New organization launched to advocate for homeless
A new network of advocates focused on people who are homeless in Toronto has come together to create the Shelter and Housing Justice Network (SHJN). Two RNAO members sit on the group’s steering committee: street nurses Cathy Crowe and Roxie Danielson. As a front-line RN at Toronto’s Inner City Family Health Team, Danielson does outreach work with people who do not have a place to live and says she has clients who prefer to live outside because of the shortcomings of the current shelter and respite system. While she is glad the system is there, she admits it could be a lot better. SHJN is using a two-prong approach to combat the shelter and housing crisis. Its first objective is to expand the shelter system, which needs 2,000 additional shelter beds. Another goal is to provide more affordable, supportive housing. “On one hand, it’s really positive that the shelters and respite (centres) are there, because they get people off the streets and connected to resources,” Danielson says. The downfall, she suggests, is overcrowding and insufficient staffing.
Parish Nursing Interest Group (PNIG) changes its name
PNIG has changed its name to Faith Community Nursing Interest Group (FCNIG) after receiving approval from RNAO’s board of directors and consulting with its members through an online voting process. Ninety-five per cent of voters favoured the name change, which first came to light when the interest group executive presented a resolution for the name change at the group’s annual general meeting last April. FCNIG chair Anne-Marie Mohler says the group has been discussing this idea for the past year. She says terminology around parish nursing is changing. “Faith community nursing is now the term most commonly used,” she explains. The term parish refers to Christianity, and the new name is inclusive of various faiths.
RN becomes councillor in North Grenville
Long-time RNAO member Doreen O’Sullivan (seated) was sworn in as a municipal councillor for North Grenville in December. The RN campaigned on a platform to improve sidewalks, bike paths and trails to encourage citizens to be active.
O’Sullivan was a member of North Grenville’s active transportation board as a citizen. She attended meetings and shared her views on traffic, speed and safety in the area. She says, eventually, people began to tell her that she should run for council. So she did.
A feature on nurses who became politicians was included in the Sept/Oct 2018 issue of RNJ (From Practice to Politics), and like those political counterparts, O’Sullivan believes her experience as an RN will help her in this new phase of her career.
“It’s like an extension of being a nurse,” she says. “I’m advocating for people and trying to make a healthier community.”
O’Sullivan worked in a variety of positions at Ottawa Hospital over more than four decades as an RN. She says her work in quality and patient safety is especially helpful because she is used to looking at the evidence, and conducting needs assessments. She’s seen how evidence and technology have changed over her career, and believes both are vital to improve local communities.
Don’t forget about NPs
We continue to hear stories about Canadians without access to a family doctor. Linda Silas, an RNAO member and president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, co-authored an editorial in the Hamilton Spectator (Dec. 11) that suggests Canadians should look to nurse practitioners to help with the country’s ongoing health-care woes. “Canada routinely underperforms in international surveys of timely access to primary health care, such as access to a family doctor,” the editorial reads. “When this happens, patients often rely on the more expensive health services provided in our acute care system, arriving in hospital emergency rooms.” Nurse practitioners can help since they are highly skilled health-care professionals with advanced education, Silas writes. They can also diagnose, treat, prescribe medications, order tests, offer referrals, and admit or discharge in-patients, the authors explain. “Nurse practitioners represent an innovative opportunity for Canada to address its growing health-care needs,” especially for underserved populations. (CTV News, Nov. 17)
Kindness goes a long way
Kindness and inclusivity by clinicians have a bigger impact than some may believe, say researchers at Western University and the University of British Columbia. A new study, published in The Milbank Quarterly, a journal for population health and health policy, shows a clear link between an equity-oriented health-care approach (e.g. welcoming and inclusive behaviour between patients and clinic staff) and better health outcomes in marginalized or impoverished patients. RN Marilyn Ford-Gilboe, the study’s co-author and a professor at Western’s Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, says the study is about paying attention to the way we interact with people.
“It makes health-care providers think differently when they adopt this approach,” she says. “It sounds very simple, but in a busy health-care environment, when there’s time pressure and other things, sometimes those really fundamental things get put to the side.” The study assessed patients over a 24-month period at four clinics – two in B.C., one in London, and another in Lambton County. (The London Free Press, Dec. 19)
Nursing students take on simulation games
Three Toronto nursing schools have teamed up to provide their nursing students with skills-building opportunities in practice areas they may not be exposed to during clinical placements. Created by Centennial College, George Brown College and Ryerson University, the virtual hospital simulation games educate students in a safe environment while immersing them in complex, interactive and dynamic storylines that replicate real-life situations. “Even if you don’t get a placement in (a specific clinical) area, you can still get exposure to that area (through the games) and see if it’s something you do well at and might be interested in,” says recent Centennial graduate Renee Shugg. The games lead students through a series of decision points, with patients acting out practice scenarios. At each decision point, the user either makes a correct decision and continues, or makes an incorrect decision and views the consequences. When making an incorrect decision, the player is provided with feedback. “Having those simulations before entering that practice area made me better prepared than just reading my textbooks,” Shugg says. (Toronto Sun, Jan. 6)
Ending hallway health care
As hallway health care continues in hospitals across Ontario, the provincial government is getting ready to implement changes to the system that it says will alleviate some of the pressure. In an interview with the Toronto Star, Health Minister Christine Elliott said she is focusing on the creation of a patient-centred system, and did not deny this may include reducing the province’s 14 LHINs to five. RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun says she is confident the government is planning to follow through with structural change that RNAO recommended in its 2014 ECCO (Enhancing Community Care for Ontarians) report. People “deserve the very best health system. They own it and they pay for it through their taxes,” says Grinspun. “RNAO looks forward to working with the Ontario government to make reforms that speed access, improve care, make our system more seamless and efficient, and strengthen Medicare.”
(QP Briefing, Jan. 17)
Discharge lounge to ease overcrowding
Tackling hospital overcrowding is never easy, but Carol Young-Ritchie, vice-president and chief nursing officer for London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), is looking to a new discharge lounge as a potential solution. In January, LHSC’s University Hospital opened the new lounge to get home-bound patients out of in-demand beds while they’re waiting for rides. “The main goal of this is to help us with our access and flow issues,” says Young-Ritchie. “We certainly want to move patients through our system as quickly as we can…(and the space) helps us to clean the bed faster and get the next patient who needs acute care into that bed.” The lounge is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, and is staffed by a registered nurse and other allied health professionals. As part of the three-month pilot project, managers will evaluate how effective the lounge space is at getting new patients in beds faster. (The Chatham Daily News and London Free Press, Jan. 5)
Sault Area Hospital promotes senior-friendly strategy
Hoping to promote good health among seniors, the Sault Area Hospital (SAH) has launched a pilot project as part of Health Quality Ontario’s IDEAS (Improving & Driving Excellence Across Sectors) program. Patients arriving on the hospital’s medical units are given a baseline functional assessment to identify gaps in their health. Staff then develop a care plan that fits the needs of each patient. “We can then evaluate the patient’s progress and make further adjustments if necessary in order to meet the patient’s goals,” says RN Monique Kevill, patient care manager. Some of the strategies used to prevent functional decline in seniors include getting patients up for meals, minimizing the use of commodes, bedpans, and catheters, and providing patient education. “Ultimately, our goal is to enable seniors to maintain optimal health while they are hospitalized so that they can return to their home environment or transition to the next level of care that best meets their needs,” says RN Tracy Byron, an SAH senior-friendly lead. (The Sault Star, Jan. 3)
Spotlight on Lyme disease
A group of Ontario women, including RN Sue Faber, have shared their experiences with Lyme disease in hopes they will raise awareness that women who have the disease may pass it on to their unborn children. Faber, a mother of three daughters, was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2016, after more than 15 years of symptoms such as memory problems, coughing, migratory pain and profound fatigue. After her diagnosis, Faber began to wonder if her children also had the disease since they too struggled with health issues. “(My daughter Andrea) had cyclical fevers, failure to thrive, and rashes (that) would come and go,” she says. Once her daughter began antibiotics, the treatment for Lyme disease, her health improved. “It was like night and day,” Faber says. Subsequent testing revealed all three of her daughters had been exposed to the disease despite never being bitten by a tick, she says. Faber, along with other mothers, has launched a study to analyze the mother-to-child link. Read more about Faber’s ongoing advocacy in the May/June 2018 issue of RNJ. (CTV News, Jan. 20)
