8 minute read
Guest editor
But we can still build a world-class system
By Teri Price
May 19th was the 10-year anniversary of my brother Greg’s death. Greg was a healthy, intelligent 31-year-old who had only told us of his potential diagnosis of testicular cancer days before. Our family was shocked and devastated.
A major factor in my brother’s early death was Canada’s poor health data infrastructure.
Greg and his various health providers didn’t have access to all his health information. A red flag for testicular cancer was in his electronic medical record at one clinic but wasn’t available to the walk-in clinic doctor Greg saw when he started having back pain. One of his doctors moved his practice; the clinic didn’t have a process in place for follow-up. A specialist he was urgently referred to – via fax – was out of the office for an extended period and the referral sat there until Greg finally called the specialist’s office.
When my family wanted to learn what happened so we could help prevent this from happening again, we asked questions about how common cases like Greg’s were. The system couldn’t provide what we thought was basic information. We asked for statistics on surgeries like Greg’s and the frequency of blood clots for the hospital, region, province and nationally – which didn’t seem like a big ask at the time – and learned the information doesn’t exist.
Since Greg’s death, we’ve learned a lot about healthcare and have realized that we made a lot of dangerous assumptions.
In the first year after Greg’s death, Dr. Ward Flemons and the team at the Health Quality Council of Alberta investigated what happened, releasing the Continuity of Patient Care Study. Five years later, we partnered again to produce the film, Falling Through the Cracks: Greg’s Story. To date, it has been screened more than 470 times and we’ve participated in almost every screening’s post-film discussion. These conversations have been an opportunity to deepen our understanding of healthcare and refine what we believe is crucially important for its future.
We have learned a few things that we believe are fundamental truths: • We need a health system that puts patient safety as a real priority and that doesn’t harm patients. • Safe care is provided by teams. • Teamwork requires information to make safe decisions. • We need a health system that uses information to continuously learn, improve and innovate.
Everyone deserves safe care, yet Canada has an unacceptable level of harm. One in every 17 hospital stays results in at least one unintended harmful event – and that is just hospital stays.
Harm impacts the entire care team. It’s not okay to put people in a position where a single mistake could result in patient harm.
Continued on page 6
UPCOMING DEADLINES
OCTOBER 2022 ISSUE
EDITORIAL: September 6 ADVERTISING: Display – Sept. 23 | Material – Sept. 27 Monthly Focus: Mental Health and Addiction/Patient Safety/ Research/Infection control: New treatment approaches to mental health and addiction. Developments in patient-safety practices. An overview of current research initiatives. Developments in the prevention and treatment of drug-resistant bacteria and control of infectious (rare) diseases. Programs implemented to reduce hospital acquired infections (HAIs). +ANNUAL INFECTION CONTROL SUPPLEMENT
NOVEMBER 2022 ISSUE
EDITORIAL: October 4 ADVERTISING: Display – Oct. 21 | Material – Oct. 25 Monthly Focus: Technology and Innovation in Healthcare/ Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Patient Experience/ Health Promotion: New treatment approaches to mental health and addiction. An overview of current research initiatives Programs and initiatives focused on enhancing the patient experience and family centred care. Programs designed to promote wellness and prevent disease including public health initiatives, screening and hospital initiatives. + SPECIAL MEDTECH SUPPLEMENT
610 Applewood Crescent, Suite 401 Vaughan Ontario L4K 0E3 TEL. 905.532.2600|FAX 1.888.546.6189 www.hospitalnews.com
Editor Kristie Jones
editor@hospitalnews.com Advertising Representatives Denise Hodgson
denise@hospitalnews.com Publisher Stefan Dreesen
stefan@hospitalnews.com Accounting Inquiries accountingteam@mediaclassified.ca
Circulation Inquiries info@hospitalnews.com
Director of Print Media Lauren Reid-Sachs
Senior Graphic Designer Johannah Lorenzo
ADVISORY BOARD
Barb Mildon,
RN, PHD, CHE VP Professional Practice & Research & CNE, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences Helen Reilly,
Publicist Health-Care Communications Jane Adams,
President Brainstorm Communications & Creations Bobbi Greenberg,
Health care communications Sarah Quadri Magnotta,
Health care communications Dr. Cory Ross,
B.A., MS.C., DC, CSM (OXON), MBA, CHE Vice President, Academic George Brown College, Toronto, ON
ASSOCIATE PARTNERS:
Hospital News is published for hospital health-care professionals, patients, visitors and students. It is available free of charge from distribution racks in hospitals in Ontario. Bulk subscriptions are available for hospitals outside Ontario. The statements, opinions and viewpoints made or expressed by the writers do not necessarily represent the opinions and views of Hospital News, or the publishers. Hospital News and Members of the Advisory Board assume no responsibility or liability for claims, statements, opinions or views, written or reported by its contributing writers, including product or service information that is advertised. Changes of address, notices, subscriptions orders and undeliverable address notifications. Subscription rate in Canada for single copies is $29.40 per year. Send enquiries to: subscriptions@ hospitalnews.com Canadian Publications mail sales product agreement number 42578518.
Retaining and recruiting nurses:
Key to getting Canada’s health system back on its feet
Health system challenges in Ontario and across Canada can be overcome if premiers, territorial leaders and the federal government make health human resources (HHR) – and especially nursing – a priority, says the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO).
The federal government took a major step towards that goal by announcing that it was reinstating the role of Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Canada and appointing Dr. Leigh Chapman to the position.
“Dr. Chapman is a well-known RNAO member and an outstanding choice to inform federal HHR policy. Chapman’s expertise as a registered nurse (RN) in various roles and sectors is matched only by her incredible compassion,” says RNAO President Dr. Claudette Holloway. “This role has always been important, and even more crucial now given nursing shortages that have been exacerbated by the pandemic,” she adds. “We commend Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos for taking this important step. RNAO has advocated for the reinstatement of this role since it was eliminated under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper,” notes Holloway.
Nursing was also top of mind during a meeting Premier Doug Ford held with his Maritime counterparts Monday. During media availability all premiers acknowledged the dire HHR crisis we find ourselves in. Holloway calls it a long-coming admission given the state of the crisis. “Ontario is in even more dire situation as we entered the pandemic with the lowest RN-to-population in Canada – a shortfall of 22,000 RNs. During the past two and a half years more RNs have left due to excessive workloads, deteriorating working conditions, stress and burnout – as well as reduced earnings caused by Ontario’s Bill 124.”
All four premiers emphasized the need to collaborate with health sector experts and adopt “best practices” to solve the challenges facing the health system. Many of these best practices can be found in the Nursing Through Crisis report released by RNAO in May. They range from ensuring competitive compensation and reducing workloads to building career paths for nurses and other health professionals in Canada so they continue working here for decades to come.
Building career paths includes helping registered practical nurses (RPN) and licensed practical nurses (LPN) become RNs by providing flexible and ready access to bridging programs, supporting RNs to develop expertise in clinical areas, or furthering their careers as clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners (NP), managers or educators. It also means enabling NPs to work to their full scope of practice, vastly improving access and flow of patients throughout the health system.
“The exodus of nurses from fulltime work positions in hospitals and other settings can only be stopped if full-time permanent positions are better rewarded and recognized over agency positions,” says Holloway. And she notes, “It is urgent for our province to capitalize on existing proven programs such as the Nursing Graduate Guarantee and the Late Career Nursing Initiative, and to build a mid-career nursing initiative to entice nurses to stay in Ontario.”
“Canadians are feeling the devastating effects of the nursing crisis. Whether it is long wait times accessing the system, closures of emergency rooms, delays in procedures and surgeries or trying to get the care they need in home care and long-term care, no sector is immune,” adds Holloway. The crisis is drastically compounded by short staffing, a situation that Holloway says “creates moral distress which affects nurses’ ability to provide the highest quality of care. It is untenable and cannot continue.”
RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun says the federal government must take further actions. While thanking deeply Prime Minister Trudeau for appointing an outstanding CNO, she calls on him to increase federal transfer payments to the provinces – and to do so with strings attached to ensure investments are made to improve HHR policy. “We also urge the prime minister to use his authority to ensure premiers fully uphold the principles and spirit of the Canada Health Act (CHA). This includes prohibiting for-profit corporations from performing medical and surgical procedures that require overnight stays,” says Grinspun. She adds, “We ask nurses and all Canadians to be vigilant and disclose any such practices.”
RNAO opposes medical procedures and surgeries being performed by for-profit corporations because these entities are legally obliged to prioritize the interests of shareholders and investors – not those of patients. “We cannot allow shareholders to carve out money and drain scarce HHR resources from the public purse, thus aggravating the nursing shortage and people’s health,” says Grinspun. “This is nurses’ line in the sand – crossing the line would bankrupt the system ethically and financially, and deliver worse outcomes for most Canadians.”
Grinspun says the challenges facing the health system are not insurmountable, and that Canada’s well-regarded health system can be fixed. “RNAO is eager to continue working with all governments to do what we need to do for the benefit of our patients and for communities – right across this country.” ■ H
JOIN NOW!
join.RNAO.ca 800-268-7199
STRONGER TOGETHER
Satisfy the CNO’s professional liability protection (PLP) requirement– and the months of September and October are on us.
48,500 STRONG
JOIN RNAO AND GET 2 MONTHS FREE*
*Applications will be dated per date of receipt. Special offer applies to new or lapsed members applying for 2022-2023 membership year.
