10 April 2014

The Research Chair on Chronic Diseases in Primary Care has been extended for another five years thanks to a partnership between the Université de Sherbrooke’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) and the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Chicoutimi (CSSSC).

Established in 2007, this family medicine research chair focuses on the fundamental role played by primary care professionals – family physicians, nursing staff, pharmacists – in the treatment of patients with chronic diseases.

The current chair, Professor Martin Fortin, said that efforts during the first term “showed that short-term interventions are useful for preventing and managing chronic diseases in a primary care environment.”

The goal during the second term is to “show that these results can be sustained and improved upon in the long term and that these interventions can be conducted on a wider scale, while reducing the cost to the health care system.”

Promising new models  

To fulfill the chair’s mandate, Professor Fortin and his team have recruited professionals such as specialist nursing staff, nutritionists and kinesiologists to work in primary care medical clinics.

This new, interdisciplinary approach to the organization of care helps patients with the prevention and management of chronic diseases. It holds out much promise, given that as many as 90% of people aged 65 and over suffer from multiple chronic conditions or illnesses.

During the second term, the Research Chair on Chronic Diseases in Primary Care will get overall funding of approximately $1.5 million from the CSSSC’s Fondation de ma vie and the Université de Sherbrooke’s FMHS.

Source: Université de Sherbrooke