Introduction to medical cannabis clinics

Medical cannabis in Canada has evolved rapidly in the last few years, leading to expansive growth.

However, after 20 years, medical cannabis prescription remains concentrated at medical cannabis clinics across Canada, where prescribing physicians are assisted by dedicated support staff. To date, between 80-90% of all medical cannabis authorizations in Canada are written at dedicated clinics.

Medical cannabis clinics can serve as a pillar of the local medical community, providing essential patient care, healthcare professional training, and education, and even leading research to contribute to the scientific knowledge of cannabinoid-based medicines.

To become a centre of excellence in medical cannabis, it takes dedication and a supportive community of practice. We offer a clinic development program to support new clinics and clinical practices to achieve excellence in patient care efficiently and effectively.

Consultation for strategic development

Medical cannabis is a very dynamic field, with shifts in laws, regulations, stigma, use, and treatments all happening at an incredible pace. Your clinic organization needs a strategy to address these challenges. Partner with Santé Cannabis as you develop and revise your long- and short-term strategies to ensure you.

Our consultation service can include:

• Identification of medical and patient community needs
• Strategic development and communication plans
• Mentorship support from our clinical leaders and members of our community of practice
• Regulatory support to integrate needs with requirements

Development of clinical model

We established our clinical model over years of clinical practice and research since 2014; it’s built specifically for clinical excellence, data collection and is customized to our local regulatory requirements and medical community needs. Our model is an excellent start for any new clinic or clinic integrating medical cannabis services.

We’ve since adapted the model to various jurisdictions, and from in-person clinic visits to telemedicine to meet the evolving healthcare community.

We’ll guide you through the development of your own model, including your personnel needs to provide you with your desired clinical practice outcomes. We’ll work within your provincial, state, and national regulations to ensure your model is compliant and built for success.

Medical cannabis clinical model development can include:

• Adaptation of the Santé Cannabis medical cannabis model
• Consultation and verification by clinical team leaders
• Complete review of required internal processes and external relations to the medical community
• Design of a continuous improvement plan to meet the clinic objectives and community needs

Operating procedures and documents

Our team has both the frontline expertise and the back-end operations and regulatory experience you need to create an efficient and proficient clinic. Depending on your needs, we have a range of services and resources available: from adaptable form templates, practical guides for healthcare practitioners and supporting tools for your patients to operational and governance documents and intensive development of procedures to match your clinical model.

For operational excellence, our service includes: 

• Provision of clinical standard operation procedures templates
• Patient referral and self-referral forms, treatment agreement and research consent form
• Support to develop clinic efficiencies and optimal resource utilization

Training for healthcare professionals and clinical teams

Our community of practice is here for you. Medical cannabis is rarely, if ever, covered in healthcare professional training; and practical training is even more difficult to find, so we offer patient-centred practical training opportunities for healthcare professionals and entire clinical teams.

Not only do we offer comprehensive training packages, we also offer protocols, tools, workshops and patient case studies that make learning easy. Work with us to ensure your medical cannabis clinic can serve its community with confidence.

Our training program and customized opportunities include: 

• Comprehensive online Prescriber Training Program, with protocols and clinical tools
• Selected training webinars, workshops, and case studies customized to your clinic’s needs
• Support for recruitment and hiring of clinic personnel
• Group training package for your clinical team

Request a training

Clinical prescribing protocol

To achieve excellence and build the credibility of your medical cannabis clinic, your practice must have a foundation of evidence-based clinic experience. You can benefit from adapting ours.

Our Santé Cannabis team is dedicated to keeping up with published literature to maintain the highest standard of medical cannabis care. Every clinic has its own specific needs, and our team can work with you to create customized, standardized protocols to meet your goals.

Find out about:  

• Clinic-wide protocol to support compliance and consistency between medical cannabis prescribers
• Template provided for review and approval by physician team
  Adaptation of a template prescribing protocol to meet local regulatory needs
• Support for medical team to review and approve protocol

Clinical preceptorships and physician mentorship

You can find medical cannabis training online but how many will provide live patient consultations, practical tips, concrete clinical guidance, and out-of-the-books insights?

Join us, either virtually or in-person, to learn from our expert medical team through clinical preceptorships or one-on-one mentorship sessions with our physicians.

During your preceptorship or mentorship session, you will:  

• Observe initial and follow-up patient consultations
• See our model of care in action
• Participate in patient file review
• Attend patient education sessions led by our nurse trainers
• Debate cases and collaborate on personalized patient care decisions and treatment plans

Request a training

Patient assessment and treatment forms

Patients are at the centre of our practice and purpose. We’ve invested in creating practical, easy-to-understand educational documents, tools and forms for patients and their caregivers. They serve as take-home information packages for patients that improve their care and referral experience, while reducing education and follow-up time for your clinical team.

Our materials are designed with patients and healthcare professionals in mind:  

• Clinical assessment tools and forms
• Support to develop digital forms in electronic medical records and clinical software
• Treatment plan and medical cannabis instruction templates

Licensed materials

For clinics and clinicians who are ready to start prescribing, we offer a series of licensable materials to save you time and energy and to enhance the clinical experience for staff and patients, with or without customization.

Start your development today with our: 

• Prescriber Guidebook for internal or external engagement with medical professionals
• Patient education handbook to improve patient outcomes and clinic efficiency
• Study Protocol to bring a standardized, prospective observational study within your clinical practice
• Continuing Medical Education presentations and workshops

Continuing medical education program

Education is never over, especially in cannabis medicine. As research develops and we treat more patients, the field of medical cannabis adapts, and so do our learning programs.

We offer a wide variety of ongoing and renewable training services to your physicians, nurses, pharmacists and allied healthcare professionals that make up your clinical team – in the style that best suits their needs.

Accelerate your event with our support: 

• Curriculum development of
• Continuing Medical Education programs
• Introductory and advanced training modules to support recruitment and training of medical cannabis prescribers
• Adaptation of webinars, workshops and case studies to serve your audience

Request a training today