Get Involved
MaRNet-FP’s vision is to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and care of Nova Scotians with chronic conditions and other primary healthcare-related diseases. Meeting this vision requires all perspectives, including primary care providers, researchers, patient partners, funders, and more.
See how family physicians and nurse practitioners can get involved with MaRNet-FP
Family physicians and primary care nurse practitioners can join MaRNet-FP as a sentinel. Sentinels contribute their de-identified electronic medical record (EMR) data to the MaRNet-FP database. In return, sentinels receive a detailed feedback report on non-identifying patient demographics, as well as the number of patients meeting 13 validated case definitions for chronic and mental health conditions. The case definitions use billing codes, prescriptions, diagnoses, and other non-identifying EMR data to identify cohorts of patients who have been diagnosed with a chronic condition and those who have not been diagnosed with a chronic condition but meet the case definition criteria. Sentinels will be able to see their patients’ outcome data in comparison with other Nova Scotian primary care clinics. Sentinels will also be invited to participate in primary care research involving them, their patients, and their clinic.
There is no time commitment or cost to join MaRNet-FP.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a sentinel?
A sentinel is a family physician or primary care nurse practitioner who is a member of MaRNet-FP.
What are the benefits of joining MaRNet-FP?
Sentinels who join MaRNet-FP receive feedback reports twice per year reporting on patient demographics and the number of patients who meet CPCSSN’s case definitions. CPCSSN has validated 13 case definitions for chronic and mental health conditions.
Sentinels are also given the opportunity to participate in research. For example, MaRNet-FP is currently conducting a quality improvement study with the aim of deprescribing potentially inappropriate prescriptions in elderly patients.
Who can join MaRNet-FP?
Family physicians and nurse practitioners who use one of the eligible electronic medical record (EMR) systems can join MaRNet-FP.
How is MaRNet-FP data managed?
Data are collected from the EMR by the MaRNet-FP data manager. When a new sentinel joins the network, their clinic grants the data manager frontend access to the EMR. The data manager extracts de-identified patient data from the EMR twice a year. All personal identifiers are removed from the information collected. Only the MaRNet-FP data manager has access to the sentinels’ frontend EMR. All MaRNet-FP staff, researchers, and investigators have signed pledges of confidentiality.
Data can only be re-identified at the level of the individual sentinel.
Where is MaRNet-FP data stored?
De-identified EMR data are stored on a secure central electronic system by CPCSSN at Queen’s University in Ontario.
Can patients opt out of the MaRNet-FP database?
Yes, when sentinels join MaRNet-FP, they are mailed posters to hang in the waiting room of their clinic, along with patient brochures to give to patients who want more information about MaRNet-FP. If patients do not wish to have their de-deidentified data included in the MaRNet-FP database, they can contact MaRNet-FP using the information provided on the poster/brochure to have their data excluded from the database and future EMR extractions.
How do I join MaRNet-FP?
Contact us for more information or to join the network. Joining MaRNet-FP involves signing a consent form and completing a short survey.
See how researchers can get involved with MaRNet-FP
MaRNet-FP strives to improve the care of Nova Scotians with chronic conditions. To meet this aim, MaRNet-FP offers primary and integrated healthcare researchers access to fully anonymized datasets from MaRNet-FP’s primary healthcare database.
All data access requests will be reviewed by MaRNet-FP staff and may be reviewed by the advisory committee. Contact us for our data access policy.
See how community members can get involved with MaRNet-FP
MaRNet-FP’s vision is to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and care of Nova Scotians with chronic conditions and other primary healthcare-related diseases. Meeting this vision requires all perspectives, including the patient and their family members.
Patient partners can increase the value of MaRNet-FP to Nova Scotians by providing guidance on how our decisions, actions, and activities may affect patients.
Frequently Ask Questions
What does a patient partner do?
Depending on the projects MaRNet-FP is involved in, patient partner activities may include:
- Joining our advisory committee
- Providing a patient perspective on research proposals
- Reviewing plain-language research materials
- Joining a working group or research committee
- Participating in a focus group or completing a survey
How much time does a patient partner spend volunteering?
Patient partners who volunteer choose how much time they would like to spend volunteering, on what tasks, and when. For example, our advisory committee meets four times a year however, patient partners on the committee can attend as many or as few meetings as they would like.
What makes a good patient partner?
- An interest in improving primary care
- Recent patient experience in primary care
- Ability to communicate honestly and respectfully
How can I get involved?
Email us or call (902) 473-4741 if you are interested in becoming a patient partner or would like to learn more.
Learn about our funders and how to support our network
Multiple funding sources support MaRNet-FP activities including:
- Maintenance of the primary care database
- Development and validation of case definitions for chronic and mental health conditions
- Curation of datasets for research
- Creation of individualized feedback reports for MaRNet-FP sentinels
- Recruitment of new sentinels
Our continuing funders include Dalhousie Family Medicine and BRIC-NS through the support of Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Research Nova Scotia.
Project funders have included: Public Health Agency of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Drug Evaluation Alliance of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Health Authority Research Fund, Cardiovascular Health Nova Scotia, and Nova Scotia COVID-19 Health Research Coalition.
Contact us to fund MaRNet-FP research.