ABOUT DR. PEPE

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Dr. Dan Pepe graduated from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario in 2014. He is a practicing family physician in London, Ontario, Canada. This blog presents Dr. Pepe’s insights into primary care as he sees it in his own practice. Please note this is not a venue for medical advice and anecdotes presented here do not refer to a specific patient, but instead are a compilation of his clinical experience over time.  

Welcome to the Primary Care Lens!   

To be fully transparent, I have selfish reasons for starting this blog. I want to practice in a better environment and leave a better system in place than the one that exists now. I believe the only way to do that is to look at the issues squarely, admit our frailty and faults, and be open to looking at the challenges in a different light. Then – through small and large concerted steps – we will move things forward.   

My family practice is located in London, Ontario, where I live with my wife (who is also a family physician with whom I share my practice) and our two young children. I began my residency training in general surgery before transitioning to family medicine.  They were great years. Both the same and different from family practice. As a surgical resident, I accompanied and learned from patients with as they faced what is for many one of the scariest experiences of their lives. In family practice, I think of myself as a patient’s co-pilot. It’s highly rewarding as I accompany them along all aspects of their journey but can be challenging due to the fragmented work environment, I find myself in.   

In my short career, I have seen how individuals trained as clinicians can become buried in the challenges of office management, human resources, and bureaucracy which tends to wear and strain the passion many leave their residency training with. I’ve often imagined how different primary care could be if we enabled clinicians rather than disabled them by utilizing technology that was modern in the 1980s and 1990s. It is this potential that inspires me on a daily basis to push beyond our current assumptions and limitations to imagine what would happen if we had a health system led and founded on a strong foundation of primary care.    

Outside of my interests in healthcare you’ll notice that I try to learn from others and so I’ve learned from my mentors that we need to look beyond ourselves to succeed. I regularly explore education, the energy sector, technology and finance to understand how we can move ourselves in healthcare forward. As a family physician, I’m essentially a small business owner. Something you’re really never prepared for in medical school.    

To tackle the issues and expand my own knowledge, I’ve taken on a few extra jobs that have helped shape my understanding of the current system and provide an outlet for advocacy and change. Some of these roles include my role as a Co-Chair for the Digital Health Working Group for the Western Ontario Health Team, a Peer Leader with Ontario MD, and a Clinical Advisor at the eHealth Centre of Excellence, as well as a physician ambassador for PrescribeIT with Canada Health Infoway.   

My philosophy boils down to this: do the right thing for the patient and the rest will follow.  

There may be procedures in place and historical decisions that we rely on today, but if you ask what's good for the patient we can collectively define a shared vision and mission that can help us progress forward.  

I hope the ideas I share here will be valuable for patients, caregivers, fellow healthcare workers, healthcare leaders and government policy makers – because everyone is on the team of the patient and our goal should always be to provide the best care for the patient.   

Thanks for reading!  

 
Dan