Sunridge Family Medicine Teaching Centre

Overview

• The Sunridge Clinic is located in NE Calgary directly across from the Peter Lougheed Hospital.
• It is also conveniently located near Sunridge Mall, which offers shopping, dining options, a fitness center, pharmacy and post office.
• Sunridge is a primary teaching site for Family Medicine Residents, supported by a team of 15 teaching physicians and a wide range of health care professionals.  Together, they provide both clinical and educational support, creating a learning environment for residents.
• Sunridge physicians belong to the Mosaic Patient Care Network (PCN), which serves the Northeast population of Calgary.

Patient Population

• Physicians at Sunridge provide care to approximately 8000 patients through ~25,000 annual appointments.
• Sunridge physicians care for a diverse patient population across all ages and health conditions. Many patients are multi-ethnic immigrants, refugees, or families facing socioeconomic challenges, which adds complexity to care. This environment offers opportunities to learn from the bio-psycho-social aspects of illness presentation and management.
• The average number of patients in each physician clinic half day ranges from 10 - 12.
• Physicians deliver comprehensive care, including pediatric, adult, pre-natal, and geriatric care to the paneled population.
• Several physicians provide focused services in other external locations, including sports medicine, hospitalist care, women’s health and occupational medicine, adding experiential depth to the program.

Clinic Structure & Services

• Sunridge follows a team-based teaching model supported by preceptor-resident scheduling.
• Patients are scheduled with their assigned resident (secondary provider), ensuring continuity of care.
• Residents work closely with their primary preceptor, fostering consistent patient-provider relationships.
• There are regular opportunities to learn from and interact with different preceptors (clinics, weekly teaching rounds, microsystem meetings). 
• The clinic is organized into three microsystems, each designed to support teaching and patient care. Each microsystem includes a teaming room, nine exam rooms, a resource room with educational materials and multiple workstations.
• Direct observation is available in all microsystems, supporting real-time feedback and learning.
• Residents are provided with EMR access (Med Access) to support clinical documentation and patient management.
• Several meeting rooms with videoconferencing offer distributed learning, meetings and telehealth through connection to the other University of Calgary and AHS sites, including Health Sciences Centre, Central Teaching Clinic and South Health Campus.
• The clinic supports a collaborative approach to patient care, involving a Registered Nurse (RN), licensed practice nurses (LPNs), medical office assistants (MOAs), Administrative Assistants and receptionists.
• The onsite allied health team consists of a social worker and two mental health therapists.
• Teaching rounds are held twice weekly (Tuesday and Wednesday) to encourage discussion and collaboration among all health care providers at Sunridge. Residents take turns presenting topics for discussion, which include case-based presentations, clinical insights (aha’ moments), practical tips, quality improvement initiatives, and medical knowledge sharing.
• Residents are invited to monthly microsystem meetings regarding clinic operations.
• On site diagnostic services include EKG and slit lamp.
• Language interpretation services are available through Language Line, supporting communication with diverse patient populations.