The Moose & Squirrel Medical Clinic is excited to hire a full time Physician Assistant to work at their rural Family Medicine Practice in Sundre, Alberta. This award-winning full scope family medicine clinic has been nationally recognized as successful example of a practice operating as a Patient's Medical Home by the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Operating under an Annualized ARP Funding Model, we offer a team-based approach to Primary Care for our affiliated patients. Our current team includes family physicians, nurse practitioners, as well as allied mental health, social work, chronic disease management and an exercise specialist. Our clinic was the first primary care clinic in Alberta to bring on a PA as part of our team (we have been working with PAs for nearly 5 years), and we pride ourselves in providing a supportive and psychologically safe environment for every team member to learn and develop new skills.
As a new graduate, or as an experienced PA, we will work closely with you when you join our team. Mentoring a PA to work at "full scope" involves a structured, trust-based transition from closely supervised, routine care to high-autonomy diversified clinical practice. This process is individualized and focuses on increasing clinical competence, fostering independent decision-making, and expanding specialized skills. We will ensure you receive strong support from all team members as you develop entrustability and independence.
Upon arriving to work in the morning, you will provide direct clinical care to patients on 20 or 40 minute appointments.. You may see healthy individuals, of all ages, for preventative health care, offer mental health visits, or you may see patients with acute presentations. You will work with the team caring for our medically complex patients, or our palliative patients. Working with the support of your full scope supervising family physicians and your fellow PAs, you will also be trained to competency in providing gynecologic procedural appointments such as contraceptive care (IUD, nexplanon) and endometrial biopsy; pessary fittings; minor office dermatologic procedures (shave excisions, biopsies, laceration repairs, etc); office orthopedic procedures (Joint and soft tissue injections with and without ultrasound guidance) amongst others. One of the best parts of working in a rural full scope clinic is the variety of work you can do every day, and we encourage our team members to pursue their interests and to develop their procedural skills.
You will have a 90 minute lunch break to catch up on your day, your inbox or to enjoy some time to go to the gym, chat with the team or just relax. We offer AI Scribe use to all of our providers to help with their efficiency in clinic, After lunch, you will again work with the team to provide care to our patient population. As a teaching site for the University of Alberta and University of Calgary, you will work alongside and help teach medical students, family medicine residents and physician assistant students as you grow with us.
The successful candidate will primarily provide primary care in the clinic environment - however after being onboarded to the clinic, if you are interested in working with your supervising physicians in our rural ER from time to time (3-4 shifts per month), there is precedent for this to be arranged.
Salary: $49.57 to $ 66.95, with advancement on the wage grid based on years of experience.
Benefits:
- Cost of Living salary increase to match inflation annually
- Blue Cross Drug plan including Dental and Vision Benefits, employer pays 80% (estimated value $5600/yr for family coverage, $2400/yr for individual)
- Staff Wellness Program (up to $500/yr)
- Clinic Retreats twice a year (estimated value over $2000 per year)
- CME funding of up to $1000/yr; plus one fully funded team medical conference per year
- Annual registration fees with CAPA and CPSA 100% reimbursed by employer
- Liability insurance 100% reimbursed by employer
- UptoDate subscription 100% reimbursed by employer
- 23 paid vacation days per year in addition to statutory holidays
- Sick leave and bereavement leave
Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:
- Provide comprehensive health assessments, make differential diagnoses, order appropriate testing and interpret same, as well as coming up with a plan initiation and followup for clinical management. You will both initiate and adjust medication therapy in patients based on currently accepted evidence based care.
- Initiate appropriate treatments, according to currently accepted evidence-based practice·
- Initiate, recommend and facilitate appropriate referrals to specialists, and community resources/programs
- Provide relevant patient education to prevent and manage clinical conditions
- Participate in evaluation of the clinic and its services using a PDSA model
- Undertake disease management, incorporating monitoring progress, response to treatment, and promote the preventive aspects of patient care
- Assist in the development of policies and protocols for chronic disease management, geriatric care, and mental health to develop systems and communication protocols to facilitate patient follow up
- Assist in setting up health promotion programs relevant to the needs of the practice population
- Contribute to the development and implementation of patient self-management programs
- Support implementation of strategies for improving the quality and provision of care for the practice population
- Any other duties that may be reasonably required for the success of the medical clinic
Skills and Abilities
- Strong, effective written and oral communication skills, high level of perceptiveness
- Critical thinking skills
- Effective patient service skills
- At minimum, basic computer skills in word processing and email
- Knowledge of, and ability to use, electronic medical records
- Critical, complex clinical decision-making skills
- Practice within the governance of the regulatory organization
- Demonstrated ability and willingness to work in a dynamic environment that requires flexibility and balancing of competing priorities
- Experience working in a team setting with other health professionals
Education and Experience
- Graduation from a recognized Physician Assistant Education Program is mandatory.
- Canadian Certified Physician Assistant (CCPA) granted by the Physician Assistants Certification Council of the Canadian Association of Physician Assistant or certified Physician Assistant (c-PA), granted by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants in the USA.
- Eligible to be registered with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA), and mandatory registration required after hiring
- A current and clear criminal records check is required
- BLS
Professional Development
As professionals supervised by physicians, PAs are to follow all CPSA Standards of Practice and comply with CPSA continuing competence requirements. You will be responsible for maintaining continuing competencies through ongoing professional development including participation in education programs, research and continuous quality improvement activities.
Additional Required Qualifications:
This position is for individuals who have graduated from a certified Physician Assistant Program in Canada or the United States. This is NOT a position for international medical graduates, or nurses/nurse practitioners. Only qualified applicants will be contacted.
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Pay: $49.57-$66.95 per hour
Benefits:
- Dental care
- Extended health care
- On-site parking
- Paid time off
- Vision care
- Wellness program
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Sundre, AB: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Licence/Certification:
- Certification with CCPA or c-PA (required)
Work Location: In person
