FAQ

A resident physician has graduated from medical school and is in the midst of their specialty training. The majority of our resident physicians are future family physicians specializing in Family Medicine. Other specialty resident physicians in our clinic may be from the following residency programs, Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, Internal Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine. Our resident physicians are supervised for each patient encounter. A resident physician is the primary physician working with you during your appointment. Your health issues, assessment completed by the resident physician and management plans are reviewed by a supervising physician at our Centre teaching room. This allows resident physicians to gain experience and work independently.

A supervising physician is a licensed physician who completed their specialist training. They are also clinical faculty members of Faculty of Medicine of UBC. They enjoy teaching. They supervise and share their experience with resident physicians through each patient encounter.

As a teaching clinic, we have a variable selection of resident physicians on any given day. They are all trained to provide safe and culturally sensitive care. Certain visits will have a chaperone present. Our staff are not able to preferentially book patients to see a resident of a specific gender, and we thank our patients in advance for their flexibility.

The clinic currently only accepts cash and cheques. The clinic is still working to accept e-transfer and credit card payments.

Fluzone® High-Dose influenza vaccine is approved for use in Canada for adults 65 years of age and older. This vaccine is currently recommended to individuals 65 years of age and older living in long-term care, assisted living and First Nationals communities. The vaccine reduces the risk of developing influenza from 1.9% to 1.4%, compared to standard influenza vaccines offered at the clinic. This vaccine is not available at the clinic but may be available for purchase through pharmacies and travel clinics throughout BC.

The provincial medical service plan, MSP, pays for most of your health related needs. There are some procedures that are not covered for example removal of cosmetic skin lesions.  Also, filling in most forms and letters are not covered by MSP. Our clinic provides a comprehensive list and cost for non-MSP covered forms, letters, procedures and medications at the clinic.

The following is a list of some of the common fees effective July 1st, 2021 that patients are requires to pay to the clinic:

Note: The clinic currently only accepts cash or cheques

Our clinic offers after hours care between regular office hours for patients registered with the clinic. You can access our on-call physician by calling the main office number 604-822-5431. Prompt 2 will direct you to our paging service. If you have not heard back in 20 minutes, please call again. Our on call physicians include a resident physician and a supervising physician from our clinic. They will have access to your medical record when you call.

Procedures done by the physicians include:

Ear
- Ear wax removal

Skin & nail
- Mole removal *
- Liquid nitrogen treatments *
- Toe nail removal
- Wart removal *

Women health
- Endometrial biopsy
- IUD and contraceptive implant insertion
- PAP smear

Others
- Joint and tendon injection *
- Staple removal (please bring the staple removal with you)
- Suture removal

*may not be covered by MSP

Note: These procedures may be arranged in consultation with the clinic in advance of your procedure appointment

Specialists at this clinic supervise resident physicians. They do not provide direct patient care and are not available for patient appointments except baby delivery and group sessions. When specialist opinions deem beneficial, you will have an appointment scheduled with a resident physician supervised by a specialist.

- Care delivered by a resident physician supervised by a specialist.
- Comprehensive prenatal care supervised by two prenatal physicians who are family physicians specialized in prenatal care.
- Sports Medicine care, supervised by two family physicians certified in Sports Medicine.
- Mental health, supervised by two psychiatrists.
- General Internal Medicine, supervised by two internists.
- Pediatric care, supervised by one pediatrician.
- Care delivered by specialist.
- Births delivered by our prenatal physicians at BC Women’s Hospital.
- Group sessions for cognitive behavior therapy and dialectical behavior therapy (currently unavailable during the pandemic)

We ask that you email feedback to the clinic email address family.clinic@familymed.ubc.ca.  We always appreciate positive and constructive feedback so that we can be better at what we do and so that our resident physicians can learn from their clinical encounters with patients.

Many patients have more than one health concern they’d like addressed by their physician. We ask that you let the physician know, at the beginning of your visit, all the concerns you have. You may have one or two that are top on your list. The physician may modify the order of your list if they feel one concern should be a higher priority based on the possible risk to your health.  As physicians we like to have enough time to thoroughly assess and manage your concerns.  This will help to optimize the quality of your care.  More appointments may be necessary if more time is needed to assess your concerns and to follow up on suggested treatments.

We are UNABLE to provide any prescription services for patients who are traveling or living outside of Canada. Please note that physicians' practicing licenses are registered and recognized provincially. Prescriptions are not usually recognized outside the province. Physicians are not permitted to provide prescriptions to anyone in different jurisdictions. We strongly encourage travellers to purchase travel healthcare insurance before they leave Canada. And to seek local health care services in their areas of travel for any healthcare issues including prescriptions.

UBC Hospital Koerner Pavilion
2211 Wesbrook Mall, First Floor, Mon. – Fri., 8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m
Lifelabs West Point Grey
4366 W 10th Ave, Mon.-Fri. 8:30-4:40, Sat. 8am-12pm

UBC Hospital Koerner Pavilion
2211 Wesbrook Mall, First Floor