Dear Patient,
Welcome to Panorama Wellness Centre and to my practice.
I am committed to providing excellent primary patient care. My special interest is in optimizing patient experience through continuous improvement of the practice. As a result, our clinic policies below will change based on our shared experience and feedback from staff and patients.
Best regards,
Dr. Anwar Abudieh, MD CCFP
Booking an appointment
Please contact our office to schedule your appointment as needed. Additionally, you have the option to arrange your follow-up appointment at the conclusion of your visit, based on your discussion with the doctor. When making your appointment, our Patient Services Associate will inquire about the reason for your visit. This information is crucial for our planning process and helps reduce your wait time. For instance, if you’re visiting due to urinary symptoms, knowing in advance allows us to process your urine sample before your appointment, leading to a quicker and more informative visit for an accurate diagnosis. Similarly, if you’re here for high blood pressure concerns, the doctor can review your blood work beforehand and coordinate additional testing to maximize the effectiveness of your visit.
What to bring for your appointment
- Your OHIP card (Ontario Health Insurance Plan; green health card). Please note that without this card, we would have to charge for the visit.
- List of your medications (you can get this from your pharmacy) or alternatively your medication bottles. This list is crucial in ensuring your safety and would allow your doctor to prescribe the correct medication.
- Your medical information. For example, you may have received a Hospital Discharge Report if you have been hospitalized recently. This information is quite useful for the doctor to know as it will guide your care.
- List of your specialists. This list can be quite helpful because we can refer to the same specialist if needed.
Checking in
Please plan to arrive 10-15 minutes ahead of your scheduled appointment time. Upon arrival, our Patient Services Associate will confirm your OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) coverage and verify your contact details before accompanying you to the waiting area. Depending on the nature of your visit, you may be requested to complete a health questionnaire or provide additional information before your consultation with the doctor. Rest assured, our team will assist and guide you throughout this process. It’s important to note that if you arrive significantly late, we may need to reschedule your appointment.
Your visit
We believe that it is important to have a thorough assessment for each health concern. As a result, we do ask to focus each visit on the main issue that brought you to clinic that day. You may feel that another issue can be addressed quickly because it seems like a simple request. However, your doctor does not wish to provide you with a quick answer without actually providing a full assessment. This is important for your safety. Therefore, we do ask to please focus on the one issue per visit. We thank you for your understanding.
Prescription Renewals
Your doctor will try to prescribe a sufficient supply of medication that aligns with the time until your next appointment. Additionally, efforts will be made to synchronize long-term medication prescriptions to expire simultaneously. It’s crucial to schedule regular in-clinic visits with your doctor before medication renewals, as this provides an appropriate opportunity to reassess your health status.
Please be mindful of your medication supply and plan ahead to prevent running out. Bringing a complete list of your medications or the actual medication containers to your appointment is advisable. It’s important to note that renewing medications remotely, without an in-clinic visit, is considered an uninsured service and may incur a charge.
Requests for referrals
Please note that your family doctor is an expert in providing primary care services. Referrals to specialists will, of course, be used if deemed appropriate. However, your family doctor may feel that the issue you are presenting with is something that does not require involving a specialist and can instead be managed at our clinic. For example, some patients request a referral to a dermatologist for moles that appear to be quite benign. Your doctor may provide a different plan instead of pursuing a referral right away. We ask to please keep an open mind. Also, some referral cannot be made without doing the initial investigations first, such as bloodwork and imaging. These investigations would provide a more thorough assessment that makes a referral request more complete and would actually expedite the process. It may also uncover issues that need to be dealt with sooner.
Same Day Urgency
Your family doctor will keep same day appointments available in order to ensure you have good access to our clinic. Please note that these appointments are meant for urgent issues only. Please respect your fellow patients by not booking at the last minute for a non-urgent issue.
Medical Education
Your doctor may participate in medical education by supervising medical students or resident physicians. They are members of our health care team and will all be supervised appropriately. You always have the option of declining to be seen by one of these providers; however, these providers are excellent at being thorough and may actually bring a fresh eye to your health concern. As a result, this may be a good opportunity to help these trainees along their medical education journey and also ensure that you are receiving the best possible care.
Antibiotics
At Panorama Medical Clinic, our approach is grounded in evidence-based medicine. Your doctor will prescribe antibiotics when appropriate, such as for conditions like skin infections, pneumonia, or UTIs. However, for certain infections, antibiotics may not be suitable and could potentially lead to adverse effects like gastrointestinal discomfort, diarrhea, skin rash, or even allergic reactions.
For instance, the common cold is primarily caused by viruses that manifest as symptoms like a sore throat, cough, runny nose, and chest congestion. Antibiotics target bacteria, not viruses, and therefore are not effective in treating the common cold. Your doctor will recommend alternative treatments to help alleviate these symptoms and provide guidance on your recovery process, including when to seek further medical attention if your condition does not improve.
Opioid and Sedative Medications
Medications like Percocet, oxycodone, hydromorphone, morphine, Tylenol #3, tramadol, and similar narcotics are intended for short-term use, typically for acute conditions such as severe injuries or trauma. Prolonged use of these medications carries a significant risk of side effects.
If your doctor deems it unsuitable to continue these medications for an extended period, they may choose not to prescribe them. However, if you’ve already been using these medications chronically, your doctor may recommend a gradual and safe tapering-off process.
If a doctor does prescribe these medications, you will need to sign a contract and participate in regular urine drug testing. Any breach of the contract would result in these medications being reduced, more tightly controlled, or stopped altogether.
The same stipulations apply to two major classes of sedative medications: benzodiazepines (lorazepam, diazepam, oxazepam, etc.) and the “Z-drugs” (zopiclone, zolpidem, etc.). There are significant consequences to long-term use of these medications and the circumstances that warrant this are exceedingly rare. If you are experiencing difficulties with sleep or anxiety, your doctor would be happy to discuss this with you and find another solution.
Your Past Medical Records
It is helpful to obtain copies of your past medical records, especially if you have any significant medical issues. This can be done by completing an authorization to release information form at the front desk. The Patient Services Representative will then send the form to your previous doctor(s) and/or hospital(s) to request the information. Sometimes your past doctor(s) and/or hospital(s) charge a fee to you for this service. You are responsible for paying this fee. However, this information can be important to your health care.
Non-Insured Services
Medicare covers most, but not all, medical treatments and services. Some common examples of services which are not covered include forms for school, work or insurance purposes, Driver’s Physicals, cosmetic procedures (e.g. skin tag removal, some wart treatments), TB skin testing, and some vaccinations. You are responsible for the payment of these services. We have a list of these services with the pricing for each item. You can ask your Patient Services Representative for a copy.
Forms
If you have a form to be filled out, please let the staff know when you book your appointment. Please make sure that you fill out all the sections that are “to be filled out by the applicant.” Some forms are quite simple, but others cannot be filled out at the time of the visit. Usually, forms can be filled out within 1-2 weeks, but it depends on the form. Please allow plenty of time for your doctor to complete your forms. In rare occasions, your doctor may feel that further information (such as testing or a specialist opinion) is needed before completing the form.
Sincerely,
Dr. Anwar Abudieh, MD, CCFP