The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Section on General & Family Practice (SGFP) held a media conference today to announce the launch of its first ever media campaign. The campaign, which begins this week and includes print ads in the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail, as well as Maclean's Magazine, focuses on the issue of patient safety. The advertisements invite patients to visit an interactive website in order to share their healthcare experiences. Various other materials - including posters and patient handouts - will be available in family doctors' offices across the province. Section Chair Dr. David Bridgeo was joined at the media conference by SGFP Vice Chair Dr. Ross Male and the Chair of Public Relations and Communications Dr. Jim Stewart.
"Patient safety is of vital importance to all of us," Dr. Bridgeo said, "That's why the Section on General & Family Practice of the Ontario Medical Association has decided to launch its first ever media campaign here today. And while not an attack on either government or other healthcare provider groups, the campaign does ask our patients in no uncertain terms to stop and think about the decisions that are being made by government, and how they will affect patient care and ultimately patient safety."
Dr. Bridgeo went on to say that while family doctors acknowledge government faces a number of challenges when it comes to maintaining and reinvigorating our healthcare system, it is patently absurd to think that nurse practitioners can replace family doctors, or that pharmacists have the education and experience to prescribe medications. No matter how hard government tries to convince the public, Dr. Bridgeo continued, they will never succeed in fooling patients into believing that quality of care will not suffer and patient safety will not be at risk as a result of their actions. It is like comparing family doctors to airplane pilots. While it might be true that you only need the pilot for take-offs, landings and emergencies, how many people would be comfortable having someone with less education, training and experience replacing pilots for the entire flight?
"For several years now, government has been preoccupied with 'transforming' our healthcare system," Dr. Male said. "As part of their transformation agenda, they have consistently gone ahead and made changes without consulting frontline family doctors. We believe this is a mistake. As the tagline in our advertisements says, we are 'the educated voice in healthcare'. No other group has the kind of training and education that family doctors do when it comes to diagnosis and treatment. Government would be wise to remember this before charging ahead and blindly making changes to our healthcare system."