To help ensure that your experience is positive, the West Carleton Family Health Team offers the following tips to help you prepare for your medical appointment.
Appointment Arrival and Check-in It is important that you arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment so that we have time to gather important health information or complete necessary forms or procedures prior to your appointment. In the winter months, please bring indoor shoes with you to help keep our facilities clean and ensure you do not need to walk around the office in your socks.
Missed Appointment Policy We understand that appointments sometimes need to be changed, so we ask that you call at least 24 hours in advance if you cannot keep your scheduled appointment. Patients more than 15 minutes late OR more than half way through the scheduled appointment time will be considered a missed appointment (ie more than 5 minutes late to a 10 minute appointment), and applicable administration fees will apply. Please read our complete Missed Appointment Policy.
Review of Symptoms Be prepared to discuss your symptoms with your healthcare provider. Write down all of the issues you would like to cover during your visit. Begin with the most bothersome issue. This will allow your provider to get a clear picture of your major concerns.
What is your main symptom/concern?
How long have you had it?
How often and when does it occur?
What makes it better or worse (e.g., activity, medication, stress)?
Is it associated with other symptoms?
Have other people in your family experienced similar health problems?
Has this problem been addressed by another physician or medical center?
What to Bring to your Appointment
You must bring your valid OHIP card (swipe your card at the kiosk for accelerated check-in)
All prescription and over-the-counter medication in original bottles (including supplements/vitamins) or a list of your medications, including the name and dose of each one
Adults and children should bring their complete immunization record
Completed health questionnaires (if asked by your provider prior to the appointment)
A list of any questions or concerns you would like to cover during your visit (see above)
Types of Appointments We categorize appointments into three types: Acute-appointments are those that you make when you are not feeling well. Examples would include: respiratory infection, abdominal pain, or any new symptoms that you are experiencing. Follow-up appointments are for chronic medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or arthritis. Preventive visits include comprehensive physical exams that will allow for immunizations and referral for screening such as a mammogram, colonoscopy or bone densitometry. It is also a good time to discuss general health questions and concerns.
Upon booking, you will need to tell the receptionist the reason for your visit so they can book the appointment appropriately.
Same Day Appointments We keep some appointments open for patients who need to be seen that day. If you feel your symptoms need to be addressed urgently, please call us as early as possible so that we can schedule a time to see you.
AI Scribe Use in Office Our clinic is using new artificial intelligence (AI) solution called an AI scribe. It is a technology that helps us during patient visits by preparing notes based on our conversations with you. This allows doctors to focus more on patients and less on taking notes. What is an AI Scribe?
An AI scribe is an application that makes a temporary audio recording and transcript of your discussion and creates a draft summary “note” for your doctor based on your conversation. This note will be reviewed and edited as needed by your doctor and becomes part of your electronic medical record.
How will this affect you?
If you agree, your doctor will begin using the AI scribe at the start of your visit. Based on the conversation, the AI scribe will create a summary note of the conversation. The AI scribe does not make decisions about your care - it only summarizes your conversation and the observations your doctor has made. After your visit, your doctor will review information drafted by the AI scribe to make sure it is accurate and complete.
Privacy
AI scribe vendors must comply with Ontario’s privacy laws and other legal requirements in order to safeguard your personal health information. The AI scribe solution uses encryption to communicate with an AI model to protect personal health information. Once your doctor approves the final note, it is pasted in your electronic medical record. We have required that any temporary audio recording and transcript are securely deleted once the note is edited and finalized by your doctor.
Risks Associated with AI Scribes
While safeguards are in place to protect your personal health information and comply with Ontario’s privacy laws, there are always some risks. These include possible inaccuracies in documentation, including how information is captured or processed, biases, or misuse of data despite safeguards.
Biases in AI tool outputs can result when the language model is trained on dataset which contain inherent biases (such as algorithmic or cognitive biases), or because the data used is not sufficiently diverse, representative, or to the best extent possible, free of errors.
Your personal health information is protected under Ontario’s privacy laws (PHIPA), and our clinic is committed to maintaining the security, accuracy, and confidentiality of your information. Ultimately, it is your doctor’s obligation to review and make any corrections to your record and patient notes. Your doctor is required to review and edit notes to ensure their accuracy and completeness before finalizing. If you have further questions or concerns, please speak with your doctor.
Your Consent The use of the AI scribe during your visit is completely voluntary. Your doctor will ask you if you agree to the use of the AI scribe during your visit. You are not required to agree to the use of an AI scribe. You can also change your mind at any time by telling your doctor if you do not want the AI scribe to be used going forward. The quality of care you receive will not be impacted.
