Clinical
The clinical role of the Department of Family Medicine is to provide a full range of primary care services including obstetrical care, newborn care in hospital, and regional and inpatient palliative care and consultation. The Department of Family Medicine fulfils this role under the SEAMO Family Health Network (FHN) agreement (2003 May 01).

The Department's role in providing comprehensive continuous care, disease prevention, and health promotion services is fulfilled through its core program in the Family Medicine Centre at Hotel Dieu Hospital. The services provided to the practice patients include general assessment and provision of preventive care and health promotion, diagnosing and treating acute and chronic health problems with appropriate specialty assistance, provision of full reproductive and new born care, providing mental health care and appropriate supportive counseling, providing child health care and also supportive in hospital care. The group clinical teaching practice serves a population of patients from Kingston and surrounding communities on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis. In addition they provide services to the Ongwanda Group Homes for the Developmentally Disabled and the Rideau Regional Centre in Smiths Falls and continue to provide services for their patients after admission to nursing homes.

Within the acute care setting the department works collaboratively with the interdisciplinary teams associated with a number of services and programs to address patient care and clinical practice issues.

Research
The Department contributes to the discipline of family medicine by conducting appropriate, funded research and evaluation projects. The Centre for Studies in Primary Care and the Bosnia Project are the main foci of work. In fact, the Centre for Studies in Primary Care involves collaborations with, or the participation of, other medical and non-medical departments from Queens and other universities.