About Preparing for my appointment

It all began in 2008 with a randomized clinical study titled Talking Health Together (THT), led by Dr. Lussier as the principal investigator. This study was conducted in Ontario with patients followed by their family doctors for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes, and/or high blood cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia).

The study found that patients who had prepared for their appointments using the THT website achieved their health targets more effectively than those who had not prepared for their appointments. This research demonstrated that preparing for medical appointments makes a significant impact on managing these three health conditions—an effect as impactful as adding a new medication! This study was funded by AstraZeneca Global.

Following the initial study, Dr. Lussier sought to replicate the experience in Quebec, targeting French-speaking patients. This project was carried out in close collaboration with Capsana.

In December 2012, thanks to funding from the Population Health Program, Dr. Lussier, in collaboration with Claude Richard, Ph.D. (Psychology), developed and validated the content of the DiscutonsSante.ca website. Capsana launched the DiscutonsSante.ca website in October 2014.

Dr. Lussier’s team evaluated the implementation of the DiscutonsSante.ca website in primary care among patients with chronic diseases. With financial support from Réseau-1 Québec and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the project was conducted in six family medicine clinics in Quebec and New Brunswick.

Patients who used the website to prepare for their follow-up appointments reported playing a more active role in their consultation. The website helped them remember important details, feel less stressed about the consultation, and feel more confident asking questions.

The Cité de la Santé Foundation provided funding for the implementation of DiscutonsSante.ca in two university-affiliated family medicine clinics at the CISSS de Laval.

The foundation also supported a pilot project integrating DiscutonsSante.ca into the care of prostate cancer patients at the Centre intégré de cancérologie de Laval. The promising results from these projects led to several applications for additional funding a few years later.

In 2018, the project received two years of financial support from the Fonds de soutien à l’innovation en santé et en services sociaux (FSISSS) of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of Quebec. This funding enabled DiscutonsSante.ca to be implemented and adapted in other clinical settings, including walk-in family medicine clinics, emergency services and specialized clinics (cardiology, oncology, psychiatry) at the CISSS de Laval.

The arrival of COVID-19 in March 2020 disrupted this study. However, one key outcome was the development of the Getting ready form, designed to help patients prepare for medical appointments in walk-in clinics and emergency rooms. These types of appointments are unique because they usually focus on a single health issue and patients don’t have time to prepare by using the DiscutonsSante.ca website. Over 2,600 patients in walk-in clinics filled out the form in the waiting room before seeing a doctor. Patients found it useful and relevant, confirming the findings of previous studies in the context of follow-up appointments with family doctors. The form was later renamed Getting ready (Je me prépare).

Dr. Lussier and her team received two research grants from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS): one in partnership with Janssen and one in partnership with Oncopole. These grants supported the integration of the DiscutonsSante.ca website into the radiation oncology care pathway for prostate cancer patients. The project was conducted in three cancer centres in Quebec: at the CISSS de Laval, at the CHU de Québec and at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. The project ended in November 2024, and data analysis is currently underway. The results are expected by the end of 2025.

Building on previous successes, Dr. Lussier proposed integrating the Getting ready form into the Primary Care Access Point (GAP) service for patients without a family doctor. The form was integrated into the GAP digital platform in collaboration with Akinox and was first deployed in two clinics within the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. Patients with GAP medical appointments in these clinics could complete the form and send it to the clinic before their consultation.

This project, which began in February 2023 and is still underway, will be completed in fall 2025. As part of this project, the Preparing for my appointment website was created to make the Getting ready form available to both French- and English-speaking populations. This project was made possible by a grant from the Life Pathways Improvement and Innovation Partnerships in Transition to Sustainable Health (PATIenTS) program of the Unité de soutien SSA Québec.

• DiscutonsSante.ca was recognized as a leading practice by the CISSS de Laval and the Cité de la Santé Foundation.
• DiscutonsSante.ca was selected as one of the top innovations at the first Symposium on Innovations organized by the Quebec College of Family Physicians.

• DiscutonsSante.ca was recognized as one of the ten innovative practices in French-language health literacy by the King Baudouin Foundation, a Belgian organization. Founded in 1976, this public-interest foundation serves as a driving force for change and innovation, working for the common good and social cohesion in Belgium.

• DiscutonsSante.ca ranked 5^th among the most promising and impactful innovations presented at the second edition of the Symposium on Innovations organized by the Quebec College of Family Physicians. It was also the favourite choice of future family physicians and citizens.
• DiscutonsSante.ca received the Arsène Lupin Award at the 8^th meeting of the Virtual Community of Practice for Continuous Improvement in the Quebec healthcare and social services network. This award recognizes the reproducibility of an innovation.

• DiscutonsSante.ca was presented by invitation at the Facilitators-Dragons Table, a networking event organized by the Quebec College of Family Physicians. This event aimed at scaling up the selections from the 2017 and 2019 Symposiums on Innovations. This recognition helped generate interest from the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), which now supports the GAP project.