We don’t have all the answers, but we can help start the conversation with some good questions.

 

Here’s how you organize a dialogue with your colleagues and community members:

➔ Read and share our What’s at Stake document

➔ Review the steps and questions below

➔ Submit a summary of your discussion

 

Here’s how you can host a Primary Matters dialogue

  • Invite colleagues you work with to talk about the future of family and community medicine and the work of our department. Be inclusive and create a dialogue that welcomes different vantage points and opinions.

  • Choose 2-3 questions from the Discussion Questions that are most relevant for the group. 

  • Share the questions with your group in advance.

How to host the dialogue

  • At the start of the meeting, state your goals for the meeting.

  • Remind everyone that while you will take notes, you won’t attribute any comments by name.

  • Share the questions one at a time and allot an appropriate amount of time for each question.

  • Make sure everyone has a chance to speak and share their perspective.

Instructions for capturing and reporting back on the dialogue

  • Take notes that capture the relevant points that each person makes

  • As soon after the meeting as possible, take some time to review and clean up your notes so that they can be understood by someone who is not familiar with the participants or the details of your conversation. Wherever possible, spell out acronyms. Add in links if/where useful.

  • Please synthesize the top 1-3 points per question in a summary section.

  • Please share your notes as soon as they are ready to dialogues@primarymatters.ca

Suggested Dialogue Questions

 

Overarching Questions 

  1. The current Strategic Plan lists five priorities, how would you rate our progress against these priorities? What are one or two priorities for the next Strategic Plan?

  2. What are the trends or factors that are doing the most to shape family medicine and primary care today?

  3. What are the biggest strengths and greatest challenges for the DFCM in general?

  4. What are the current trends in research, education and pedagogy in Family Medicine and Primary Care?

Internal Questions (for Department members)

  1. How do we build a sense of community and collective action within DFCM and keep our group well?

  2. How can the various elements of the DFCM work together more effectively?

  3. How can our department work together and in lockstep to embed EDIIA practices internally across all of our areas and teams?

  4. What do you value most about being a member of the Department? What do you think others value most?

  5. How can the DFCM better support and promote our team?

  6. How is DFCM perceived locally? Nationally? Internationally?

Community-related Questions

  1. How is DFCM working to address health inequities? What existing methods should shift? What more can we be doing? 

  2. How can DFCM be more connected to the communities we serve? 

  3. How do we build trusted and productive relationships with communities we ought to be serving?

Big Picture Questions

  1. How can DFCM influence health policy and health systems to promote high quality, equitable care?

  2. How do we maintain and improve the value and integrity of comprehensive primary care for our learners to ensure practitioners from our Department work in comprehensive care in the community?

  3. What role can and should DFCM play in the International space, and what is the future of our work with the WHO?

  4. How should DFCM consider and plan for the use of new and evolving technologies in health care?