LakeMed Clinic is thrilled to welcome Dr. Dan Chen to their staff this year. She has kindly provided us with a biography and what her plans are for the future – a way for the community to get to know our newest doctor.
Dan Chen BSc,MSc, MD, CCFP
Specialty
Family Medicine
Clinical Interests
Practicing Full Spectrum Family Medicine including Women’s health, Men’s health, Children and Adolescent and mood disorders.
Philosophy of Care
Practicing Medicine is about Love. I feel privileged to work with individuals and families during some of the most joyous and challenging moments in their lives. I am dedicated to fostering a relationship with every patient built on mutual trust and understanding.
Personal Interests
Outdoor adventures of all kinds, hiking, cycling, writing/reading, and cooking.
Residency
University of Calgary family medicine program
Training
Family Medicine Program @ University of Calgary
We’ve also asked Dr. Chen some questions that will help you get to know her better.
• Why did you decide to come work in Chestermere at LakeMed clinic.
Chestermere is a great place to call “Home”. It has the beautiful lake, small town, but is close enough to the city to enjoy all the convenience and entertainment of the city. However, there are only eight family physicians, only five of them are full time, but no female family physician available in the town serving a total population of 17,203. Many residents need to go into the city to see a doctor, which could cause a lot of inconvenience and inconsistency of medical care. As a female family physician, I feel the responsibility to serve the community with my passion, updated medical knowledge (experience and the latest techniques – together they find the right balance), comprehensive medical skills and experience.
Also, the vision of “Medical Home” of LakeMed inspired me deeply. I am excited to be a part of it to build a place that patients feel most comfortable–most at home–to present and discuss their personal, family health and medical concerns. The medical home is the central hub for the timely provision and coordination of a continuous and comprehensive health and medical services for children, youth, and adults with the goal of obtaining maximized health outcomes. This model will provide patients with timely access, personalized health care, comprehensive medical services and continuity of care. It is a strong component of a healthy family and community.
• Do you have to commute?
Yes, I commute from Calgary to Chestermere every day. Although it’s not a short commute, the country view along the drive is very relaxing and enjoyable. However, I am looking for a home in Chestermere to become more involved in the community. Interestingly, when I am looking for a home for my family, I realized the important roles of the community, school system, and medical care playing a role in the decision making. A Medical Home definitely increases the attraction and cohesion of the community.
• How is your work environment?
In the past two years of family medicine training, I rotated through more than forty clinics in Calgary, Cochrane, Brooks and High River. LakeMed is one of the most organized and efficient clinics I have experienced. Everyone in the clinic has their specific responsibility, such as intake, referral, nursing care, etc. At the same time, we coordinate the care and support each other; the staff is motivated to work together to get the work done. Many times, I was surprised to find the tasks had been done before I even asked for it. In this clinic, the physicians, the nurses and the office staff are working together seamlessly to make the medical home comfortable, efficient and effective.
I feel at home when working at LakeMed; it is a happy, supportive and positive atmosphere.
• Are you enjoying your work at LakeMed clinic?
I enjoy my work at LakeMed a lot. With the supportive and dedicated team around me, I get to do all sorts of things from taking care of people from a 3 days old newborn baby to a 96 year old senior. I get to take care of people with diabetes, hypertension, asthma, heart conditions, and mental health issues. All of them are great! As a doctor it feels incredible to be continuously challenged. But the best part is that I get to do it in a context of a great relationship with my patients. I get to know these people and understand how their context really affects their illness experience. And I can apply the updated evidence based medicine to their scenario to get them the great outcomes.
• What do you like most about working at the clinic?
The team work spirit in the clinic is my favorite part of working in this clinic. At the physician level, since each physician has his/her specialty such mental health, infection disease, women’s health, etc, we can consult each other to gain more insight to the clinical cases. With the group practice method, we take care of a lot of complicated, challenging diseases together – not in isolation- to achieve the acutest diagnose and best management. At the staff level, we are so lucky to have the very experienced nursing staff on site to support us with complex wound care, intramuscular/subcutaneous injections, immunization, allergy tests, asthma nebulization, etc. This is an absolute advantage over many other clinics. We also have staff specialized in referral processes; she helps us identify the appropriate specialist with the shortest waiting time to speed up the process; following up with the specialist office periodically and promptly advises the physician of other resources if the waiting time is too long. There are many more examples of the comprehensive and effective team works in LakeMed and I am proud to be part of the seamless coordinated team.
• Do you feel you are using enough of your skills and that you are getting enough experience?
In the past month I worked at LakeMed, I already did a PAP smear, skin biopsy, suturing, toenail removal, IUD insertion, joint injection, abscess incision and drainage, etc.
I treated a multitude of acute problems – colds, fractures, lacerations, rashes, etc, I diagnosed a few rare diseases- multiple sclerosis, Polymyalgia rheumatica , Parkinson’s disease, etc. I managed a couple emergencies such as gastrointestinal bleeding and severe asthma exacerbation, etc. I feel it’s a pretty good skill and experience utilization in such a short period of time. I hope my future clinic will be even busier and I can utilize my full spectrum of skills and experience to serve the population here.
• Are your work hours reasonable?
My family medicine residency training was quite intensive. In the past two years, I got used to working 50-70 hours per week to become a competent family doctor. Currently, I am working 30-40 hours per week. I have a lot of quality time to spend with my family and friends. I am able to balance the demands of my personal life with a full life in medicine and I feel re-energized and refreshed each day, in turn, this balanced life improves the quality of patient care.
• What are your plans for the future?
I feel happy and lucky to work at LakeMed as a dedicated family physician. I can do the things I love to do with a great team.
My short-term plan is to recruit 1200-2000 patients from the community and provide them ongoing, timely and high standard medical care.
My long-term plan would be working with other stakeholders including Alberta health services, primary care network, and the town of Chestermere to improve health status and access to health care in Chestermere. I am also hoping to bring more medical services such as women’s health, weight management, chronic disease management, dermatology clinic to Chestermere in the future.
And this, Chestermere, is Dr. Dan Chen of the LakeMed clinic.
