UTOPIAN: A state-of-the-art Moving forward: what’s next living laboratory in family medicine research UTOPIAN was established in 2013 to increase research done in family practices. It is a living laboratory that brings together researchers and practicing family doctors to answer important health care questions and translate findings into practice. UTOPIAN includes over 1,700 family doctors in practices throughout the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.
The University of Toronto Family Medicine Report is our first overview of family medicine in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. It aims to provide insights into the type of work family doctors are doing every day and the contributions they are making to patients, communities and the health care system.
UTOPIAN aims to:
As this report shows, family doctors are critical to a fully functioning, efficient and effective health care system that puts patients first. From encouraging a patient to adopt a healthy lifestyle, screening for a disease, treating a shortterm illness or chronic condition, providing mental health treatment or care at the end-of-life, research shows that when family medicine is the basis of a health care system, the health and wellbeing of patients and communities improves.
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Conduct and support high-quality research to better serve patients, family doctors and the health care that serves their patients and community
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Improve the quality and costeffectiveness of health services
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Secure lasting improvements to health nationally and internationally
The information stored in UTOPIAN is being used by researchers at the University of Toronto to answer questions about patient’s health and their care in family practices. Examples include: ••
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Asking people about whether they smoke tobacco: before family doctors can help people quit, they need to know their smoking status. About two thirds of adults have information about tobacco in their chart but younger adults are less likely to be asked (Griever et al., 2015). Walkability: Does living in a neighbourhood where you can walk to get groceries matter? People that live in car-centric neighbourhoods are more likely to be obese, especially if they are younger (Loo et al., 2017).
It is nearly impossible to fully cover the breadth of what family doctors do in one report. With so many potential subjects and issues to cover, this report is just the beginning of this process, with more iterations to come. As UTOPIAN grows and more family doctors provide their electronic medical record data, we hope to provide further in-depth analysis of the topics covered in this edition and include more complex issues that family doctors are grappling with every day in future editions. Over the next several years we also hope to increase awareness and support for family medicine research amongst family doctors, policy-makers, other health care researchers, patients and others. With more data and information on the patients family doctors are treating, how they are treating them and the outcomes of this care, we will be able to provide better care for our patients.
Dr. Eva Grunfeld is the Giblon Professor and Vice Chair, Research and Advocacy at the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine Dr. Michelle Greiver is the Director of UTOPIAN at the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community and Gordon F. Cheesbrough Research Chair in Family and Community Medicine at North York General Hospital, and a family doctor at the North York Family Health Team Dr. Karen Tu is Associate Director of the UTOPIAN Data Safe Haven, Professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine and a family doctor at the University Health Network’s Toronto Western Hospital Chapter title | 95