Community health centres
not the only place for nurse practitioners
About 20 working in Ontario long-term
care homes
Thursday, December 7,
2006 -- Natalie Miller
The placement of nurse practitioners (NPs) in
community health centres in doctor-strapped areas
of the province has received attention in recent
years as a means of helping address Ontario’s
shortage of family physicians.
But those aren’t the only
places in which these health professionals are
supporting Ontarians. Currently, there are 17
NPs working in long-term care. In March 1999,
the provincial government announced a pilot project
to introduce primary health care NPs into long-term
care homes and a year later funded 20 full-time
NP positions in 10 long-term care pilot projects.
NPs are currently working in various
capacities in municipal homes, charitable homes,
private, and not-for-profit homes.
“I think it’s a real
success story,” says Jane Sanders, executive
director of the Nurse Practitioners’ Association
of Ontario (NPAO).
She reports NPs are doing good work
in areas including managing medications, reducing
the number of transfers to hospitals and even
discharging residents of long-term care back into
their own homes.
Jane says there were barriers to
overcome initially and three of the 20 projects
never got off the ground but there are 17 NPs
working all over the province including urban
centres like Toronto and Ottawa and more remote
locations like Sarnia, Chatham and Peterborough.
“There was a range of different approaches,”
she says, noting some work in one long-term care
home while others support a variety. Permanent
dollars were announced in 2001 to ensure the project
would continue.
The NPAO is an interest group of
the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario
and represents the professional interests of all
NPs in Ontario. NPAO advocates for accessible,
high quality health care for Ontarians through
the integration of NPs across the health care
system.
A NP is an advanced practice nurse,
functioning within the full scope of nursing practice
and as such is neither a second level physician
nor a doctor's assistant. Nurse practitioner skills
include the ability to: provide wellness care
including health screening activities such as
Pap smears and monitoring infant growth and development,
diagnose and treat minor illnesses such as ear
and bladder infections, diagnose and treat minor
injuries such as sprains and lacerations, screen
for the presence of chronic disease, such as diabetes
and monitor people with stable chronic disease,
such as hypertension.
æstima research, a Health
Services Research, Planning and Evaluation group
in London, conducted an evaluation of The Ontario
Nurse Practitioner in Long-Term Care Facilities
Pilot Project. The findings of that interim evaluation
will be published in an upcoming OMNIway story.
-- More to come
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