(From left) Reagan Thompson and Dawn Bourne
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the face of healthcare in many ways. Patient access to primary care services has historically been challenging, but in post-pandemic 2023, access to initial visits in order to establish care was especially difficult. The Department of Family Medicine’s Associate Residency Director Sarah Dalrymple, MD, noted that our own Graduate Medical Education (GME) trainees and their families were unable to expediently access primary care appointments. These access issues were exacerbated by the long hours and swing shifts that are typical of residency programs.
To help address healthcare access concerns, Rebekah Compton, DNP, FNP, co-medical director of the UVA Primary Care Center (PCC) and chief of clinical operations for UPG, advocated to assign management of GME staff to one of our department’s most seasoned nurse practitioners, Reagan Thompson, DNP, FNP-BC. The combination of Thompson’s primary care acumen and the added flexibility to use UVA’s telehealth platform allowed her to quickly get the Caring for Our Own program established and successful by April 2023.
One example of the program’s success is the ability to schedule appointments during the lunch hour, when many clinics are closed. For a resident seeing their own patients, these lunch hour visits allow them time to take care of themselves with minimal interruption to providing patient care. By January 2024, the program was able to add another seasoned nurse practitioner, Dawn Bourne, DNP, FNP-C, HEC-C, to offer a full range of in-person visits for GME patients, including long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs).
The Caring for Our Own program has been highly successful, with a panel of over 250 GME patients, including physician, pharmacy, and clergy trainees, as well as their families. Each week, several new patients establish care in their new primary care medical home. The program allows UVA Department of Family Medicine to “care for our own” and it enables housestaff to stay healthier by more easily accessing preventive care and having medical concerns addressed promptly.
Housestaff and trainees who would like to access this program are encouraged to call the PCC Family Medicine Clinic and request a visit in the “housestaff/GME clinic.” Reagan Thompson provides telehealth services every Tuesday and Dawn Bourne provides in-person visits several days per month in the PCC, conveniently located near the main lobby of the University Medical Center for easy access by housestaff.
Reagan Thompson and Dawn Bourne pride themselves in “caring for our own,” and consider it a great honor to provide GME trainees and their families this important access point to their healthcare.