The most accessible clinics, which have managed to offer up to 100,000 meetings to their patients in the past year, have implemented several common measures that improve their effectiveness. Here are the main ones:
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At least 20 doctors
Due to the obligations in the hospital or in the CHSLD and the leave, it takes a large pool of family doctors to offer so many appointments.
“This is what it takes in 2025. There must always be ten in office, every day,” calculates the Dr Georges Zaarour from medical district in Montreal.
“This is the strength of the number,” pleads the Dr André Bernikoff of the Pierre-Boucher medical clinic in Longueuil, which has 44 doctors. Thus, there are constant doctors who make follow-ups, emergencies without appointment or who offer quick time slots for clinical patients whose doctor would be absent, for example.
Many nurses
Most medical clinics have nurses responsible for sorting, asking the first questions about the meeting reason and taking vital signs. Supplied by the government to GMFs, they allow doctors to be more effective. But the number of these nurses remains insufficient, which is why several clinics hire their own team.
The Dr Jean-Daniel Lalande of the well-being medical center stresses that nurses are present even the weekend, which motivates doctors to work during these days.
One of the waiting rooms of the Pierre-Boucher medical clinic in Longueuil, at the end of the afternoon on June 18.
Photo Hugo Duchaine
In Longueuil, the Dr André Bernikoff indicates that some colleagues and himself pay an auxiliary nurse from their pocket to support them.
Effective platforms
No more time lost to wait on the phone to hope for an appointment, clinics that offer more than 100,000 meetings per year have quick online meetings.
Several clinics are now giving off time slots at various times during the day. Well-being centers have their own “patient portal” where it is possible to make an appointment, up to two months in advance with your doctor.
Operating more older, the Pierre-Boucher medical clinic deploys a small army of telephone operators and secretaries for patients who still prefer calls.
Several rooms at the same time and specialists nearby
More and more clinics are designed to have more consultation rooms than doctors. Thus, there is always a rolling of patients ready to be examined.
The buildings also welcome external consultation services provided by specialists and we share the same offices there. “We know each other, we take the phone and the patient is seen. It is a fantastic convenience, ”argues the Dr Berdnikoff.
