The University of Manitoba campuses and research spaces are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, Anisininewuk, Dakota Oyate, Dene and Inuit, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, R3T 2N2
We are committed to advancing primary care by integrating quality improvement strategies. Our office offers tailored support to help healthcare providers and organizations implement effective practices that ensure high standards of care. Services include consulting, coaching, and collaboration to help you achieve sustainable improvements in your practice.
The OR&QI Services Hub serves as a centralized resource for tools, techniques, and best practices in quality improvement and research. We support stakeholders in adopting and maintaining best practices, while promoting collaboration across disciplines and helping you implement evidence-based solutions for improved patient care.
Our office leads and supports a variety of research initiatives, both locally and internationally, focused on improving primary care. The Manitoba Primary Care Research Network, located within our office, offers research support, facilitates engagement with patients, providers, and researchers, and promotes collaborative efforts to enhance primary care practices.
Publications
Grants since 2014
Presentations delivered
Research evaluations
The Department of Family Medicine is home to the Manitoba Primary Care Research Network (MaPCReN), which supports collaborative, patient-focused research and quality improvement in primary care.
At MaPCReN, we’re here to help you achieve your goals in primary care research and quality improvement. Whether you're a health-care provider, patient, or researcher, we offer the support and resources you need to make a meaningful impact.
• MaPCReN helps primary care providers by offering semi-annual practice profiles. These profiles guide quality improvement (QI) efforts at the clinic level, making it easier to enhance care and services.
• MaPCReN creates opportunities for both patients and providers to participate in and benefit from research and quality improvement activities, fostering a collaborative approach to healthcare improvements.
• Access to a Manitoba EMR data repository with information on over 300,000 patients for research.
• Opportunities to collaborate with a network of patients, providers, and researchers to support study development.
• Research support, including assistance with recruitment, data analysis, and coordination.
To participate in MaPCReN's patient or provider networks or to learn more about research supports, contact us at mapcren@cpcssn.org or visit our website.
Publications since 2018
Primary care providers caring for over 300,000 Manitobans (as of December 31, 2023).
Number of patient and community partners connected with (as of June 2024)
As part of national networks, MaPCReN connects you with a larger community of support, bringing together the best of patient-oriented, practice-based research.
The Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN)
CPCSSN is Canada’s pioneering electronic medical record system for tracking multiple diseases. By integrating data from networks like MaPCReN, it supports national research, disease monitoring, and the advancement of primary care quality across the country.
The Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN)
CPCRN is a collaborative network focused on developing a national learning system for primary care. It fosters research that directly involves patients and healthcare practices to drive improvements in primary care services throughout Canada.
The Access Improvement Model (AIM) project, a collaboration between Shared Health Manitoba and the Department of Family Medicine, is working to improve access to primary care across Manitoba. It focuses on providing primary care teams with the necessary training, tools, and strategies to enhance patient access and optimize care delivery.
Shared Health Manitoba is sponsoring an initiative to strengthen team-based care within clinics that already practice collaborative, multidisciplinary care. This project uses research and local success stories to offer tailored support, helping healthcare teams lead more effectively in primary care.
In the Department of Family Medicine, residents gain the essential skills to design, carry out, and evaluate their own quality improvement projects through workshops and hands-on experience. Many of the research projects they complete are later showcased at conferences, highlighting their contributions.
This two-part workshop series is designed to introduce residents to foundational Quality Improvement (QI) techniques, empowering them to incorporate these skills into their future practices with clinical teams.
During the workshops, residents will be guided through a structured planning and implementation model, which includes:
The Quality Improvement (QI) Olympics is an interactive, team-based workshop where participants can apply their understanding of QI principles. In a case study competition format, teams are presented with a clinical practice issue and compete to design the most effective hypothetical QI study. This hands-on experience encourages collaboration, critical thinking, and innovative problem-solving.
After completing the initial QI workshops and the QI Olympics, residents are tasked with designing and implementing their own QI projects at their residency clinical sites. These projects focus on improving local primary care and culminate in Quality Improvement Day (QID). This annual seminar offers residents the opportunity to present their project outcomes to peers and faculty within the Department of Family Medicine (DFM).
QID showcases the residents' QI education and celebrates the real-world application of quality improvement principles in primary care settings.
Explore the innovative projects currently underway in the Department of Family Medicine, where we’re advancing research and improving care across a variety of critical areas.
Topic of study: Assessing point-of-care multiplex viral testing in primary care.
Background: AIM-Viral (Assessing the implementation of point-of-care multiplex-viral testing in primary care) is an additional study under the CanTreatCOVID project. It aims to introduce a system that can test for multiple viruses at once in primary care clinics and emergency departments. This study will evaluate how well the system works and its impact on patient care, provider satisfaction, and antibiotic use.
Goals:
Partners: This study is part of the CanTreatCOVID project and involves collaboration with primary care clinics and emergency departments.
Learn more: To learn more about AIM-Viral, visit the AIM-Viral project page.
Project title: CanTreatCOVID
PI: Dr. Amanda Condon
Topic of study: Evaluating medications for COVID-19 treatment.
Background: CanTreatCOVID is a publicly funded research project. It aims to find out if certain medications can help people with COVID-19 recover faster, stay out of the hospital, and avoid long-term complications from the virus.
Goals:
Partners: This research is supported by public funding.
Learn more: For more information and to see if you qualify for the study, visit the CanTreatCOVID study page.
Topic of study: Managing polypharmacy in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.
Background: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects about 10-15% of adults globally and is increasing rapidly. This rise in CKD cases, combined with polypharmacy (taking five or more medications), poses a significant challenge. Patients with CKD often need multiple medications to manage their condition and related health issues. The TAPER (Team Approach to Polypharmacy Evaluation and Reduction) study aims to address this challenge by evaluating the effectiveness of a collaborative approach involving family physicians and pharmacists to manage and reduce unnecessary medications.
Goals:
Partners: CPCRN, CIHR, SAPCReN, MaPCReN, TaperMD
Learn more: For more information about the TAPER approach and how it works, visit TaperMD – Pause and Monitor.
Topic of study: Quality of HIV care in primary healthcare settings in Canada.
Background: Despite significant progress in reducing new HIV infections, the number of people living with HIV in Canada continues to rise. Increased testing in Manitoba in 2022 reflects growing awareness and concern about HIV. Managing HIV involves complex medical care, particularly as patients often face additional chronic conditions. This study will analyze large datasets from primary care in Canada and Manitoba to understand the factors affecting HIV care.
Goals:
Topic of study: Understanding the support network for individuals transitioning from homelessness and recovery back into the community.
PI: Dr. Gayle Halas
Background: Our team, in collaboration with the Salvation Army and the Cardiac Sciences Program at St. Boniface Hospital, is working to improve how community-based supports are navigated by those who have experienced homelessness. We are taking a participatory approach, involving both community agencies and individuals with lived experiences to address existing challenges.
Goals:
Partners: Salvation Army, Cardiac Sciences Program at St. Boniface Hospital
Topic of study: Patient experience and outcome survey in primary care.
PI: Dr. Gayle Halas
Background: The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is conducting the Patient Experience and Outcome Survey in Primary Care (PaRIS) study. In Canada, the PaRIS survey measures Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) for patients receiving primary care services. These indicators help us understand how the health system affects people and move toward more people-centered care. Canada is one of the countries participating in the PaRIS initiative. In Manitoba, eight clinics are systematically collecting data on what matters most to patients.
Goals:
Partners: CPCRN, Health Canada, OECD, MaPCReN
Learn more: For more information, visit the PaRIS survey page.
Topic of study: Deprescribing medications for elders with polypharmacy.
Background: Seniors taking multiple medications (polypharmacy) may be at risk of poor health, reduced quality of life, and high care costs. The SPIDER project focuses on medications that should be deprescribed based on guidelines and evidence-based tools. This study is a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial in primary care practices across Canada, targeting medications that are often unnecessary.
Goals:
Partners: CIHR, CPCRN, CPCSSN, Utopian, MaPCReN, NAPCReN, SAPCReN, BC Primary Health Care Research Network, RASPO, OPEN, MarNET, PHRU
Learn more: For more information, visit the SPIDER Deprescribing page.
Topic of study: Screening for poverty and related social determinants in primary care.
PI: Dr. Alan Katz
Background: The SPARK (Screening for Poverty And Related Social Determinants and Intervening to Improve Knowledge of and Links to Resources) study was created to address the lack of data on social determinants of health in primary care settings in Canada. Currently, healthcare organizations do not integrate social determinants data with clinical data, and health providers are not trained to respond to social needs routinely. This study aims to use this data to tailor care to a patient’s social context, improve diagnostic accuracy, identify health service inequities, develop new programs, and advance research on health inequities.
Goals:
Partners: CIHR, CPCRN, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Upstream Lab, Research Manitoba, MaPCReN, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences (UM), PHRU, Memorial University, Faculty of Medicine (Dalhousie University), College of Medicine (University of Saskatchewan), Prosper Canada, Doctors of Nova Scotia, Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science (Government of Ontario), Saskatchewan Health Authority, MCHP, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Maritime SPOR Support Unit, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, UPLEARN, Maytree Foundation, CIHI.
Learn more: For more information, visit the SPARK study page.
Office of Research and Quality Improvement
S100, 750 Bannatyne Avenue
University of Manitoba (Bannatyne campus)
Winnipeg, MB R33 0W2 Canada
