[NPInfo] NPs directing clinic in Canada

[Carla Anderson]

Several NPs lobbied, and spoke about the shortage of primary care providers in Sudbury Canada, and their work paid off. It is the first NP run clinic in Canada!
   
          Province funds nurse practitioner clinic    
Date Published |     displayDate(1163689547421);     Nov. 16, 2006                              
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      BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
  Marilyn Butcher says she's looking forward to helping thousands of Greater Sudbury citizens without a doctor after the province promised more than $1 million last week to fund a nurse practitioner clinic.
  The woman, who graduated from Laurentian University's nurse practitioner program 10 years ago, has been forced to take numerous temporary assignments out of town because there are very few jobs in her field in Greater Sudbury.

   She hopes to be employed at the new clinic, which is the first of its kind in Ontario.
  “Over the past year and a half, it's been pretty frustrating to have to leave town when at the same time people say to 'My doctor left town, can I come to see you?'” she says.

In fact, there are six other local nurse practitioners in the city besides Butcher who can't find jobs in their field.

Butcher and other nurse practitioners successfully lobbied for their own clinic with the help of local politicians and the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO).

The health care professionals could solve some of the problems associated with the family doctor shortage in the city because they can do about 80 percent of the work done by physicians, including prescribing drugs and diagnosing illnesses.

“We'd had discussions with the ministry for a few weeks prior to the announcement. The fact that they wanted to discuss the situation with us was a welcome surprise,” says Butcher.

“We were anticipating the announcement at the time that it came, but we, of course, were sworn to secrecy because (Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman) gets to make the announcements.”

The clinic will serve up to 5,000 patients. Butcher hopes it will be open by April 2007. Six nurse practitioners, several doctors, a dietitian and a social worker will be employed there.

The clinic will have its main location in the downtown core of Greater Sudbury and satellite locations Dowling and Chapleau. Nurse practitioners will work on salary instead of receiving fee-for-service payments like doctors.

They haven't pinpointed a building for the downtown Sudbury clinic, but Dowling and Chapleau both have empty medical facilities which will be used for the project, says Butcher.

Dowling was chosen as one of the satellite locations because the community recently lost its family doctor. Chapleau also lacks family doctors and its town council provided some funding for the project, she says.

Butcher says she doesn't know whether $1 million will be enough to fund the clinic.

“I'll let you know at the end of our budget development time. Certainly with the amount of people that we have in mind, that's a very good question,” she says.

“The $1 million number was in a press release, that not a budget. I don't know where the figure came from.”

Roberta Heale, who teaches in the nurse practitioner program at LU, worked closely with Butcher to get approval for the clinic. She hopes to help govern the clinic.

Most people won't have a problem with going to a nurse practitioner with their medical concerns, she says.

“I'm certainly not concerned in that respect, because every day I have patients ask us about our service. I had somebody stop their car and say, 'Go for it. Yay! When are you up and running?'”

Stephanie Van Gilst says she'll definitely apply to work at the clinic.

The woman graduated from Laurentian University's nurse practitioner program in 2005, and has been unable to find work in her field in the city.

Her husband, who is doing his family medicine residency in the city, will complete the training in July.

Although the couple would prefer to stay in Greater Sudbury, they were thinking about moving away to another city next year so they can both find jobs.

“It's very exciting not only for me, but for other nurse practitioners in the community who are looking for work, and the ones who will be graduating in the next little while.”

Van Gilst's former classmate, Nina Hoyt, has a job, but not as a nurse practitioner. She is the nurse case manager for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

Hoyt also wants to work at the clinic. “I think the clinic is going to be very positive for the people of Greater Sudbury, and it will give us an opportunity to showcase what nurse practitioners do.”




        /* Include these styles in the main NL stylesheet */  table#tableComments th {   text-align: right;   width: 8em;  }  table#tableComments th, table#tableComments td {  font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;   font-size: 10pt;   vertical-align: top;   padding: 3px;  }  table#tableComments td textarea,  table#tableComments td input {   font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;   font-size: 100%;  }  table#tableComments td input.button {   width: auto;  }                                     On Friday, November 17, 2006 at 12:56, Andy McClellan said:
  Finally..!!! Some good news in the crisis ridden health care filed..!!! Can't believe that the MD's have been so self serving as to not realise how much these people can help to relieve the pressure... Keep up the good work Nurse Practioners...

    On Friday, November 17, 2006 at 23:35, Tanya Kessler said:
  Many people are unaware of the type of service a NP can offer. I believe some kind of article explaining what an NP can and can'tdo would be helpful. For most people, a NP can fulfill most, if not all, of their medical needs.

    On Saturday, December 09, 2006 at 11:00, Brooke Castay said:
  I am currently seeking my education to later become a NP. This is one of my fears not to find a job. It made me feel a little bit at easy when I read this article. I hope things work out real well for yall and God Bless yall for all that you do!
   
  Here is a link to another newspaper article about it: 


   [input]  http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/08/31/nurse-clinic.html


Carla R. Anderson, FNP-C
  Healing Presence Family Practice, PC  
  carla_rayne at yahoo.com
  503 819 9726