Primary Health Care Practice Support tools and resources provide practical supports to help primary health care providers and teams strengthen how care is delivered in their day-to-day work.
These supports are designed to help teams apply new approaches, improve workflows, and build more efficient, patient-centred systems of care.
What to Expect
Tools and resources are designed for self-directed use and are grounded in real-world practice. They support teams in understanding their current state, identifying opportunities for improvement, and making meaningful changes at their own pace.
Through these supports, providers and teams can:
- Better understand their patients and practice population
- Improve clinic workflows and efficiency
- Strengthen team-based approaches to care
- Apply evidence-informed strategies in practice
Resources are available in a variety of formats, including toolkits, guides, and practice supports that can be used independently or as a team.
Explore Our Practice Support Tools and Resources
These tools and resources are part of a broader approach to practice support across Nova Scotia. They are designed to complement programs, workshops, and quality improvement initiatives, helping teams continue to strengthen care over time.
Attachment and Panel Identification
Panel identification is a foundational element of high-performing primary health care teams working in a health home model. It supports teams to better understand their patient panel, proactively manage and support a defined population, provide more efficient care, and improve provider satisfaction and work-life balance. These practice supports were co-designed and tested with local nurse practitioners and include tools and resources to help identify, monitor, and maintain patient panels. Click here to learn more.
Enhanced Access and Efficiency
The Enhanced Access and Efficiency practice support strategy aims to help teams address common challenges such as long wait times, busy clinics, and increasing demands related to chronic disease management. Using evidence-based approaches from Advanced Access scheduling and efficiency strategies, this support focuses on reducing delays, improving clinic workflows, increasing capacity for same-day appointments, enhancing the patient experience, and supporting better work-life balance for providers and teams. Click here to learn more.
Substance Use Health and Trauma-Informed Care Practice Support Program
This practice support provides educational training, clinical tools, and resources to support substance use health and trauma-informed care in primary health care. It reflects a spectrum-based understanding of substance use and supports providers to incorporate evidence-based approaches into practice, improving confidence in caring for patients who use substances. Click here to learn more.
Social Prescribing
The Social Prescribing Practice Support Program supports primary health care providers and teams to build knowledge and awareness of social prescribing and how this approach can enhance care by connecting patients to community-based supports that address social and environmental factors impacting health. Click here to learn more.
Group Medical Visits (GMVs)
Group Medical Visits are an innovative strategy to deliver efficient, quality health care to groups of patients with similar health needs. By organizing care to optimize the time spent by providers and patients, GMVs can improve access to care while maintaining quality. Evidence suggests this model supports high patient and provider satisfaction and increases access to care. Click here to learn more.
