Communication between colleagues and other members of a care team is integral to ensuring patient well-being. Some registrants have recently reported difficulties in reaching colleagues because of missing, inadequate, or out-of-date contact information in the ºÚÁÏÉç’s online registrant directory.
In some cases, registrants have not provided the ºÚÁÏÉç with a phone number or fax number, making it difficult to facilitate referrals. The ºÚÁÏÉç recently sent an email to registrants on behalf of Doctors of BC, BC Family Doctors, and Consultant Specialists of BC asking them to provide an up-to-date fax number to facilitate the referral-consultation process while a province-wide digital solution is being developed.
In other cases, registrant offices store outdated contact information in their EMR and fail to verify it in the ºÚÁÏÉç’s online registrant directory, which is dynamic and updated in real time.
The ºÚÁÏÉç reminds registrants to keep their contact information current, and ensure it is effective in enabling contact between colleagues. Registrants should not be using their division of family practice office as their primary business address. Likewise, providing a general hospital phone number may make it challenging to locate a colleague, and cause delays in facilitating a timely referral.
Updates to contact information, including a business address, phone number, or fax number, can be easily made by logging in to the ºÚÁÏÉç’s registrant portal. Medical office assistants, colleagues and patients should expect to find accurate and complete contact information in the registrant directory on the ºÚÁÏÉç website.
Keeping EMRs current
Medical offices that store registrant contact information in an EMR can request a free Excel version of the ºÚÁÏÉç’s registrant directory once per year. To request the order form for an annual copy, contact the ºÚÁÏÉç via phone or email at inquiries@cpsbc.ca.