Growing OPEN Across Ottawa and Champlain Region

The Ottawa and Champlain region is a vibrant and diverse community. It includes the busy urban centre of Ottawa, as well as historic towns and rural communities across the broader region. Our communities are shaped by rich and varied histories, a bilingual, French and English heritage, and a strong spirit of collaboration.

Photo taken by ottawagraphics

That community spirit is also reflected in our local family medicine clinics. As Director of the Ottawa Practice Enhancement Network (OPEN), I believe strongly in the value that practice-based learning and research networks such as OPEN and the Primary Care Ontario Practice-Based Learning and Research (POPLAR) Network can bring to clinics, providers, and patients. As such, my team and I are working closely with POPLAR to grow OPEN across the Ottawa and Champlain region.

Participation in OPEN will support ongoing quality improvement projects by helping clinics use information from their own practices to identify priorities, test changes, and monitor progress. We also plan to offer quality improvement workshops to help primary care teams design questions, interpret their data, set meaningful goals, and develop practical approaches to improvement. As our network of clinics broadens, we will be better able to understand local needs, share practical solutions, and create more opportunities for clinics to learn from one another.

OPEN will also create research opportunities for primary care professionals, learners, and academic partners. By linking research with the realities of clinical practice, OPEN will support projects that are relevant, feasible, and responsive to local priorities. In addition, connecting OPEN with other regional networks through POPLAR and ICES will increase our ability to answer larger questions by providing the opportunity to access to clinical data from across Ontario. 

I look forward to working with Ottawa and Champlain region clinics and our partners at POPLAR to build OPEN into a strong learning community. Together, we will use data, evidence, and experience to improve primary care in Ottawa and contribute to a stronger primary care system across Ontario.

Douglas Archibald, PhD

Director of OPEN