By Maud-Christine Chouinard
Greetings from the NAPCRG Conference in beautiful Banff! I am currently amongst a record assistance of more than 750 attendees who is gathered this week in a most enchanting and wintery site in the Rocky Mountains. As a nursing researcher, I am delighted to be able to present a poster and to get to choose among hundreds of presentations and 3 poster sessions on primary care research!
For the last two days, I have had the opportunity to meet and greet with researchers and clinicians from various disciplines and to hear and see oral and poster presentations on a vast array of subjects such as evidence based medicine, translational research, chronic disease management, patient-centered care, self-management, etc. The captivating conferences were competing with the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the background.
Garnering buzzing interest was the keynote presentation given by Professor Martin Fortin: Multimorbidity in primary care: Recognizing and dealing with the elephant in the room. Professor Martin Fortin presented in English in front of a captive audience including established and new researchers as well as members of the editorial committees of medical journals and representatives of funding agencies.
Martin Fortin provided a clear message to draw the attention of the research community on the importance of prioritizing the thematic research area of multimorbidity and patient-centered care to continue transforming the healthcare system and thus better contend with the current and future boom in chronic diseases, especially in primary care. He also invited researchers of all disciplines to work together to develop interventions aiming to optimize care for people with multimorbidity. His presentation ended with a genuine plea in the defense of the interests of patients suffering from multiple chronic diseases.
One line created a buzz on Twitter when Professor Fortin, paraphrasing a patient of Ian McWhinney said “I want a doctor who specializes in me”. However, his message really aims to go further with: “I also want researchers to specialize in me!”
Finally, although we did not see any elephants in the room, Dr. Fortin convinced us of the importance of taking a real interest in the elephants in primary care with his infectious passion for the subject.
For a copy of his presentation please contact José Almirall at: jose.almirall@usherbrooke.ca