Runners will never have to miss another season again thanks to a new injury clinic that opened on campus to treat knee injuries. The clinic is open to the general public and no referral from a physician is necessary, however, the injury must have happened within the past month.
“This is an innovation in health care delivery,” said head supervisor Dr. Nick Mohtadi, an orthopaedic surgeon. “[This clinic] manages and delivers higher standards of care at no cost to the patient.”
There are two non-physicians that work at the clinic under the supervision of Mohtadi.
“The non-physicians that we staff are so well-trained that they can identify an injury [very quickly] and determine the appropriate course of action,” said kinesiology faculty communications director Don McSwiney. “For example, when CTV was here, we simulated what an appointment would be like and they were able to identify a knee condition that the volunteer didn’t even know they had. The patients have the opportunity to see the same people that treat professional athletes.”
Patients must book their appointments online via the Sport Medicine Centre’s website and complete a questionnaire, what Mohtadi called “a very highly integrated screening process.”
All patients are screened via an online questionnaire before an appointment. During the appointment, they are assessed and given a management plan, including surgery or additional tests such as X-rays and MRIs.
“If further investigations are required, we use appropriate and agreed upon standards of care,” said Mohtadi. “It’s not about the machines, but rather seeing the right patient at the right time.”
The clinic does not have set hours of operation, but rather works around the availability of the SMC’s facilities.
The research-based clinic is funded by the McCaig Professorship, the University of Calgary’s Sport Medicine Centre and a grant from the Canadian Institute for Health Research and works in partnership with the Alberta Bone and Joint Institute.