BackgroundPractice facilitation is a key component of quality improvement in primary healthcare. Studies have reported the effectiveness of practice facilitation in improving quality management and care delivery. However, little has been published about practice facilitators’ training, facilitation activities, and their perceived role in quality improvement in primary healthcare. This study examined practice facilitators’ training and the perceptions of the practice facilitator role in a provincial primary healthcare learning collaborative quality improvement initiative in Ontario, Canada.MethodDescriptive and qualitative methods were used to outline the practice facilitator training as well as to look into the experiences and perceptions of practice facilitators and primary healthcare teams regarding the practice facilitation role in quality improvement. Data collection included training artifacts, activity logs, self-reflection reports, and semi-structured interviews with practice facilitators and primary healthcare participants. Reflections and interviews were analyzed to identify the role of the practice facilitators from their own experience, and from the perspective of the participants. Descriptive statistics were used to learn about categories of facilitation activities undertaken and frequency of these activities.ResultsSixteen practice facilitators and seven family healthcare teams participated in the study. Practice facilitators received a two-day intensive training workshop and continued training. Their time was spent mostly working directly with participating teams, continued learning and training, communications and administration. They served as coaches, resource providers, enablers and motivators. Participating teams expressed satisfaction with the practice facilitator role, although they had hoped this position would provide onsite and hands-on support in conducting activities of quality improvement at the practice level.ConclusionsPractice facilitators played a crucial role in the implementation of quality improvement in Ontario’s learning collaborative program. The practice facilitator role is perceived to be that of a coach, enabler and motivator. This study suggests that the practice facilitator successfully supported participating teams to undertake quality improvement activities in primary healthcare settings.

Stakeholders were much more concerned with how primary care providers would navigate the post-identification period than with early identification itself. Implications of early identification include the need for a team-based approach to identification and to engage broader communities to ensure people live and die well post-identification.

Background: Over 1 million Canadians have class II or III obesity; however, access to weight-loss interventions for these patients remains limited. The purpose of our study was to identify the barriers to accessing medical and surgical weight-loss interventions from the perspectives of 3 groups: family physicians, patients who were referred for weight-loss intervention and patients who were not referred for weight-loss intervention.Methods: Between November 2017 and May 2018, we conducted a qualitative exploratory research study using focus groups with family physicians and interviews with patients with class II or III obesity from 1 region in southern Ontario. We conducted a thematic analysis to identify emergent themes and used the barriers to change theory to classify the similarities and differences between the perspectives of family physicians, referred patients and nonreferred patients in first-and second-order barriers.Results: Seventeen family physicians participated in 7 focus groups (1-4 participants/group), and we interviewed 8 referred patients and 7 nonreferred patients. We identified lack of resource supports, logistics and lack of knowledge about weight-loss interventions as first-order barriers to change, and lack of knowledge about root causes of obesity, lack of patient readiness for change and family physicians' perceptions about surgical weight loss as second-order barriers to change. Family physicians and patients had similar perceptions regarding lack of resource supports in the community, logistical issues, family physicians' lack of knowledge regarding weight-loss interventions, patients' lack of motivation and family physicians' perceptions of bariatric surgery as being high risk. They differed regarding the root cause of obesity, with family physicians attributing obesity to multiple extrinsic and intrinsic causes, whereas patients believed obesity was largely due to intrinsic causes alone.Interpretation: It is important to address first-and second-order barriers to accessing weight-loss interventions through continuing professional development activities for family physicians to help ensure effective and timely treatment for patients with class II or III obesity and related comorbidities. AbstractResearch OPEN CMAJ OPEN, 7(4) E739Affiliations:

Background: Primary care providers (PCPs) are typically the primary contact for patients with obesity seeking medical and surgical weight loss interventions; however, previous studies suggest that fewer than 7% of eligible adult patients are referred to publically funded medical and surgical weight loss interventions (MSWLI)Methods: We performed an anonymous survey study between October 2017 and June 2018 to explore the knowledge, experiences, perceptions, and educational needs of PCPs in Southeastern Ontario in managing patients with class II and III obesity. Results: Surveys were distributed to 591 PCPs (n=538 family physicians; n=53 nurse practitioners) identified as practicing in the Southeastern Ontario and 103 (15.6%) participated. PCPs serving a rural population estimated that 14.2±10.9% of patients would qualify for MSWLI compared to 9.9±8.5% of patients of PCPs serving an urban population (p=.049). Overall, 57.5% of respondents did not feel competent prescribing MSWLI to patients with class II/III obesity, while 69.8% stated they had ‘good’ knowledge of the referral criteria for MSWLI. 22.2% of respondents were hesitant to refer patients for bariatric surgery (BS) due to concerns about postoperative surgical complications and risks associated with surgery. Only 25% of respondents were comfortable providing long-term follow up after BS, and only 39.1% had participated in continuing education on management of patients with class II/III obesity in the past five years. Conclusion: The majority of PCPs believe there is a need for additional education about MSWLI for patients with class II/III obesity. Future studies are needed to develop and compare the effectiveness of additional education and professional development around risks of contemporary BS, indications to consider referral for MSWLI, management and long-term follow-up of patients after BS.