Dr. Breanna Davis, Associate Medical Clinic, Prince Albert

The $10-million Innovation Fund was negotiated as a key component of the 2022-26 agreement. Twenty‑eight medical clinics across Saskatchewan have received support from the Innovation Fund to better meet the needs of their patients and communities. These projects are helping clinics add team members, improve care, and build stronger, physician-led, team‑based care.

The Saskatchewan Medical Association is profiling individual physicians whose Innovation Fund project ideas are leading change in family medicine in Saskatchewan. Featured is Dr. Breanna Davis of the Associate Medical Clinic in Prince Albert.

Associate Medical Clinic’s Innovation Fund project sees a pharmacist located within the Prince Albert clinic who accepts referrals from the 10 physicians. While the referral includes the area of support needed, the patient and the pharmacist set a goal together.   

The project builds on the successful experience of Dr. Breanna Davis and pharmacist Alex Crawley in Sturgeon Lake First Nation, where they were co-located with a team of providers building ongoing relationships with Indigenous patients. The Sturgeon Lake project demonstrated increased engagement and satisfaction from patients and providers, and improvements in patients adhering to their medications. 

“My hope for this project is to share some of the successes that I have seen working with a clinical pharmacist in the past. I have felt spoiled to get to work in some environments with a pharmacist – in Sturgeon Lake and at the Victoria Hospital – and I felt like every one of my colleagues and patients should get that same opportunity.” 

“It has become obvious that we cannot mass produce family physicians.  The ‘just work harder’ approach has failed. We now realize we need to work smarter, and more efficiently. We have talked about team-based care but now we are trying it on for size and are invested in working through the ups and downs. Our patients are happier, our physicians are happier and our pharmacist is happier.” 

Associate Medical Clinic patients have higher levels of diabetes, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, cancer and palliative care compared with other clinics in the North East Health Network. The pharmacist will focus on diabetes/glucose management, de-prescribing, COPD plan development, drug interaction reviews, reconciling hospital discharge medication, chronic disease education, mental health optimization, and medication cost/access issues. 

“Medicine is evolving faster than anyone can stay on top of, and the complexity of patient care seems to be keeping pace. The cognitive burden of never having an ‘easy’ day as a physician is exhausting. When there is a different perspective, a fresh set of eyes, waiting in the wings to support you, it takes some of that load off.” 

“I have been energized by the support of a pharmacist, the learning, and by finding solutions for difficult problems facing my patients.” 

A pharmacist as part of the team has sparked discussion among clinicians, which is encouraged through monthly lunch and learns. Physicians receive project updates and ongoing education during daily huddles, fostering team building and collaboration.  

“Our team-based approach enhances communication among providers, improves patient-centred medication outcomes, and increases physician satisfaction. It is a win-win that puts team-based care into action in ways that benefit physicians of the clinic and our patients.” 

The following are thoughts from Associate Medical Clinic family physicians from their experience so far: 

• “Working with Alex in a team-based approach has made my job more enjoyable and more rewarding. This makes it easier to see more patients. I feel we are managing my more complex patients, better. Patients seem to feel more confident with management decisions as they are given a lot of time to ask questions about their medications that I wouldn’t be able to answer.”  

• “I like patients having extra consultation time – this saves me time from having to do medicine reviews, improves evidence-based care, and there is great follow-up that also saves me time.”