Primary Care Networks (PCN) in rural Alberta will need assistance in developing programs, in addition to recruiting and retaining physicians.  RPAP's basket of helpful community tools and physician programs is available to all rural physician entities including the new Primary Care Networks.

The RPAP Enrichment and Additional Skills Program allows physicians to gain skills for personal advancement and to satisfy the needs of your PCN region.  For instance: 

• if your PCN decides to develop an obesity or eating disorders clinic, RPAP can provide financial and training assistance to physicians willing to develop the skills necessary for successful implementation; and
• the General Emergency Medicine Skills (GEMS) Program for rural physicians enables rural emergency teams to learn new skills or refresh them along with the local nursing and EMS professionals.  In addition; they have the opportunity to practice GEMS when the STARS Human Patient Simulator (HPS) schedules the visit to their local hospital.  Either the North or South Skills Broker can provide further guidance and information on this.

RPAP Rural Physician Consultants can provide valuable information regarding networking, recruiting and retention.  They can also help liaise with other health care organizations to develop multi-disciplinary programs and funding opportunities.  In addition, assistance with spousal and family programming is available.  

The RPAP Evaluation and Research Coordinator is available to direct you to resources that can assist with research projects that may be contemplated by the PCN.  Research is a valuable tool for PCN's who wish to determine statistics and demographics of local relevance as well as evaluating outcomes.  Population health research is in the provincial spotlight and PCN's can benefit from assistance with funding proposals.

Contact the RPAP through its website at www.rpap.ab.ca or the individual consultants at 1-866-423-9911 for additional information.