Francophone first
RNAO has named its first Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) Host that will be responsible for bringing francophone organizations into the BPSO movement. Hôpital Montfort, Ontario’s francophone academic hospital, offers health services in both official languages to more than 1.2 million people across eastern Ontario.
This BPSO designation comes after many years of partnership that has seen Hôpital Montfort implement nine best practice guidelines (BPG). The hospital has become a go-to source for francophone organizations in Canada and around the world.
“What RNAO has developed is a jewel for us,” says Suzanne Robichaud, chief nursing officer and vice president in charge of clinical services. The hospital continues to expand its use of BPGs with plans next year to add pain management and the prevention of suicide, she adds. “My vision is to become a lab of exemplary practice.”
That aim is already being realized with some francophone organizations coming to Montfort, which is based in Ottawa, from as far away as Switzerland and the northeast African nation of Djibouti, Robichaud says.
This work with RNAO is critical, Hôpital Montfort CEO and family physician Bernard Leduc says. “Because we are the only francophone teaching hospital in Ontario, it’s crucial we adopt best practices in all areas.”
That work has garnered attention, especially in Quebec, he says.
The hospital readily embraced RNAO and its BPGs because of its strong nursing leadership, he adds. “It’s a great partnership.”
Studying the science of cannabis
Beginning in May, 2019, McMaster University will offer a new, three-course certificate program – one of the first in Canada – focused on the science of cannabis. Health-care professionals, first responders, educators, and social and community service professionals are among those expected to benefit from the program, which offers an evidence-based approach to understanding the substance and its therapeutic applications, as well as potential risks and harms. The program is offered through the university’s continuing education arm and students must complete all three courses to qualify for the Science of Cannabis Certificate of Completion. “We know the scientific study of cannabis is something that individuals from physicians to social workers to first responders will be interested in,” says Lorraine Carter, Director of McMaster Continuing Education. “The program will help demonstrate how cannabis research interacts with fields such as addictions, mental health and public policy.” To find out more, visit mcmastercce.ca
Hoskins’ interim pharmacare report
In March, the federal government’s Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare released its interim report, which included three recommendations: create a national drug agency; develop an evidence-based list of prescribed drugs; and invest in drug data and information technology systems. The council, which is headed by former Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins, is expected to release its final report in June. While RNAO has long advocated for a national pharmacare strategy, it believes the council needs to go further than the interim recommendations it released in March. “The federal government must ensure that all Canadians get equitable access to medication,” says RNAO President Angela Cooper Brathwaite. With the release of the interim report, Hoskins said current drug coverage is “…inadequate, unsustainable and leaves too many Canadians behind.” RNAO agrees, and has outlined its suggestions for next steps. The public system must: create universal coverage of medically necessary drugs via a single-payer system without user fees or other costs to Canadians; implement full coverage immediately; tame drug costs by creating a national agency to negotiate prices and resist excessive patent protection; and ensure appropriate prescribing. Further work on a national pharmacare strategy must also be grounded in the fact that a single-payer system is more equitable and cost-effective. To find out more, visit RNAO.ca/pharmacare_interim_report
Golden Girls Act to help seniors access shared housing
Seniors in Ontario often face a shortage of affordable housing and long wait lists for long-term care. Shared housing is an option for many seniors. In Port Perry, four women – two of them retired RNs -- decided to move into a renovated home that would support their needs as they age. The four women, who have been nicknamed the Golden Girls of Port Perry, faced pushback from their municipal government regarding senior home-sharing because the building permit they presented to their local council violated zoning bylaws that did not allow for a communal dwelling. They voiced their concerns first to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, then to their MPP, Lindsey Park, who took their concerns one step further by introducing a private member’s bill that, if passed, will ensure municipalities interpret the Ontario Planning Act in a way that encourages home-sharing by unrelated seniors as an affordable housing solution. Bill 69, also known as The Golden Girls Act 2019, was introduced by Park in January 2019, and passed second reading on Feb. 28. RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun shared nurses’ support of the proposed legislation at a media conference on the same day at Queen’s Park.
High turnover a small blip for Bluewater
Higher staff turnover at Sarnia’s Bluewater Health is said to be a result of the shift to a younger workforce says Shannon Landry, the organization’s chief nursing executive. “Probably one of the biggest increases we’ve seen is the number of maternity leaves,” she says. A recent report from the hospital’s human resources department says half of Bluewater staff (more than 1,700 people) are millennials, born between 1977 and 1995. Parental leaves have gone from about 100 in 2015 to more than 130 for each of the past two years. That number is expected to continue to climb, notes Landry: “We are right now anticipating and looking at our staffing and our scheduling to ensure we…have that flexibility.” The demographic shift to a younger workforce, she adds, is common across the health-care sector. The overall turnover rate at Bluewater stands at 9.6 per cent, up from 6.7 per cent five years ago. That rate also includes retirements and resignations, but Landry is not worried. Bluewater sees 18,000 to 20,000 job applications per year, she says. (The Sarnia Observer, March 20)
Ontario must fund life-saving health services
A letter by RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun was published in the Ottawa Citizen (April 5). In response to the province’s announcement to defund Ottawa Public Health’s (OPH) drug consumption site, RNAO is calling on the provincial government to restore funding for OPH as well as two other sites in Toronto.
Given the reality that a poisoned drug supply is killing thousands of Canadians, Ottawa Public Health’s (OPH) drug consumption site is helping to keep people alive. The OPH site is a necessary resource that allows the City of Ottawa to provide its residents with a safe, hygienic space to use intravenous drugs and be supported in accessing addiction treatment and other services.
The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario calls on the provincial government to heed the evidence, consult front-line staff and organizations responding to overdoses every day, and fund these life-saving health services. The lives of our loved ones, colleagues, clients and neighbours hang in the balance.
New mobile app for youth mental health patients
St. Joseph’s Health Care London has launched a pilot project to connect local youth with mental health-care professionals. The TELEPROM-Y mobile app allows patients and their health-care team to talk via secure video link, message back-and-forth, and schedule in-person appointments. Providers can also send questionnaires and advice to patients electronically. “Mental health services are all about relationships,” says Cheryl Forchuk, project lead and research chair for Lawson Health Research Institute, part of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care London. “In our previous work with youth, they talked about how they really wanted to see the technology they use (daily) integrated into the care they’re receiving. This is really what our goal has been,” Forchuk says. The program includes 120 people who are 16 to 25 years old and living with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. The two-year project will evaluate how well the mobile app is received, and whether it reduces the number of youth mental health hospitalizations and outpatient visits. (The London Free Press, Feb. 7)
Stroke survivor helps others
For RN Susan Robertson, a busy hockey mom, nothing was out of the ordinary. She was constantly on the go, taking her kids to practices or weekend tournaments for hockey and baseball. Then, at 37, she had a stroke. “I first went to the clinic with a sore left arm. They thought it was an arterial clot, so I went to the hospital,” she says. “When I got there I had multiple pulmonary embolisms. I knew what was happening (in the emergency department), but lost the use of everything. I couldn’t speak,” she recalls. Robertson stayed in the hospital for three weeks and didn’t fully recover her speech, mobility, or full use of her right side until a year later. The experience was frightening, she says. Now, thanks to a new program called Peers Fostering Hope, launched in Windsor in March, stroke survivors can meet with other survivors so they do not feel alone during recovery. Robertson has become a volunteer with the program, and hopes to help others going through the same thing she did. “I will be able to share my story and listen to theirs. I can provide support and give them hope that there is life after a stroke.” (Windsor Star, Feb. 13)
Call for more focus on immunization
With a measles outbreak in New York City last fall, and a number of confirmed cases in B.C. early this year, public health initiatives are more crucial than ever. The importance of immunization programs for children was a topic of discussion for Haldimand and Norfolk Health and Social Services in February as students in the area faced suspension for incomplete immunization records. The Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) requires students in primary and secondary school to be immunized against diseases such as tetanus, polio, measles and mumps, or have a valid exemption on file. “It is thanks to these vaccines that diseases that were the leading cause of death 100 years ago now cause less than five per cent of all deaths in Canada,” says RN Sarah Titmus, the Haldimand and Norfolk Health Unit’s program manager for infectious disease. In 2017-18, the compliance rate in Haldimand and Norfolk was 83 per cent for 17-year-olds compared to 88 per cent the previous year. Titmus says the decrease can be attributed to an increase in the number of vaccines required (up from six to nine). “Ongoing immunization programs that ensure high coverage rates are needed to maintain low levels of vaccine-preventable diseases,” she says. (Simcoe Reformer, Feb. 13)
Health system transformation
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott announced on Feb. 26 that the provincial government hopes to make it easier for patients to navigate the health system by creating a central agency called Ontario Health (see more on pages 6, 10 and 17). “Nurses have been calling out our system’s failings for years. It needs to be more attentive to people, better connected, easier to navigate and more cost effective,” says RNAO President Angela Cooper Brathwaite. The new legislation, if passed, will fold 20 existing provincial health-care agencies into Ontario Health. These include Cancer Care Ontario, Health Quality Ontario, e-Health Ontario, Trillium Gift of Life Network, and HealthForceOntario. Direct services, including some provided currently by Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) will be devolved to health providers who will work as members of local Ontario Health Teams (OHT) that bring together service providers in primary care, acute care and home care. (The Manitoulin Expositor, March 6)
