Since its launch in the summer of 2010, the RACE Line has received more than 20,000 calls from physicians looking for the advice of a medical specialist.

“Thank goodness there’s a single telephone advice number that can help connect family doctors with specialists from a vast array of disciplines,” says Vancouver doctor Dr. Daniel Ngui. “It allows us to discuss and plan around urgent cases, often within an hour.”

Rapid access

Standing for Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise, RACE was created to streamline the patient journey, avoiding unnecessary emergency department visits by giving their doctors quick access to specialists, only a phone call away. RACE currently provides access to 23 speciality areas for VCH doctors with 7 of those specialties providing a provincial service.  Some of these areas include dermatology, endocrinology, geriatrics and psychiatry.

“Family physicians make the call and often get an answer within 10 minutes,” says Margot Wilson, project leader of the RACE program and director of Chronic Disease Management Strategy at Providence Health Care. “Patients don’t have to wait months to have specialist input in their care. It’s telephone advice they can access quickly, decreasing the number of face-to-face consultations and ER visits.”

Multiple benefits

Dr. Mark Fitzgerald, a respiratory specialist who works with RACE, says the line helps both the doctor and the patient.

“RACE allows a family physician to get an immediate mini consultation about the best management strategy for a patient,” explains Fitzgerald, who is also head of the UBC and VGH Divisions of Respiratory Medicine. “It means physicians can get access to a verbal opinion which facilitates better triaging of a patient in terms of how they can be immediately managed. It reduces inappropriate referrals. If a referral is still needed, it often allows a physician to order tests more appropriately, ahead of a consultation. Office staff do not need to waste time chasing down a specialist office to get an urgent consult.”

Ngui feels the same.

“It’s great,” he says. “It’s been helpful for patients as I can often get advice to prevent patients from having to wait in the ER room. It helps me act as their family doctor to help them coordinate their care in a practical manner that can be fit into a busy office practice, if the specialist calls me back right away.”

“Overall, the RACE Line enhances my therapeutic relationship with patients and specialists, and improves patient care and likely reduces system costs by supporting me to take care of challenging urgent cases,” he adds.

Stay tuned…

Stay tuned for more stories about how RACE is helping staff and patients.