Top Nurses Week 2010 Story.
The Nurse Practitioner Solution.

Nurses Week 2010.

Did I pass? Theresa (not her real name) sat in the examination room, nervously wondering if once again, she would be unable to find anyone to take care of her in her old age. A typical senior citizen, white hair, unassuming, she hoped to manage well with her health issues, and enjoy this part of her life. She had just finished nervously answering the health history questions Marilyn, the Nurse Practitioner, carefully asked her, as part of the initial assessment. As it dawned on Marilyn that this woman thought she had to pass certain criteria in order to be accepted into the health care practice of the brand-new clinic, the magnitude of the impact their little clinic was having on people's lives dawned on her.

Having been an orphan patient for years, accessing essential health care only through walk-in clinics and emergency departments, Theresa was among the 5 million Canadians without access to primary health care, which has traditionally been provided by family physicians. Even with the development of Family Health Teams (FHT) in Ontario, many nurse practitioners graduating in Ontario were unable to find full-time employment under their current scope of practice. (2)

Marilyn Butcher, Roberta Heale and their team decided to break down barriers, and do something to help the thousands of people in their community who now found themselves orphan patients.(3) They made the decision to think, speak and act differently.Though it had never been done before, and many said it could not be done, they and their team forged ahead, sacrificing much, and battling many start up issues. With the support of the government of Ontario, they opened the first nurse practitioner-led primary health care clinic in Canada. The day we opened our doors to start registering people, says Butcher, there was a sea of gray hair in the parking lot, many of them using walkers and canes. Within a short period, their tiny clinic was providing health care for over 2000 patients, many of them with complex health care conditions that regularly triggered visits to emergency department care.

Nurses Week 2010 Snapshot Today, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, nurse practitioners, physicians, social workers, physiotherapists, dietitians, nurses, and other health care professionals are collaborating to open 25 nurse practitioner-led clinics in Ontario. The Sudbury District Nurse Practitioner Clinic is now a model for a movement that is making a difference in thousands of peoples’ lives. This Spring, they are opening a second location and will be providing primary health care for thousands more previously orphaned patients. The NP-led clinics are key element in the solution to our looming health-care crisis.

How can your Nurses group or Community get involved? find out if a nurse practitioner clinic is available or coming to your area. Ask how you can help. Ask your physician about collaborations with NPs. Are you a nurse? Have you though about specializing as a nurse practitioner, or becoming part of an NP-led clinic as an RN or RPN? Solution thinking, an effective, realistic and positively focused approach will continue to bring positive change in health care. Florence Nightingale used just such an approach, even in the most difficult of times, and as we celebrate Nurses Week 2010, the results continue to manifest.

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(2) ESPANOLA & AREA FAMILY HEALTH TEAM: see esphosp.on.ca. Also see Comparison of Canadian Primary Health Care Models , by Julie MacDonald, Research Fellow, The University of New South Wales.

(3) Butcher, Marilyn & Heale, Roberta, Sudbury District Nurse Practitioner Clinic, CANADA’S FIRST NURSE PRACTITIONER-LED PRIMARY HEALTH CARE CLINIC, http://sdnpc.ca/Click Here to read about Canada's first NP-led primary health care clinic.

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