Often, swabs must be packaged in a container provided by the lab (driver) at the time of pick up.
More testing information: