Appointment Length
Regular visits with Dr. Wellwood and Dr. Sabine are scheduled for 15 minutes. If you have a number of concerns, we will do our best to deal with as many as we properly can in 15 minutes, starting with the most pressing issue. Providing a good medical assessment can often take up a whole visit, so we welcome you to make a follow-up visit for any concerns we aren’t able to get to at your appointment.
Requests for referrals
Please note that your family doctor is an expert in providing primary care services. Referrals to specialists will, of course, be used if deemed appropriate. Your doctor may provide a different plan instead of pursuing a referral right away. We ask you to please keep an open mind. Also, some referrals cannot be made without doing the initial investigations first, such as bloodwork and imaging. These investigations provide a more thorough assessment and make a referral more complete. They can actually expedite a specialist visit and may also uncover issues that need to be dealt with more urgently.
Same Day Urgency
Dr. Sabine and Dr. Wellwood strive to keep same day appointments available in order to ensure you have good access to our clinic. Please note that these appointments are usually reserved for urgent or acute issues only.
Medical Education
Your doctor may participate in medical education by supervising medical students or resident physicians. They are members of our health care team and will all be supervised appropriately. You always have the option of declining to be seen by one of these providers; however, these providers are excellent at being thorough and may actually bring a fresh eye to your health concern. As a result, this may be a good opportunity to help these trainees along their medical education journey and also ensure that you are receiving the best possible care.
Antibiotics
Our philosophy is to provide evidence-based medicine. Your doctor will certainly prescribe antibiotics if deemed appropriate, such as if you are having a skin infection or pneumonia or a urinary tract infection. However, antibiotics would not be appropriate for certain infections, and in fact, may actually cause harm such as upset stomach, diarrhea, rash, and possible allergic reaction. For example, the common cold is caused by viruses that cause symptoms of a sore throat, cough, runny nose, and chest congestion. Antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses and thus do not treat the common cold. Your doctor may prescribe other treatments to help you manage those symptoms. Your doctor will also counsel you on what to expect in terms of recovery and when to return if you are not getting better.
Non-Insured Services
MSI covers most, but not all, medical treatments and services. Some common examples of services which are not covered include forms for school, work or insurance purposes, Driver’s Physicals, cosmetic procedures (e.g. skin tag removal), ear syringing and some vaccinations like shingles vaccine and Hepatitis vaccines. There are established fees for these non-insured procedures. Learn more about non-insured services and view the fees here.
Forms
If you have a form to be filled out, please let the staff know when you book your appointment. Please make sure that you fill out all the sections that are “to be filled out by the applicant.” Some forms are quite simple, but most forms cannot be filled out at the time of the visit. Usually, forms can be filled out within 1-4 weeks, but it depends on the complexity of the form. Please allow plenty of time for your doctor to complete your form. In some circumstances, your doctor may feel that further information (such as testing or a specialist opinion) is needed before completing the form. Please be aware the completion of most forms is uninsured, and as such will have an associated fee.
CANCELLATION & ‘NO SHOW’ POLICY
MSI does not compensate us for the time and financial loss we incur due to missed appointments, therefore we require 24 hours notice to cancel or reschedule your appointment or a fee will be charged. We will take into consideration emergency situations.